Palms|Other Palm Trees

If you’ve ever admired tropical gardens, you’ll be pleased to know you too can give your garden a tropical touch with our great collection of palm trees and tropical plants. Shop a range of palms, from those that are happy living indoors to those that’ll reach incredible heights, and everything in-between. Couple that with the lush foliage of our exotic, vibrant tropical plants and you’re a whole lot closer to creating an oasis on your doorstep.

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Palms and tropical

Shop tropical plants at Flower Power

Want to feel like every day is a tropical holiday? Well, you could move to an island in the South Pacific, or you could turn your garden, courtyard or even living room into a paradisiacal retreat with the addition of palm trees and tropical flowering plants. 

Our range of palms includes everything from sky-scraping trees to happy indoor plants and we stock an endless array of lush tropical garden plants. With everything you need to create a tropical holiday destination right in your own backyard, your next staycation is as close as a visit to Flower Power.

How to plant a tropical garden in Sydney

The basis of any good tropical garden is palm trees. For a truly lush effect, a large garden will require a few different sized and shaped palms. The palms you choose and where you place them will dictate whether your tropical garden will have a sense of order or jungle-like wildness. 

Once you have the building blocks of your own private tropical garden in place, you can start adding exotic tropical flowering plants for colour and contrast. Look for bright colours – reds, pinks, oranges – with lots of foliage. There are no rules; the more flowers and greenery you have, the more lush and tropical your garden will feel.

  • Start with something like an Alexander or Bangalow palm to give your garden impressive height. Both fast-growing natives, the Alexander palm produces white flowers in autumn, while the Bangalow palm blooms purple in summer and autumn. If a pool is part of your tropical design, the Bangalow palm is ideal for planting near the water because of its shallow root system. 
  • Majestic palms are a great option for adding greening to the mid-level of your garden, with its bright leaves. You can keep your majestic palms in pots if you like to mix things up, though it will grow bigger if planted in the ground.
  • Create bulk and a feeling of abundance in the lower layers of your garden with cascade palms or similar. These generous clumping palms are native to Mexico but grow well in Sydney and will enjoy sitting in the shade under your taller trees. They are also good options for potted palms on your balcony or indoors.
  • Heliconia and ginger are both great tropical flowering plants for adding a variety of differently coloured, shaped and sized flowers to your tropical garden in Sydney climates. Choose a few different kinds to get a range of different tropical flowers.
  • Bromeliads are interesting-looking plants with brightly coloured centres that are surprisingly low maintenance but add a fun exotic touch to your tropical garden.
  • Cordylines are hardy plants with spiky leaves in a variety of bold colours. They are great tropical garden plants for adding contrast shapes and colours year-round. 
  • Clivia’s orange trumpet-like flower adds interest in colour and shape for a few months from winter to spring. The rest of the year, the hardy, dark green leaves are good for bulking out foliage. 

You may also want to add some garden furniture in natural materials like wicker or rattan, and a frozen cocktail for good effect. 

 

How to grow tropical plants indoors

Tropical plants make excellent houseplants because they are surprisingly easy plants to grow inside. Many of these plants have evolved in jungles under the shade of large trees, which means they don’t need a lot of light – perfect for indoor life! Plus, most of these exotic indoor plants don’t require a lot of special care, so keeping them alive is fairly easy!

Some of our favourite plants for creating an indoor tropical garden are:

  • Palms (as mentioned above)
  • Spider plants
  • Zanzibar or ZZ plants
  • Aglaonemas
  • Dieffenbachia
  • Peperomia plants
  • Alocasia
  • Bromeliads
  • Dracena
  • Pilea (Chinese money tree plant)
  • Rubber tree plant
  • Peace lily
  • Philodendron
  • Orchids
  • Croton
  • Pothos

As with outdoor tropical gardens, the more plants you have, the more lush your indoor tropical garden will feel, but many people choose just one statement plant or a few smaller ones for a touch of green.

So, how to grow tropical plants indoors? Most tropical plants like their soil to stay evenly moist, but not wet. You might think that plants from the tropics need lots of water but overwatering is actually the number one cause of death for tropical garden plants indoors. 

They prefer humid air – which we have lots of in Sydney – but if you live in an air-conditioned apartment or want plants in an office, you’ll need to create humidity with a small humidifier or with regular misting. 

Many tropical plants are happy with low or filtered light but some need brighter light – check with a Flower Power expert to know which ones to place closest to windows.

Most will grow well in generic potting mix or soil, but some (orchids, for example) are pickier so, again, ask for advice. You may also want to fertilise your indoor plants occasionally; ask our Flower Power experts for advice on the right food for your plants.

 

How to care for tropical plants in winter

Our Sydney winters are fairly mild, which means tropical flowering plants and ferns don’t struggle too much, but here are a few tips on how to care for tropical plants in winter. 

It is better to plant new palms and tropical flowering plants from late spring to late summer, but if you must put them in during the cooler seasons, you should be extra careful to follow these tips. 

It is important to keep their roots warm with layers of mulch (and manure if they are outside). Layer it on at the onset of and during the colder months to keep plants cosy, then let it break down to feed your plants over summer.

If it is cold enough to frost overnight, you can cover immature palms with covers and use an anti-transpirant product such as Droughtshield or Envy. 

Come into Flower Power and let us show you how to plant a tropical garden or shop our range of tropical garden plants online and start creating your ultimate backyard island escape today. 

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