Propagation: Planting Canadian plants/trees in a tropical country.

I would like to grow some Canadian plants and trees in Sri Lanka, which is a tropical country. Any kinds of flowering plants, vegetables and trees etc. that you can recommend? The soil is good there in the land that I plan to plant in but the sun can sometimes be a bit hot. Planting would be sometime in December. Please advise.

 

Since many temperate climate plants require a cold dormancy period to flower this seems
a futile endeavor. Some will not tolerate even warm nights and will succumb to various rots.
You will at the least have to budget for frequent replacements.

 

What about trees like elm, oak, cedar etc.?

 

There are some tropical oaks, but they don't look much like the oaks native to Canada.

You could try Keteleeria fortunei as a substitute for cedars; that is native to the south coast of China so will take a fair amount of tropical heat.

 

Thanks a lot for these responses. I am eager to plant a little bit of Canada in Sri Lanka. They have their own apples, pears etc and an abundance of local fruit, like pine-apple, jak, banana, mangoes etc. which are very sweet, may be because of the tropical climate. Are there any Canadian fruit trees that I could try planting there?

 

Might try Cupressus arizonica which looks temperate as well as Texas Juniperus species.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zt064A1RPWo/TrHHUMH8gkI/AAAAAAAAAII/-hUUU1w78fI/s1600/IMG_1260.JPG
http://www.noble.org/global/ag/wildlife/junipers/cedar.jpg


For a fruit tree that's native not a European import you could use Prunus serotina.
http://www.plantsystematics.org/imgs/kcn2/r/Rosaceae_Prunus_serotina_14041.html

 

@saltcedar - Wow!!! Thank you. These two are absolute beauties. What is the best place to purchase young trees, (saplings?) and what is the best method of transportation of such trees?

 

Assuming you live in Canada you'd need import permits from Sri Lanka.
My suggestion is you find seeds and plant them when you are there.

 

@saltcedar.. Thanks a lot. Taking seeds from Canada is a good idea and is doable. When I think of the red-tape roundabout and official mumbo-jumbo of doing even a simple thing like applying for an import permit in that country and getting it, that sounds like way off in the distant future! :) Thank you for all your help my friend. By the way, do you have your own blog?

 

No blog, sorry.

Mr_Subjunctive has one though.
http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/

 

That's Cupressus arizonica, not Cedrus - and it doesn't look anything like a cedar, either (compare here ;-)

 

Thanks for the correction, though I never said it looked like Cedrus.