🍪 How to deal with chocolate cravings? Chocolate with zero calories

🍪 Do you have to deal with chocolate temptation all the time? Portlandia, the glorious flower of Cuba, smells like creamy chocolate and blooms in stunning bells. Rare, fragrant, and tough - even thrives in alkaline soil!

📚 Learn more:
What flower smells like warm chocolate?

🛒 No calories, just fragrance - bring home Portlandia!

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits #Trees

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

☂️ What to plant in a shady spot? Unusual variegated flowers of Lavender Ice!

• 
  💜 Thunbergia erecta Lavender Ice, or Lavender Lace, is a unique, rare variety of King's Mantle with stunning lavender-off-white variegated flowers.
• 
  💜 Unlike many variegated plants, this one is vigorous and easy to grow. It can be used as a showy garden specimen or a low-growing hedge, and it responds well to pruning, which encourages more blooms.
• 
  💜 This plant thrives in filtered light and will grow larger, darker leaves in shade. It reaches a height of 5-7 feet and has a dense habit, making it perfect for creating a hedge.
• 
  💜 Lavender Ice attracts butterflies and hummingbirds with its profusion of flowers
• 
  💜 For healthy growth, keep the soil consistently moist, but not soggy, and mulch around the base to retain moisture. If growing in a pot, frequent watering is key.
• 
  💜 It's hardy enough to withstand temperatures as low as 30F for short periods. Ideal for USDA Zones 9-11, this plant can also be grown in pots in colder climates.

🛒Bring home rare Lavender Ice!

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🍒 Why you should grow a Pitanga tree. Health benefits of Surinam Cherry

Pitanga (Eugenia uniflora), also known as Surinam cherry or Brazilian cherry, is a tropical fruit that's as tasty as it is healthy. This small tree or bush brings beauty to your yard and benefits to your body. With shiny leaves, fragrant white flowers, and bright red or dark maroon fruit, it's an easy-to-grow plant that also happens to be a nutritional powerhouse.

❓ So, why plant Pitanga?

• 
  🍒 Pitanga is packed with vitamins. Pitanga is loaded with vitamin C for glowing skin and a strong immune system, and vitamin A for healthy eyes.
• 
  🍒 Pitanga is full of antioxidants. Especially the dark fruits, which are rich in plant compounds like lycopene and beta-carotene that may protect your cells and reduce inflammation.
• 
  🍒 Pitanga has healing power. Traditional medicine has used it for heartburn, stomach issues, and even respiratory conditions. Lab studies show it may help fight bacteria and fungi too.
• 
  🍒 Pitanga might fight cancer. Early research suggests pitanga extracts may slow cancer cell growth.
• 
  🍒 Pitanga tastes like summer. When fully ripe, the juicy fruit has a sweet-tart flavor - great in salads, desserts, jams, and even cocktails. Pitanga var. Black Star, or Lolita has exceptional flavor, larger sweeter fruit than regular red-fruit variety.

⚠️ Bonus: It grows fast, stays evergreen, and makes a great natural privacy screen or edible hedge.

If you're looking for a tropical fruit tree that’s both beautiful and beneficial, Pitanga is a smart choice. Just make sure to pick the fruit when fully ripe - and prepare to fall in love with this cherry that's not quite a cherry!

🛒 Start growing Health today - add Pitanga to your Food Forest

📚 More about Lolita Cherry from previous posts:

• 💋What makes Lolita different from regular Surinam Cherry?
• 💋Top 10 fruit you'll ever need for your health benefits: #8 Lolita Cherry
• 💋 Who is that Sweet Black Lolita from Surinam?
• 💋Top 10 fast-fruiting trees: #3. Eugenias - Tropical Cherries
• 💋How to make a jam with Surinam Cherry

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Hedges_with_benefits #Discover

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

☀️ Why all Floridians want Coffee Senna in their landscape and what it has to do with Coffee

• 
  🌼 Beauty without the hassle! Cassia occidentalis, commonly known as Coffee Senna, Fedegoso, or Privet Cassia, offers striking beauty and practical benefits, making it an excellent choice for low-maintenance landscapes and herbal medicinal garden.
• 
  🌼 From spring to fall, this medium-sized shrub showcases clusters of orange-yellow flowers that look like little yellow hummingbirds from the distance and attract butterflies and bees.​ The large, red-veined leaves add ornamental value even when not in bloom.​
• 
  🌼 Coffee Senna thrives in full sun to partial shade and is drought- and cold-tolerant once established. ​Requires minimal care, making it ideal for gardeners seeking beauty without the hassle.​ Its spreading habit can provide a natural hedge or privacy screen.​
• 
  🌼 Coffee Senna gets its common name from the resemblance of its seeds to coffee beans. The seeds are dark and oval-shaped, much like coffee beans. Despite the name, the seeds are not related to the actual coffee plant (Coffea arabica). The "Senna" part of its name refers to its botanical Senna genus, which includes various species traditionally used for medicinal purposes.
• 
  🌼 Health Benefits of Coffee Senna

Beyond its ornamental appeal, Coffee Senna has a history in traditional medicine:​

• 
  ✔️Digestive Aid: The seeds have mild laxative properties, aiding in constipation relief.​
• 
  ✔️Respiratory Support: Infusions of the root and dried flowers are used to treat gastrointestinal issues, colds, and flu .​
• 
  ✔️Skin Health: Poultices made from the roots and flowers are applied to treat skin disorders such as eczema .​
• 
  ✔️Nutritional Value: The seeds are rich in iron and other minerals, contributing to overall health .

