Outdoor Tropicals Resources

Web sites with information related to Outdoor Tropical Plants
Books are listed separately at the bottom. Following that are nurseries that have been brought to our attention.

Welcome to Outdoor Tropicals Resources. Feel free to check out the links, add your comments or submit your own link suggestions by clicking the button on the right and discussing them on the Outdoor Tropicals forum. Any links to nurseries or other commercial ventures are provided as a service to the public and do not constitute endorsement by UBC. Caveat emptor!"

Brazilian Plants
This site has one photo per species of a lot of species found in Brazil and other Central American and South American countries from 43 families, organized by plant family. Some families have just a few entries, but some like Orchidaceae and Begoniaceae have four pages of around 20 thumbnails. There are brief descriptions in Portuguese and English for each photo. There seem to be photos here of rare species that don't come up in browser searches.

Link location Index
Submitted by wcutler
Submitted date 02 Aug 2021; last confirmed 2 Aug 2021

Desert-Tropicals.com
Lots of palm trees described, with photos.

Link location Growing Tropical Plants in Phoenix
Submitted by SDurham
Submitted date 13 Apr 2006; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Exotic Rainforest
The International Aroid Society has archived the site of the late Steve Lucas, known as 'photopro' on this Forum. Steve was also the creator of a botanical garden in Arkansas. The site has hundreds of pages on exotic plant species and was recommended has having trustworthy, exhaustively researched information.

Link location Exotic Rainforest private botanical garden Rare tropical plant and aroid collection
Submitted by Junglekeeper, togata57 (and several others)
Submitted date 10 Aug 2017; last confirmed 10 Aug 2017

Hardy Tropicals UK
Promoting the use of exotic plants in general gardening. Has photo galleries and an active forum.

Link location Homepage - Hardy Tropicals UK
Submitted by Gaz
Submitted date 25 Nov 2008; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Ian's Palm Page - Palm genera for the Pacific Northwest
The page consists of information summaries for each genus, and a small photo gallery.

Link location Ian's Palm Page
Submitted by Ian
Submitted date 23 Jun 2004; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

International Palm Society
The Internet's comprehensive source of information on palms. This web site includes extensive information on palm horticulture, online access to over 50 years of articles published in the Palms Journal, and Principes, a gallery of images, links to other sites, links to PalmTalk - the world's most active online forum on all aspects of Palms, and much more.

Link location International Palm Society
Submitted by Dave-Florida
Submitted date 1 Jul 2007; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Normal "Abnormalities" in Palms
This page is one of a series of the Environmental Horticulture Department, UF/IFAS Extension. Many abnormalities turn out to be symptoms of a disease, insect, nutritional, or other physiological disorder, but some "abnormalities" turn out to be perfectly normal for a particular palm species. This document was developed to describe and illustrate some of these common "abnormalities" that cause concern among palm owners.

Link location ENH1077/EP344: Normal "Abnormalities" in Palms (ufl.edu)
Submitted by https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/members/daniel-mosquin.1/
Submitted date 21 May 2021; last confirmed 21 May 2021

Ornamentals of Colombia
This is a seriously iffy page to be listing here, a hook-up website called Latin-Wife. But, it has good-sized very clear photos, several for each species, of over 1,200 plant species photographed in Colombia. The plants are in alphabetical order by genus and species. When you reach the end of the flowering plants the pages will continue with the fruits of Colombia in alphabetical order, with good descriptions of their use and availability. After that are photos of birds. The site map on the website, at International Introductions Latin-Wife.com - Site Map, gives a listing of all the plants (you need to scroll down about 1/6 of the page). It is not stated at all what the background is of the person photographing and naming all these plants. Navigation is not actually that good on the site - if you come in via the links here, you can pretty well avoid the International Introductions aspect of the site. If anyone can find this stuff on another website, please let me (wcutler) know.

Link location Photos of Abatia parviflora; the scrolling forward fails in a few places - note the link above to the site map, where you can restart your browsing.
Submitted by wcutler
Submitted date 15 Aug 2019; last confirmed 25 Apr 2023

Pacific Northwest Palm & Exotic Plant Society
A non-profit chapter of the International Palm Society, dedicated to the successful cultivation of palms and other exotic plants outdoors in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.

