When Bo Barefoot gives directions to his house in Bethesda, he stops with the turn onto his street. After that, he says, "You'll see the banana trees."
In fact, when you get to the house, it is hard to see the 1907 structure because of the tall, swaying banana trees; the brugmansia with their long, drooping, trumpet-shaped flowers; the hibiscus; the fuchsias; the castor beans with their giant palmate leaves; the sago palm; the Norfolk Island pines; the gardenias -- in short, the tropical forest that Barefoot, a building contractor by trade, has nurtured in his yard every summer for the past eight or nine years.
Growing plants that are normally at home in Florida, South America and Africa is a labor of love for Barefoot, who started his hobby after he lost a child in an auto accident. Caring for his tropical forest was a kind of therapy for him, and it's clear from their cheerful profusion that the plants are happy in his care.
Some plants were bought at local nurseries, some via mail order. "A lot were gifts," he said. "I've ended up adopting a lot of people's plants."
Plants that outgrow their greenhouses or are difficult to sell out of season (poinsettias and Christmas cactus in January, for example, or hibiscus at summer's end) find their way to his yard and rambling decks and porches. He has been known to rescue plants abandoned beside trash bins at plant centers. He once rescued a plant protruding from a load of trash in the back of a pickup truck, clearly headed for the dump.
Some of the plants he's found are passionflowers, also called maypop ( Passiflora incarnata), which grow wild in most of the Southeastern United States and in some places are considered an invasive weed. He dug up one of his specimens in a natural area not far from his house.
Tropicals such as the ones Barefoot plants are increasingly available at nurseries and garden centers and are becoming more popular among everyday gardeners -- a trend somewhat contrary to the notion of growing only non-invasive native plants.
Some plants considered tropical are common in the Washington region. Southern magnolia ( M. grandiflora), crape myrtle, canna, camellia, and Darlington live oak ( Quercus virginiana"Darlingtonii") are some of these hardy tropicals. A better term for them might be exotics -- plants that offer large foliage, unusual-shaped blooms and bright colors. Many of them can live comfortably outside their zone designations with careful siting and proper care.
Home gardeners are beginning to enjoy the exotic look and wonderful fragrances these plants offer. It's even possible to treat them as annuals if you don't mind the expense. But to those who want to keep the plant going, Barefoot warns, "you can't get a specimen plant like this if you're not going to take care of it."
Barefoot has also become an expert at propagating his plants. The bananas are especially easy. "Bananas have corms, and they have pups. That's how banana groves develop," he said. He repots the pups; the driveway is a nursery for sprouting banana trees.
A garden with such profusion might be expected to attract wildlife, and Barefoot has his share -- besides the three dogs and the cat that are a part of his household. Hummingbirds love the trumpet-shaped flowers: the brugs, the miniature petunias and the hibiscus. He has a small pond with foot-long koi that he raised from tiny fish, three turtles and myriad frogs. "They're pretty tame," he said of the turtles and the koi. He buys a lot of crickets, which he distributes freely. "They're spoiled."
Interspersed throughout the exotic plants are some varieties commonly found closer to home: a few impatiens and a lot of tomatoes. "They look good, and they grow well."
Barefoot has a traditional vegetable and herb garden in the back yard next to the greenhouse. Right now, it's full of kale, but he will soon swap that out for warm-weather vegetables such as beans. There's a pumpkin plant growing at the edge of the huge compost heap that has produced 1,100-pound pumpkins, though he's not expecting anything that large. There's also a volunteer squash plant in the front yard, which sprouted next to the driveway and has woven its way among the tropicals. It seems to be right at home.
The back yard is also home to a hot-water outdoor shower; a playhouse for his now-grown children that is complete with heating and air conditioning and a pair of kitchen counters, one with a double sink. Amazing as this tropical paradise is, what may be even more astonishing is that it disappears in the winter. Before the first frost, Barefoot moves almost every plant inside -- into the house under grow lights, as well as into the greenhouse, which also has a pond, and to the basement under fluorescent lights.
"There are more than 300 plants I take in the house," he said. He used to do it all himself, but now he gets one of his employees to help.
"It's easier to take them out in the spring," he said, when the plants can come out gradually after frost danger has passed. But in the fall, it can be a challenge to get them in on time. Everything has to be under cover by Oct. 15. The koi overwinter in the bottom of the pond, where Barefoot puts in a small heater.
That is the labor part of the love, and it's essential if you want to grow these types of plants, he said. "It's pretty wearing on you -- you have to have someplace to put them."
The plants' fragility is the reason Barefoot doesn't worry about any of them "escaping" into the wild and driving out native species. "The weather will kill them," he said. "We have winters that are too harsh for anything to be a nuisance."
He does have one exotic that can survive the winter -- with a lot of help. That's the basjoo banana ( musa basjoo), which has been cultivated in Japan since the 1300s. The ornamental is also called the Japanese fiber banana because cloth can be made from it. Barefoot mulches them heavily in winter, but even so, a bitterly cold season will kill them, mulch or no mulch.
For those who want tropicals, there are rewards. "Around here, the weather is so perfect for six months," he said. With plenty of warm sun and lots of water, the plants flourish.
He cites the banana trees as examples. In Florida, where there's a lot of wind, the giant leaves of the bananas get shredded and look ragged and unhealthy, though shredding is a natural response to keep the wind from ripping the leaves off the trees. In Maryland, there's less chance of that. "I think they grow better around here than where they're indigenous."Washington Post
