Poems from Nature

How to Grow a Tropical Garden

It’s easier than you think

Native rainforest garden, Far North Queensland. © Bronwen Scott

According to the glossy magazines,

This is what you need to grow a tropical garden:

Cordylines for structure, crotons for colour,

Bromeliads, shell gingers, and frangipani,

And a spot for statuary beneath the clustered palms.

*

You might add hibiscus — the ones with red flowers —

And heliconias, but not the type that towers over you

And dangles blooms like strings of firecrackers,

Because those are too much.

*

Flowers summon butterflies —but

Their caterpillars eat leaves with no regard for neatness

And that you do not want.

So do take care or your garden will fill with insects,

And following insects, the birds and lizards, frogs and possums

—

According to nature

This is what you need to grow a tropical garden:

Rain for nutrients, sunlight for photosynthesis,