🛒 Plant your own Coffee Senna

#Food_Forest #Butterfly_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits #Remedies #Discover

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

💐 How to get a large, lush and fragrant bush in no time

• 
  💐 Looking for a fragrant, fast-growing shrub that adds beauty and privacy to your garden? Clerodendrum bungei - Glory Bower, Cashmere bouquet - is an excellent choice.​


Key Benefits:
• 
  💐 Fragrant Blooms: Enjoy clusters of sweetly scented, pink flowers that attract butterflies and other pollinators. They open in terminal panicles up to six inches across.
• 
  💐 Versatile Growth: Dark green leaves often tinged purple are up to 8 inches long. This plant can be grown as a compact shrub or allowed to spread. This plant is incredibly vigorous and fast-growing, spreading quickly through root suckers. If you don’t want it to take over your yard in just one season, make sure to plant it in a contained corner or a container.
• 
  💐 Hardy and Resilient: Cashmere Bouquet is hardy to USDA Zones 8-10 and can tolerate light freezes, rejuvenating each spring. ​
• 💐 Low Maintenance: It thrives in full sun to part shade and is drought-tolerant once established. ​Keep the soil moist during the growing season. ​Regular pruning helps maintain its shape and encourages more blooms. ​

🛒 Buy Clerodendrum bungei – Cashmere Bouquet

📚 More about Clerodendrums in previous posts:

• 💋 Clerodendrum schmitii and Clerodendrum wallichii
• 💋 Clerodendrum minahasse - Fountain Clerodendrum
• 💋What is the most spectacular Clerodendrum
• 💋How to grow Clerodendrums
• 💋Fireworks of Winter
• 💋Fragrant Cashmere Bouquet
• 💋Fountain Clerodendrum
• 💋What is better - Blue or Pink
• 💋Why is it called Blue Butterfly
• 💋Clerodendrum paniculatum
• 💋Seaside Clerodendrum
• 💋Pink Bleeding Heart
• 💋Why is it called Musical Notes
• 💋Bleeding Heart Vine
• 💋Cashmere Bouquet

#Hedges_with_benefits #Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Butterfly_Plants

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🕊 Top irresistible vines for a hummingbird haven. Part 2.

Full list of Hummingbird favorite vines for the previous post ⤴️

Antigonon leptopus - Mexican Coral Vine 📸
Aristolochia - Dutchman's Pipe
Bignonia capreolata - Crossvine 📸
Camptosema - Dwarf Red Jade Vine
Chonemorpha fragrans - Frangipani Vine
Clerodendrums - Bleeding Heart and others
Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea
Combretum aubletii - Monkey Brush Vine
Dipladenia (Mandevilla)
Faradaya splendida - Glory Vine
Gmelina philippensis - Parrot's Beak
Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower
Ipomoea - Prince Kuhio Vine 📸
Lonicera - Honeysuckle 📸
Mansoa alliacea - Garlic Vine
Pandorea jasminoides - Pandora Vine
Passiflora - Passion Flower 📸
Petrea volubilis - Queen's Wreath
Pyrostegia venusta - Flame Vine 📸
Quisqualis indica - Rangoon Creeper
Senecio confusus - Mexican Flame Vine
Solandra - Butter Cup
Stephanotis floribunda - Bridal Bouquet
Tecomanthe dendrophylla - New Guinea Creeper vine
Tecomaria capensis - Cape Honeysuckle 📸
Thunbergia - Sky Vine, Clock Vine 📸

🛒Turn Your Garden Into a Hummingbird Paradise!

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants #How_to

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🕊 Top Eight irresistible vines for a hummingbird haven. Part 1.

Below is the Hummingbird Haven Plan designed for continuous blooms, vertical interest, and year-round hummingbird attraction.

Centerpiece (Tall Structure / Arbor)

• 
  🦋 Thunbergia, especially Thunbergia mysorensis (Clock Vine). Provide strong overhead support for its hanging blooms. Let this showstopper trail over a sturdy pergola or arbor. Its long, red-and-yellow flowers will be your garden’s main hummingbird magnet.


Side Support (Trellis or Fence)
• 
  🦋 Bignonia capreolata (Crossvine) - A hardy, fast-growing native that clings to supports. Train it on a trellis for early-spring blooms that attract the season’s first hummingbirds.
• 
  🦋 Tecomaria (Cape Honeysuckle) - A vigorous, evergreen bloomer that loves full sun. Its bright red-orange tubular flowers draw hummingbirds throughout the year and are perfect for training along fences or trellises.