Link location PNWPEPS
Submitted by Banana Joe and Carol Ja
Submitted date 25 Mar 2005; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Palm Trees from around the World
Here are some illustrations of different types of palm trees from various habitats around the world, there are thirty individual palm tree pictures in all.

Link location Palm tree guide with illustrations of different types of palm trees
Submitted by Ivan
Submitted date 25 Jun 2005; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Palm and Cycad Society of New Zealand
Society website with articles and a gallery.

Link location The Palm and Cycad Society of New Zealand
Submitted by Caryota gigas; updated by wcutler
Submitted date 17 Sep 2009; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Palms and Cycad Societies of Australia
PACSOA has a huge website packed with info and photos.

Link location Pacsoa
Submitted by Michael F
Submitted date 1 Jul 2007; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Palmpedia
This is a wiki site, ad-supported, featuring an encyclopedia with 208 palm genera. Entries seem to have brief descriptions and a lot of photos perhaps compiled from around the web. There is also a forum, perhaps not currently active.

Link location Palmpedia - Palm Grower's Guide
Submitted by wcutler
Submitted date 05 Aug 2019; last confirmed 5 Aug 2019

Palms and other exotic plants for Scandinavia
Here's an interesting one about growing palms in Scandinavia. Comment by wcutler: this might not be the site Michael F recommended, which I could not find, and it's Swedish, not Norwegian (link is to English version), but the idea is surely similar.

Link location Palms and other exotic plants for Scandinavia. Introduction.
Submitted by Michael F; updated by wcutler
Submitted date 25 Jun 2005; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Recognizing Plant Families of the West: Field Guide
This PDF document by Carol Dawson and Phil Krening was developed by the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Colorado, to enable readers to identify 54 of the most common flowering plant families in the arid western United States, depicted by over 1,000 carefully selected images. The focus is on illustrating the field recognition characters with photographs. The document can be viewed online or downloaded for free.

Link location https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2022-01/BLMCO.Plant_.ID_.Guide_.2021_508.pdf?
Submitted by wcutler
Submitted date 25 Aug 2023; last confirmed 25 Aug 2023

Sierra Flower Finder
Dedicated to the professional floral community by Sierra Flower Trading, this collaborative site created for breeders, growers, wholesalers and florists has a lot of flower (and some foliage) pages which are easy to browse by photo.

Link location Home | Sierra Flower Finder
Submitted by wcutler
Submitted date 9 Jan 2021; last confirmed 9 Jan 2021

Starr Environmental
Website of Forest and Kim Starr, environmental consulting biologists living on Maui. Many thousand photos of tropical plants, mainly in Hawai'i. You can browse and search. All photos are posted under the Creative Commons Attribution licence, to be shared. The website has a link to the Flickr Hawaii Plant ID group where they and others respond to Hawaii plant ID questions. The plants need not be native to Hawai'i, so this covered a lot of tropical plants.

Link location Free Resources - Forest & Kim Starr (Starr Environmental)
Submitted by wcutler
Submitted date 3 Apr 2017; last confirmed 3 Apr 2017

UK Oasis
It says "lively discussion forum" but seems to be posted articles; or maybe you have to join before you can see the participatory forums, but it says "Feel free to browse the discussion board and picture galleries". Contact email bounces. So it seems it's just blog-type articles now.

Link location UK Oasis | UK Gardening Forum
Submitted by Carol Ja; updated by wcutler
Submitted date 29 Jul 2005; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Books with information related to Outdoor Tropical Plants

The Tropical Look: An Encyclopedia of Dramatic Landscape Plants
By Robert Lee Riffle. Full color illustrations of many (not all) listings. This uses the USDA zone plant adaptability and details each listing very well.
At the rear of the book a glossary along with plants for specific situations. Recommended.

• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 526 pp.
• Book dimensions: 8.25 x 11 in. (280 x 210 mm.)
• Images: 409 b/w photos, 7 figures
• ISBN-10: 1604690836
• ISBN-13: 9781604690835
• Product code: 689083

Link location The Tropical Look: An Encyclopedia of Dramatic Landscape Plants
Submitted by LPN; updated by wcutler
Submitted date 8 Jan 2010; last confirmed 18 Dec 2015

Nurseries

agricomcom S. L.
Website of a nursery in Valencia, Spain is in Spanish, but has some nice photos, and maybe Google will translate it for you.

