Beautiful heliconia with its exotic flowers gives a South Florida landscape the lush look of the tropics.
The unusual blossoms are similar to bird of paradise - and at first glance orange varieties of this plant are often mistaken for orange bird.
Flowers colors range from orange to red to yellow, and the blooms appear in warm months of the year.
These plants are not necessarily a good choice for every yard. They will spread 3 feet or more and need an area where they're allowed to do so, rather than being expected to stay put as a single accent in a mixed and varied bed.
Use well-defined edging to keep them in bounds...wide landscape blocks or a bed bordered by a walk or drive makes their natural desire to spread easy to control.
However, if you have the room, let them naturalize an area for a very unique and tropical look.
Most of these tropical landscape plants grow to about 3 or 4 feet tall, though some varieties can get much larger.