Tropical Foliage, Tropical Leaves

Tropical foliage plants are often beautiful in their own right, without relying on the flash of large colorful blooms to attract your attention. An excellent example are the many varieties of Croton with their fanciful splotches, dots, streaks and splashes of multicolored leaves. Another example are the Cordylines, also known as the Ti Plant from Hawaii, with some varieties that have bright colored leaves in shades of red and hot pink. The leaves are far more eye catching than the small flowers. Dracaena marginata 'Tricolor' is another colorful example, which is often found at the big box stores, as are some of the less colorful versions of dracaena. Many tropical plants, such as these, are grown for their incredible leaves rather than their flowers.

There are also other less showy shrubs without blooms that can be used as foundation plants, or as a solid green background to show off blooms from other plants. Foliage plants have a definite useful place in most gardens.

This photo slideshow includes many plants that flower, and some that don't, but I've included them all here to show off the sheer beauty of their foliage.

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