Individual plants grow to between 3-7 m high, but can reach up to 12 m, with leaves around 3 m in length and 90 cm in width. As the leaves are coloured red on their underside with shoots growing from a creeping, elongated, underground rhizome. The plants thrive best in shade or filtered sun, as intense direct sun can damage the leaves. Unusually, this wild banana has pink fruits and in its native south-east Asia, they are an important wild food source for Asian elephants .This species is increasingly under threat in the wild commercial agriculture is now clearing much of the irreplaceable jungle habitat. It is distributed from north-east India to Vietnam and is also found in China, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. ... Learn More

A superb, almost hardy, new species of ornamental banana from the Himalayas. The strong vigorous leaves are often tinged with ruby red tints. Very hardy and wind tolerant. Ideal for a large container or border. ... Learn More

This quick growing banana from the Himalayas has a grey stem, with new leaves being tinged red on the underside, darkening to green as they grow further. Flowering in July with beautiful red flowers, the edible fruits are then produced in October of the same year. ... Learn More

A most attractive dwarf banana with red-midribbed shiny green leaves. Strikingly bright pink, red and orange flowers finally produce bright pink fruits. A superb specimen for a garden in hot countries or a large pot elsewhere. ... Learn More

Opuntia ficus-indica is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant important in agricultural economies throughout arid and semi-arid parts of the world and is thought to possibly be native to Mexico. Flowers vary from red to yellow, all producing sweet, succulent, but pippy fruits. ... Learn More

Resembling a straight banana with rounded ends, this passion fruit prefers a cooler and less humid environment than others, when it will produce dozens of large, bright yellow fruits which usually hang, hidden, deep within the foliage of the plant, the vines sometimes having the tendency to fall down to the ground with the great weight of the fruit. These are ripe when they are easily pulled from the vine, the interior being a deep, dark orange. Unlike the more common passifloras, this is quite sweet, and when very ripe can be eaten out of hand. It is native to the Andes, and is found wild in Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia at high altitudes up to 5400 to 10,500 feet. In warmer climes the bright pink flowers, which bloom continuously throughout the year, attract hummingbirds, as well as being a favourite food of the butterflies. ... Learn More

The Crown Guava is a small shrub/bush found across the northern part of the Amazonian basin from Colombia, Guyana and into Venezuela. It is a cousin of the more common guava fruit (Psidium giajava) but has a taste all of its own. It tend sto have a sharper more acid taste so so is rarely eaten as the raw fruit but more often made into jams and delicious fizzy drinks - often being combined with honey or sugar. It is also grown as an ornamental. ... Learn More

"Giant White Bird of Paradise". Huge black and white flowers open on this rare member of the banana family. It is often seen abroad in hotel gardens where it grows to a great height., whilst in the UK it makes an impressive large-leaved plant for a pot in the conservatory. Large seeds resemble little puppets' heads with orange hair! ... Learn More

The 'Bat Plant'. A bizarre but quite beautiful plant with aspidistra-like foliage and large, darkest purple, almost black flowers which resemble Batman's cape. The most intriguing features though are the bunches of long 'whiskers' protruding from the centre. ... Learn More

These tropical evergreen flowers produce large, pure white petals centred by small, sombre, drooping flowers and long whiskerlike bracts, all resembling a bat's face. These amazing blossoms appear from spring and on through summer. In the wild they grow in tropical and subtropical Asia, and in cooler climates they grow best in a shady area in a hot, humid greenhouse. When raised from seed, these thought-provoking plants, ideal for the home or conservatory, produce blooms within the same year they sprout. ... Learn More

Another incredible flowering oddity with large, green veined white flowers, resembling triangular cloaks, sprouting long trailing whiskers from their purple centres. Most definitely one of the most profoundly interesting talking points you will ever grow. ... Learn More

This very pretty palm has glossy, dark green, circular fan leaves that have drooping leaf tips. An unusually slender-stemmed palm, the trunks can grow to more than 20 feet high or more, but rarely grow more than five inches inches thick. It is distributed over much of the northern Caribbean and is a reliable and easy-to-grow ornamental for tropical and warm subtropical areas, and a perfect palm for coastal regions. In the wild it grows on the extreme southern mainland coast of Florida, the Florida Keys, Bahamas, western Cuba, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Yucatan Peninsula, Honduras and Nicaragua. It also makes a good specimen in a very large pot. ... Learn More

This famous medium to large evergreen palm has a tree-like growth habit, and a sturdy columnar trunk crowned by beautifully shaped, fan-like, waxy gray-green blades, up to 3-6 ft. long (90-180 cm). Erect at first, they spread and arch from stout, spiny petioles, and unlike other palms, the dead leaves fold down against the trunk rather than dropping off. This palm tree is sometimes called " Petticoat Palm" in reference to the shaggy mass of dead leaves hanging against the trunk and forming a dense skirt. In summer, gorgeous, creamy-white, tubular flowers are produced in huge sprays, up to 15 ft. long (5 m), and are later followed by great quantities of black, pea-sized fruits. Easy to grow and exotic-looking, it is quite cold-hardy and can survive short periods at 23ºF (-5ºC). It is the only palm native to the Western United States and the country's largest native palm, and is a palm of great ornamental value and an extraordinary accent plant. The genus honors the first president of the United States. ... Learn More

This tall, vigorous, stylish and elegant palm quickly grows a stout trunk, wider at the bottom, and rather thinner than its sister species Washingtonia filifera. Grown worldwide, it is probably most famous from the avenue plantings in California. Trunks are topped by a crown of large (1.5m wide or more) fan leaves that have loose threaded margins and often a purplish brown patch at the base of the leaf stalk. Although sometimes scorched by frost below -5C or so, it quickly regrows when the weather improves and replaces the damaged leaves. It is native to western Sonora and Baja California Sur in northwestern Mexico. ... Learn More