A giant herbaceous perennial from Southeast Asia and the principal wild ancestor of most cultivated dessert bananas. What looks like a trunk is a 'pseudostem' — tightly rolled leaf sheaths — topped by a fountain of huge, paddle-shaped leaves that can run 6-10 feet long, giving an instant tropical effect. In frost-free climates (USDA zones 10a-11b) an established clump produces a drooping flower spike and a hanging bunch of edible fruit, then that pseudostem dies and is replaced by a sucker from the base. It is frost-tender: everywhere colder it is grown as a bold container or greenhouse foliage plant that is overwintered indoors and rarely, if ever, fruits.

A clumping, multi-stemmed evergreen perennial from South Africa, grown for its unmistakable crane-head flowers — a horizontal green-and-pink spathe from which bright orange sepals and vivid blue petals emerge like the crest of an exotic bird. Bold, paddle-shaped blue-green leaves on long stalks form a 3-4 foot fountain of foliage. Winter hardy only in USDA zones 10-12 (frost-free subtropics); everywhere colder it is grown as a houseplant or summered-out container plant. It blooms reliably only from a well-established, somewhat crowded clump, so patience is the key to flowers.

A giant evergreen relative of the banana from coastal eastern South Africa, grown for its enormous, gray-green, paddle-shaped leaves and its dramatic white-and-blue, crane-like flowers. Honesty first: in frost-free climates (USDA zones 10a-11b) it forms a fan of multiple woody trunks and reaches 20-30 feet tall, with large bird-of-paradise blooms held in dark, boat-shaped bracts up in the canopy. It is frost-tender, so everywhere colder it is grown as a big container or indoor foliage plant — kept far smaller by the pot and rarely, if ever, flowering. The whole plant is a mild irritant if eaten, with the seeds more so, so it is best kept away from curious pets and children. It is grown above all for bold, tropical, architectural foliage rather than for its flowers in most gardens.

A woody, deciduous flowering shrub in the Hydrangeaceae, native to Japan, China, Korea, and Southeast Asia and long grown as the classic "hortensia" or French hydrangea. NC State Extension describes a rounded shrub 3 to 6 feet tall and wide with large opposite, simple, toothed leaves (4-8 inches long) and big rounded mop-head or flat lacecap flower clusters in late spring and summer in white, pink, blue, or purple. Famously, flower color tracks soil chemistry — acidic soils push the blooms blue and alkaline soils turn them pink. It wants protection from hot afternoon sun and steady moisture, making it a mainstay of shaded foundation plantings and woodland borders.

A tender tropical evergreen shrub grown for its enormous, flamboyant flowers — broad funnels of red, pink, orange, yellow, or white, single or double, each with a long protruding column of fused stamens. Native to tropical Asia (a cultigen of such ancient cultivation that no certain wild origin survives), Hibiscus rosa-sinensis blooms continuously in warmth above glossy, dark green, evergreen leaves. Each flower typically lasts only a day, but a healthy plant opens fresh blooms in steady succession from spring through fall — and year-round in frost-free climates. It is the classic hibiscus of warm-climate landscapes and patio containers: heat- and humidity-loving, frost-tender, and hardy in the ground only in USDA zones 9a-11b.

The world's most famous holiday plant is, in its homeland, a leggy tropical shrub. Native from Mexico to Guatemala, Euphorbia pulcherrima is grown almost everywhere as a compact potted gift for its blaze of winter color — but that color is not flowers. The showy red, pink, white, or marbled 'petals' are bracts (modified leaves); the true flowers are the small yellow-green cup-like cyathia clustered at the center. The bracts color up only in response to long, uninterrupted nights, which is why poinsettias turn for the winter holidays and why a houseplant in a lamp-lit room often refuses to re-color. It is frost-tender and hardy in the ground only in USDA zones 9a-11b, where it grows into an open, erect, multi-stemmed shrub 3-12 feet tall. A persistent caution: it is MILDLY toxic — the milky white latex (sap) can irritate skin and eyes and cause mild stomach upset if eaten — but its deadly reputation is a long-debunked myth, not a real hazard.