If you want a tropical garden, you want plants with large leaves like banana and monstera. Mainland flowers usually have small leaves. If you mix up cactus and daisies and ornamental gingers, again you'll have a mishmash. Mersino recommends using brightly colored foliage plants to introduce focal points in the garden. The nice part about croton and beefsteak plant is that they hold their color year round.
Flowers come and go.
Croton, which is native to the South Pacific, is easy to grow but it requires bright sunlight to keep its foliage in full color. It propagates from cuttings, so if you can find a neighbor who is trimming his crotons, politely ask for a couple of branches. The best branches are of the diameter of a pencil and about 9 inches long. Remove the leaves and use a rooting hormone like Rootone on the cut ends. Plant in clean potting soil, water thoroughly and keep in semi-shade for about a month until roots have formed and new growth shows on the cutting.