Link location agricomsl.es
Submitted by Agricom
Submitted date 29 Oct 2007; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

China Gardening (Coldplant) Nursery
China Gardening (Coldplant) Nursery , established in Canton province, China with several palm production bases in the cold areas, is a professional grower and exporter of Trachycarpus, and Cycads, as well as numerous bamboos and other ornamental trees. Since its founding, our nursery has enjoyed favorable business relationships with our customers from Europe, Asia and America etc.

Link location Coldplant.com-China Gardening Nursery -professional grower and exporter of rare palm, cycad,bamboo and other plants
Submitted by garytsen
Submitted date 30 Jan 2008; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Gary's Nursery, LLC
Since 1975, growing and planting trees and shrubs in eastern North Carolina, specializing in cold-hardy palms. Wholesale and retail. No shipping on retail orders. Call for shipping info on wholesale orders to NC and SC.

Link location Gary's Nursery
Submitted by DC United Palm Fan
Submitted date 10 Aug 2008; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Jungle Music Palms & Cycads Nursery
Established in 1977 to provide the most rare and beautiful plants for sale from around the world - One of the most comprehensive selections anywhere. Nursery location is off Freeway 5 in Encinitas, CA, north of San Diego. This site has over eighty articles on palm trees and cycads.

Link location Jungle Music Palm Trees
Submitted by hapahaole
Submitted date 28 May 2008; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Jurassic Plants Nursery
As of November 1, 2015, this nursery is no longer in business. They do have a page of Cycad photos and drawings.

Link location Home - Jurassic Plants Nursery
Submitted by Sunset Cycads
Submitted date 25 July 2006; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Matlack Tree Farm
Nursery in central Florida (Lake County). They sell and ship over the southeast US. Specializes in oak, magnolia, crape myrtle, palms and more.

Link location Matlack Tree Farm
Submitted by MatlackTree
Submitted date 13 Jun 2011; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Montreal Plants
Montreal, PQ company selling nursery plants and palms, started by Mike Page Jr. from Cappadocia & Page Landscape Designers, in business since 1980.

Link location Montreal Plants | Cold Hardy Palms | Tropical Sales
Submitted by pmurphy
Submitted date 23 Apr 2018; last confirmed 5 Jun 2018

My Palm Shop
Nursery specializing in exotics, sells self-cultivated stock, delivers throughout Europe. It's not exactly clear where they are - somewhere near Benelux and Germany, as those places receive 3-day delivery.

Link location On offer - MYPALMSHOP
Submitted by Aisya
Submitted date 7 Nov 2015; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Palms and Exotics
Family nursery in Southampton, Hampshire, UK, growing palm trees, banana trees ,gingers, Colocasia ,bamboo and other exotic plants. They import larger palms from their own and selected nurseries in Spain.

Link location Palms Exotics family nursery in Southampton Hants
Submitted by Aisya
Submitted date 7 Nov 2015; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

rarepalmseeds.com
Nursery in Muenchen, Germany, seems to ship world-wide, website is in English (and other languages). The archive page lists all 1700 species rarepalmseeds.com ever had for sale. Some are available throughout the year, some only during a few months and some are only available every few years for a few weeks.

Link location rarepalmseeds.com - palm seeds, cycad seeds, banana seeds
Submitted by dmaaero
Submitted date 3 Apr 2006; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Real Palm Trees.com
Nursery. No indication where it is (maybe Englewood, NJ (?), where Jason33 is from?), but says it ships to 48 states. Recommended by poster for great service; his plant even came with a transplant kit and certificate.

Link location Real Palm Trees - Home
Submitted by Jason33; updated by wcutler
Submitted date 3 Apr 2006; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015

Specimen Palms
Nursery 30 km northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. Global supplier of commercially grown specimen palms, ships worldwide. Has photos and description of several of the palms they stock.

Link location Specimen Palms
Submitted by dennis1
Submitted date 2 May 2009; last confirmed 12 Nov 2015