Tropical Plant Idea

My dad is a florist and every summer we have a garden with tropical plants like giant elephant ears, banana trees, huge agapanthus and many other species at one corner of our house (the other sides are flanked with hydrangeas that are cut back every year) . We can have this tropical garden because we have the greenhouses to put the plants in when it gets cold. It gave me an idea, I could have a hoop house greenhouse with a heater to house green peafowl and have tropical plants on their too. I know I am planning years down the line but I could have cheap access to the plants because of my dad and my dad would know where to buy the green house parts. I was wondering what plants you guys would include and if there are any definite no no's because they are poisonous to birds. I was also wondering if anyone had tried keeping peafowl in any type of greenhouse, hard plastic, or soft plastic hoop house. I imagine they would break glass green house panels, so I don't think glass would work. I also might move to a warmer place after college ruling, which would definitely take care of any heating problems with a plastic house.

Elephant ears (Colocasia, Alocasia, and Xanthosoma) and Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus) appear on a number of "toxic plant" lists, as do many others you likely encounter through your dad's business.

I'm not sure, but I might be worried about air quality inside a greenhouse. Most of the greenhouse aviaries I've seen have to use ventilation systems, requiring air to be heated again before it is blown into the greenhouse. I think it will become more complicated than simply a hoop house by the time you're done with things, but others will have better answers. Resolution has greenhouse aviaries.

I asked my Dad if the elephant ears were toxic and he said some of the varieties were but he was not sure if the giant's are.

Hooray join the club lol! For a while now I have been wanting a greenhouse aviary. I have done lots of sketches in different styles and over my spring break we visited the Bellingrath Gardens and I was inspired by their greenhouse. I took lots of photos. My parents said they thought it sounded like a cool idea and could see me really enjoying a greenhouse that doubled as an aviary but I would just need to save up for one or figure out what kind I would want or how big, etc. I wasn't thinking about the glass being breakable by the birds...That is something to really consider...That is cool that your dad is a florist. I really love tropical plants but some of my favorite ones are the ones that I would only be able to grow in a greenhouse. It would be cool to have a small tree in the greenhouse that the birds could roost in.

You could maybe use a tree-fern. I tried the Australian tree fern in my peafowl pen but it got too cold for it and it died. I love tree ferns though. Some ground ferns would be cool too maybe. The only thing I would be worried about is what I would be able to keep without the birds eating it up. I too would be keeping green peafowl in the greenhouse. I was thinking maybe the greenhouse could also have a small outdoor run attached to it so the birds could go outside if it got too stuffy or something. Maybe you could have the small doors that open up to let in air be covered with mesh or something so the birds can't get out but you can let a lot of air in. My mom was talking about how even a little water feature would be nice. I think it would be cool for the peafowl to be able to drink out of a water feature other than just a bucket or something. I keep trying to image search for greenhouse aviaries but I haven't found much if anything. I did find a cool youtube video of a greenhouse with butterflies inside in a person's backyard.

Here are some photos I took from inside the Bellingrath Garden's greenhouse. I loved the plants they used but if this were to be a greenhouse with peafowl I think it would need more free space without such huge plant groupings so the peafowl could have more room to move and display.

This is the greenhouse. It was a really nice size.


When you walk in they had a nice circular center planting.


There was an awesome ponytail palm inside too! I got one of those from Home Depot but it died in the winter just like my tree fern.


Then I also like the giant bird of paradise in the corner.


Here is the right side of the greenhouse. It had a water feature.


Here are some photos of just the plant groupings. I love all the colors they used.




It has been my dream for a long time to have a big tropical greenhouse with peafowl, specifically green peafowl inside. I will keep on working on the idea...I have found a lot of plants I like and it would be cool to have some vines hanging too maybe. A question I was wondering about is if peafowl would eat koi fish?

My Peas love flower blossoms and elephant ears ,banana trees too.

SuperPeacockman said:

I asked my Dad if the elephant ears were toxic and he said some of the varieties were but he was not sure if the giant's are.

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Taro is a food crop -- the root of "elephant ears" belonging to the genera I mentioned above (the common name "elephant ears" is also sometimes used for Caladium and Bergenia). The plants must be cooked to render harmless some toxin I can't remember. I've seen them used in zoos, so I wonder if birds are either not susceptible, or just take a nibble and hate the taste. It's just what I'm remembering from seeing the plants on "toxic" lists for cage birds -- perhaps peafowl don't suffer the same effects, but proceed with caution.

You could use bananas, ti plants (like the pink ones in the photos but they come in other colors too), gingers, canna, most edible fruits except maybe avocado or passion fruit (due to the toxicity of the passiflora plants and unripe fruits). Philodendrons and Monstera are tropical looking but also toxic. Maybe keep some things on the outside of the run where they can't get to it. I grow tons of toxic stuff in my yard and have all kinds of fowl freerange and not bother it. There is a difference in planting toxic things straight into their pens though because they could become bored and eat it or just eat it because its the only green thing in there lol. If you live in a cold weather area. I would mix in some tropicals with other edible native plants so you don't have such a bare look part of the year. A lot of tropicals can be overwintered in a greenhouse or even dry in the pot or bare rooted in another area that is kept above freezing.

Right now since I don't have a greenhouse I just try to get hardy tropicals planted in the peafowl pen. The clumping bamboo works really well and so do hardy palms.

How cold does it get where you are in FL?

It gets down to the 20's here. It has been colder than that before but that is rare and hasn't happened for a while. When I was like 5 we had a light snow. We are really close to Alabama so we aren't in the lower tropical part of Florida like Tampa or Miami. I am in zone 8b/9a.