Mid-layer (Fence, Arch, or Large Pot Trellis)
• 
  🦋 Passiflora (especially vitifolia or coccinea). Needs full sun, rich soil, and regular water; prune to manage size and boost flowering. Let it twine near seating areas for bold red blooms and close-up hummingbird visits.


Ground-Level Accents
• 
  🦋 Ipomoea (including Prince Kuhio Vine) - Thrives in warm, frost-free zones with sun and moisture. Plant at the base of structures or in containers to sprawl or climb with vivid purple-pink blooms.
• 
  🦋 Lonicera (including L. sempervirens - Coral Honeysuckle) - Plant at the base of a trellis or fence, near the arbor. This cold-hardy native has red-orange or yellow tubular blooms from spring to fall and adds a delicate contrast to tropical textures.


Wild Touch / Quick Filler
• 
  🦋 Antigonon leptopus - Mexican Coral Vine - Loves sun and drains well; drought-tolerant but frost-sensitive. Great for fences and open trellises as a fast-growing, summer-to-fall bloomer buzzing with activity.
• 
  🦋 Pyrostegia venusta (Flame Vine) - Bursting in fiery orange, perfect for fences or pergolas. Plant along a back fence or side trellis where it can sprawl wide and fill empty space. Thrives in full sun, blooms in winter-spring, and complements vertical stars like Thunbergia and Passionflower.

📝 These vines feature tubular, nectar-rich blooms that hummingbirds adore.
Add a shallow birdbath or feeder nearby, and you'll have a full-service nectar station!

See full list of Hummingbird favorite vines in next post ⤵️

🛒Turn Your Garden Into a Hummingbird Paradise!

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants #How_to

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🎶 How to add Music to your garden

• ♪ Clerodendrum incisum, also known as Musical Note or Morning Kiss, is a compact, low-maintenance plant with unusual, showy flowers that resemble musical notes, giving it its name.
• ♪ It thrives in both full sun and shade, tolerates some drought, and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, making it perfect for wildlife-friendly gardens. With blooms bursting everywhere, this plant creates a beautiful carpet of musical-note-shaped flowers around its base, offering a true symphony for your garden.

ℹ️ The unopened flowers resemble musical notes, giving the plant its name.

🛒 Get Musical Notes for your garden

📚 Learn more about Music Notes:

• · Why it is called Musical Notes
• · Musical Note hits its peak

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🪚 How to enhance your garden with hardy tropical: Fast Growing White Orchid Tree

• 💮 Bauhinia alba (candida) - White Orchid Tree - is the most cold hardy of all bauhinias. It is a medium-sized, fast-growing tree with short trunk and spreading branches that provide excellent shade.
• 💮 Abundant, fragrant white flowers adorned with subtle lemon-green markings, blooming from winter through spring and intermittently in summer.
• 💮 Cold Hardy: Among the most frost-tolerant Bauhinias, thriving in temperatures as low as 26F. ​
• 💮 Rapid Growth: Grows quickly, reaching heights of 15 to 30 feet, ideal for creating a lush, shaded area. ​
• 💮 Attracts Pollinators: The large, showy flowers attract hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies, enhancing your garden's ecosystem.​
• 💮 Low Maintenance: Drought-tolerant once established and thrives in well-drained soil with full sun exposure. ​

📚 Orchid trees from previous posts:

• 💋White Orchid Tree
• 💋Pure white and elegant
• 💋The most beautiful of all orchid trees - Hong Kong
• 💋Orchid tree with stunning red-and-yellow flowers
• 💋How to grow Orchid Trees in pots
• 💋Pride of De Kaap or Nasturtium Bauhinia
• 💋What is the best shade tree that is fast growing and beautiful?
• 💋Why Bauhinias are called Orchid Trees: orchid flowers with butterfly wings

🛒 Enhance your garden with White Orchid Tree

#Hedges_with_benefits #Trees #Butterfly_Plants

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🗓 This Jasmine Blooms 365 Days a Year - And It Smells Divine!

• 🌹 Looking for a jasmine that blooms nonstop and smells absolutely divine? Jasminum dichotomum, the rare Rose Bud Jasmine, also known as Everblooming Jasmine - has the fragrance that never quits!
• 🌹 Dark rose-pink buds open into pure white, perfumed flowers - year-round!
• 🌹 Glossy ornamental foliage creates the perfect contrast.
• 🌹 Covers fences, trellises, or arches in one season!
• 🌹 Cold-tolerant, fast-growing, and ridiculously easy to grow.
• 🌹 This isn’t just another jasmine - it's a rare collector’s favorite that delivers nonstop fragrance.
• 🌹 Who wouldn't want a jasmine that smells like heaven and flowers every day?

🛒 Snag Your Rose Bud Jasmine Now – Before It Sells Out!

📚 Lean more from previous posts:
What jasmine blooms year around?
Perfumed Rose Bud, but not a Rose?

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals