• Pawpaw trees produce edible fruit.PhotoLink/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  Tropical-style gardening has become a trend in horticulture, even in Pennsylvania. While northern gardeners cannot grow palm trees, they can choose from a number of hardy trees bearing foliage that recalls the steamier climes to the south. Trees with unusually large leaves and trees with highly cut foliage are especially evocative of the tropics.
  
  

Northern Catalpa

• Catalpas, often associated with the South, have a hardy northern counterpart--Catalpa speciosa, or northern catalpa, which has huge, tropical-appearing leaves and orchidlike white flowers. The heart-shaped leaves reach nearly 1 foot in length. Long, slender pods follow the flowering stage of this tree, adding to the tropical aura. Northern catalpas grow in average soil and are hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Plant Hardiness Zone 4, which means they easily tolerate a Pennsylvania winter. The trees, which prefer full to partial sun, reach 40 to 50 feet tall at maturity.
  
  

Pawpaw

• The pawpaw tree (Asimina triloba) is thickly covered with dramatically drooping 1-foot-long oval leaves that provide a languid tropical effect. In bright light, the tree's branches cover the entire trunk, extending close to the ground. Pawpaw form small dense colonies reminiscent of thick, junglelike rain forests, but the suckers that emerge from the main plant can be removed easily if a single tree is desired. The purple flowers, which resemble trillium, are followed by edible fruit that taste somewhat like a cross between a banana and a pineapple. Pawpaw prefer to be in partial shade in cool soils and are hardy to USDA Zone 5, which encompasses most of Pennsylvania. The tree reaches 15 to 20 feet tall when fully grown.
  
  

Tiger Eyes Sumac

• The shortest tropical-like tree that thrives in Pennsylvania is the cut-leaf sumac known as Tiger Eyes (Rhus typhina Tiger Eyes). Considered far superior to the common roadside sumac, Tiger Eyes has very finely cut foliage that is chartreuse in spring and later transitions to a golden hue. The tree reaches 6 to 8 feet in height; with its finely dissected leaves, the effect is that of a large, golden, tropical fern. Easy to grow, Tiger Eyes does best in full to partial sun and is hardy to Zone 4, making it a tough plant for every region of Pennsylvania.