Online Class: Tropical Gardening 101

Courses Frequently Bought Together:

All About Herbs

Cooking and Baking 101

Course Motivation

If you look at a globe of the Earth, you will notice there are distinct zones in which certain countries and continents lie. In the middle of the globe, halfway between the North and South poles, is the equator. This line separates the northern and southern hemispheres from each other, even though it is not an actual feature of the lands.

The line is where the climates of the Earth can also be separated. The areas that are close to the equator are considered tropical, as they have the highest temperatures and they have the best conditions for growing tropical plants.

These areas are not only hot, but some of these areas also have higher levels of moisture, which allow for better growing conditions.

(After all, the Sahara Desert also lies along the equator, but verdant tropical gardening is not possible there.)

However, it is not just the equator that designates where tropical plants can be found. There are also two other lines of measurement that have been placed onto maps for reference.

These lines are the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, located respectively, above and below the equator. Within these lines, slightly above, and below them are the higher temperatures and the ability for people to grow tropical plants.

Of course, the Earth itself already has plants that are tropical in those areas, so humans are not completely responsible for the growing patterns there. 

While the tropical plants in these tropical zones are lush and vibrant, this does not necessarily mean that the plants have stayed in those areas forever.

Since it is possible for us to buy potted plants from tropical regions and to find tropical plants in some non-tropical areas of the world, thus, it is clear that the plants were brought to new areas over the course of time.

Many people believe that the tropical plants of today were brought into other areas by explorers of the period. When the explorers saw that the plants were new and exciting, they decided to bring them back to their homelands.

This did not always mean that the plants survived and thrived, but the introduction of many plants was a successful one.

Think about the introduction of the orchid or the palm tree, not native to Europe in the time of the explorers. In addition, the rubber tree plant of India was also brought into new countries.

Once these plants were brought in and cultivated, then the people of the areas would bring the plants into other areas, and those people then brought the plants into other areas.

Before long, tropical plants were not long confined to their original home. They had found a number of new homes, and now, they might find a home in your backyard.