By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Wish your garden looked as lush as Hawaii? At the Flower Show you’ll see a tribute to a Hawaiian tradition of dividing land into strips running from the mountain to the sea, along which people could find or grow all they needed to live.

This towering exhibit – created and cultivated by Temple University Ambler Landscape Architecture and Horticulture students and faculty – shows you how easily you can do it yourself at your home, because so many of the exotic-looking plants in their display are actually native to the Philadelphia area.

Including the droopy-leafed ‘Paw-Paw’ tree, which isn’t Hawaiian at all, but rather grows naturally here – and has a creamy fruit that oddly enough, tastes tropical.

By including lots of perennials native to our area that have intense colors and distinctive foliage, the Temple Ambler exhibit makes it easy to see how you can create a tropical-looking garden with things that grow naturally around here. It’s all in the plants you pick and how you put them together.