Welcome, Fellow Plant-A-Holic
Exotic Gardening has been a home for unusual plants, tropicals and year-round gardening since 1998.
I'm Sheri Ann Richerson. Tropical and exotic plants were my first love, and over the years that obsession has grown into seed starting, propagation, houseplants, edible tropicals, greenhouse growing and finding practical ways to keep gardening through every season.
Where Do You Want To Grow Next?
Gardening does not stop when the outdoor garden goes dormant. Around here, the seasons simply change what we are doing.
BRING IT IN → KEEP IT ALIVE → PROPAGATE IT → START IT → GROW IT → MOVE IT OUT
🌱 Start Seeds
Build a reliable indoor seed-starting system, then dig into the unusual species, experiments and germination methods that make seed starting so fascinating.
🪴 Houseplants & Tropicals
Choose plants for your indoor conditions, care for tropical favorites and explore some of the rare and unusual plants that have always been at the heart of Exotic Gardening.
🍫 Grow Chocolate
Theobroma cacao has been part of my gardening life for more than two decades. Follow cacao from seed and seedling to the remarkable plant behind chocolate.
🌿 Propagate & Experiment
Propagation is where curiosity gets interesting. Explore real germination experiments, unusual techniques and what I have learned by documenting the plants themselves.
🏡 Garden All Year
Cold weather does not have to end the growing season. Explore unheated greenhouse growing, protected spaces and practical ways to stretch the seasons.
🥬 Grow Something To Eat
Vegetables, herbs and edible tropicals belong here too. Start, grow and troubleshoot food plants alongside the ornamentals.
Step Into The Gardens
Exotic Gardening has a history of its own. The Gardens preserve an older part of the site — a look at the gardens, plants and growing journey that helped shape what Exotic Gardening became.
A Few Good Places To Dig In
If you would rather jump straight into a guide, these are useful starting points from across the site.
- How To Grow Amaryllis: Complete Care & Reblooming Guide
- Indoor Seed Starting Setup: An Indiana-Friendly System
- Easy Exotic Houseplants That Thrive Indoors In Containers
- How To Grow Heliconia
- How To Grow Boswellia sacra
- Spider Plants
Why Exotic Gardening?
I have been growing, experimenting with and writing about plants for decades. You will find more than polished success stories here. You will also find germination experiments, plants I have overwintered, methods I have tried, observations I recorded and lessons learned when plants did not behave the way the instructions said they should.
One of my longest-running specialties is Theobroma cacao. I have more than 20 years of firsthand experience sourcing cacao seeds and pods, germinating them, growing seedlings and exploring the connection between the living cacao plant and chocolate. I also co-authored A Chocolate Lover's Garden with Thomas Leo Ogren.
Whether you came because one houseplant is in trouble or because you are wondering whether you can grow something wildly tropical where winter says otherwise, I hope you will stay curious and experiment along with me.
Stay In The Garden
Exotic Gardening is being rebuilt around connected growing journeys rather than isolated articles. Subscribe below so you can keep exploring as new and newly restored resources are added.
Looking for something specific? Email [email protected].
