Some garden trends are here to stay. We Minnesotans love our panseys in the spring and mums in the fall.

When local nurseries started to introduce annuals from West Africa and Central America, I thought these tropical plants would be a short lived curiosity in the Northland. Boy was I wrong. Everywhere you go, there Elephant Ears and Castor Bean plants are spilling out of patio pots.

This year, I decided to give tropicals a try and bought a Popcorn Cassia (Cassia didymobotrya) from Bachman's. The foot-high plant was covered in beautiful yellow blooms and dark green foliage that smelled like -- you guessed it -- hot buttered popcorn when you ran your fingers through the leaves. The tag promised that Popcorn Cassia quickly grew 6-8 feet tall and bloom all summer long. I usually don't spend fifteen bucks on a singal annual, but I was sold.

In my head, I started planning backyard barbecue to show off my new tropical friend. "Oh, you noticed my eight-foot friend? That's just a Popcorn Cassia. More lemonade?"

Funny how fantasy and reality rarely meet.

Three months later, my Popcorn Cassia still smells like buttered popcorn. Yes, it is covered in cool yellow blossoms -- but standing only three feet high --- it is barely taller than my Brussels sprouts. Usually, I'd blame my inexperience, but the rest of my patio plants are growing strong.

As we tomato lovers are quick to point out -- Our summer has been anything but tropical. Many of our tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are still green on the vine. As we get closer and closer to the State Fair, my hopes of a barbecue-boasting behemoth have faded.

Has this been a hard summer on your tropical plants, too? Are your more exotic annuals growing strong or languishing in our cool summer?