“In the winter I will be nearly naked and shivering in the cold, gloomy corner of the sunroom.” So begins the note written collectively by my ginger, gardenia, jasmine and bougainvillea. It will get worse before it gets better. If only I had a greenhouse or could part with these tropicals and get new ones each year. The gardenia ‘Miami Supreme’ traveled back home with us by truck from Florida more than 12 years ago. It’s now so large that, in the dark, I sometimes mistake it for a prowler.

Flowering tropical plants have finally become more available at independent garden centers. The trouble is, most aren’t open in the middle of winter when we really crave some living greenery around the house. Many big box stores carry typical potted plants, and even supermarkets offer cyclamen, African violets and kalanchoe at such reasonable prices all but the thriftiest among us can rationalize pitching them when they quit blooming.


Begonia ‘Tea Rose’

If you’re lucky and can get your hands on one of the new fibrous begonias with fragrant flowers, you will find it easier to make it through the winter. I purchased one last spring called Begonia nitida odorata ‘Tea Rose’ and put it on the patio through the summer. It’s now a bit leggier than it was a few months ago, but it’s still serving up some pretty pink blossoms.


Brunfelsia

Another tropical plant that will transport you to the tropics come summer is Brunfelsia jamaicensis, which blooms on woody stems when it’s only a foot tall. This fragrant beauty is an easy keeper through the winter—just ignore it for the most part and it will reward you around mid-July with a generous flush of bloom with sporadic blooms the rest of the summer.

—Jean Starr