Growing a garden full of beautiful flowers is an achievement to which many of us aspire. If you’ve ever visited somewhere with a warmer climate, you’ve probably left feeling in awe of the stunning plants they’re able to cultivate. While Canadian temperatures can reach record lows in the winter months, you shouldn’t see this as a barrier to creating an exotic dreamscape in your backyard.
In today’s blog, we’re going to take a look at some of the beautiful flowers that grow well in Canada and how best to care for them.
Let’s get started.
Tropical-looking Flowers That Grow Well In Canada
1. Pineapple Lily
Zones: 6-9
Resembling its namesake tropical fruit, the pineapple lily is the perfect addition to any garden aspiring for an exotic look and feel. While they’re pretty frost-tender, they bloom and thrive brilliantly during mild Canadian and North American summers.
How to Grow and Care For Your Pineapple Lily
- In zones of 9 or below, start them in pots and transplant them outdoors once the frosty weather has passed.
- Plant in well-prepared soil and ensure there’s enough drainage, especially if the weather is particularly wet.
- Dig holes between 5 and 10 inches deep, 5 to 10 inches apart and plant.
- Add a few inches of compost or soil amendment to fertilize and increase nutrient contents in the planting bed.
TOP TIP: You can buy compost from your local gardening store or create your own soil amendment at home using a FoodCycler. This is a great way to recycle your leftover food scraps, reducing food waste and nourishing your garden simultaneously!
2. Begonias
Zones: 9-11
For centuries, people in both cool and warm climates have been growing begonias in their gardens. Available in over 1000 varieties, these beautiful subtropical flowers add colour, shape and texture to any outdoor space. While most begonias prefer a shadier part of the garden, they can also thrive in sunnier spots too.
How to Grow and Care For Your Begonias
- To grow begonias, create a peat-free, multi-purpose compost bed in a part-sunny, part-shaded area.
- Plant your begonias in tubers during the spring and transplant them into the soil around may once the frostier weather has passed.
- Water regularly and nourish with a fertilizer or soil amendment weekly to ensure your blooms are as bright as possible.
- When autumn comes around, you can dig up tuberous begonias and store them indoors during the winter.
3. Blue Flag Iris
Zones: 2-7
The blue flag iris is the official flower of Quebec and is one of Canada’s most beautiful native flowers. If you’re looking to embrace local tradition, why not try growing some in your own garden? They’re bold and bright, just like the exotic flowers you might see in a tropical paradise abroad.
How to Grow and Care For Your Blue Flag Iris
- Blue Flag Iris is a type of wildflower, so they’re typically relatively easy to grow if you give them the right environment. They’re semi-aquatic and usually thrive in wetland areas. If you’ve got a pond in your garden or a spot that generally gets a lot of rain, plant your seeds nearby.
- Amend your garden area with fresh compost or peat.
- Plant seeds in the spring and continue to water liberally throughout the year.
- In the colder months, adding a little mulch layer will protect younger plants from the harsh climate.
4. Tropical Hibiscus
Zones: 5-11
Tropical hibiscus is a must for gardeners looking for the ultimate colour injection. Their exotic blooms consist of red, orange, yellow and pink shades, complemented by deep green foliage. While it’s essential to bring these plants indoors during the icy months, you can still grow tropical hibiscus in Canadian climates and enjoy them for most of the year.
How to Grow and Care For Your Tropical Hibiscus
- Grow tropical hibiscus in moist but well-drained soil in a warm and sunny garden spot, ideally somewhere sheltered from the wind.
- Using a pot is ideal because you can move the plant to the brightest parts of the garden. It also makes it much easier to bring them indoors during the colder months.
- Repot in spring every 2 or 3 years to keep the plant fresh.
5. Morning Glory
Zones: 3-10
Morning glories are a brilliantly colourful addition to any Canadian garden, offering bright blue blooms and a quaint cottage feel to the space. Morning glories grow (and grow!) very quickly, so they’re a great solution if you’re looking for noticeable improvements in a hurry.
They can quickly grow out of control, though, so if you’re not keen on the wild-flower look, it may be worth dwelling over for a little longer.
How to Grow and Care For Your Morning Glories
- Morning glories can be quickly grown from seeds. Start indoors, 4-6 weeks before the last of the spring frost, then transplant. If you’d prefer to plant directly into the garden, wait until any risk of frost has passed.
- They bloom their best in full sun but can tolerate some shade.
- Make sure to plant morning glories somewhere spacious with room to grow – they’ll multiply faster than you might expect!
- Avoid fertilizing too much as the foliage will grow faster than the flowers themselves. Instead, use an amendment every other week.
No matter whereabouts in the world you live, there are plenty of ways to grow a garden to be proud of. All flowers have their own unique beauty to offer, and in Canada, we’re lucky to have thousands of potential options at our green fingertips.
Head over to the FoodCycler blog to discover more great articles on gardening, food recycling, climate insights and more!
A Note on Terminology
The FoodCycler® is a countertop electric food waste recycler that breaks down food scraps through a mechanical process into a dry, lightweight by-product that can be used in gardening applications as a fertilizer. The FoodCycler® and other electric food waste recyclers are not composters, nor do they produce compost or soil as they do not require additional microbes to break down food waste with bacteria. However, the term "electric composter" has been used to describe electric food waste recyclers.