# Tropical Plants & Flowers in Zone 7
Some tropical plants survive in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zone 7 because their roots remain protected from cold by the soil. As long as cold and frost doesn't penetrate too deeply, the roots survive and resprout stems and leaves in spring.
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Growing Options
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Gardeners grow tropical plants outdoors in USDA zone 7 with three options. First is to grow them in summer as an annual that dies after fall frost arrives. Another option is to dig up tropical plants and overwinter them indoors and the last option is to grow hardy tropicals that rest dormant in the ground.
Types
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Tropical plants that overwinter outdoors in the ground include butterfly ginger (Hedychium spp.), candy corn plant (Cuphea micropetala), canna, elephant ear (Colocasia spp.) and many types of bananas (Musa spp.). Palms like needle palm, dwarf palmetto and windmill palm overwinter just fine. Tropical plants best dug up and stored indoors include the tubers of dahlia, caladium, tuberous begonia and more cold-sensitive varieties of canna or crinum lily.
Overwintering Tips
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To ensure the underground roots of hardy tropical plants don't succumb to cold, lay a 6 to 10 inch layer of coarse mulch atop the soil. In addition, do not prune off frost-killed stems and foliage until early spring. This debris helps insulate the roots from cold and fluctuating temperatures on sunny winter days.
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