Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date:

Watch the biggest Vanilla Orchid in the world moving to 100 gal pot! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Watch the biggest Vanilla Orchid in the world moving to 100 gal pot!

🏆 Watch the biggest Vanilla Orchid in the world moving to 100 gal pot!

Vanilla dillioniana - The Biggest Vanilla Orchid grown in 100 Gal Pot! "Intelligent Design" by Robert Riefer.
Today we take a tour in Robert's garden, where he shows us the secret of growing the biggest vanilla orchid in the world. To find out how, watch this video filmed in 2017, and check out updates of this monster plant in the next post!
📱

🛒 Get your own super rare Leafless Vanilla dilloniana - propagated from this exact historical plant!

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders #How_to

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A perfect Summer plant: red bells are hot without bringing heat. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

A perfect Summer plant: red bells are hot without bringing heat

Fireball Abutilon - Abutilon darwinii x striatum

🔥 A perfect Summer plant: red bells are hot without bringing heat
  • 🔥 Meet the Fireball Abutilon, a fiery beauty that doesn't burn! This charming hybrid (A. darwinii x striatum), also known as Biltmore Ballgown, shows off glowing red bell flowers with elegant curled petals and bold red veins.
  • 🔥 Its maple-like leaves add even more style.
  • 🔥 It can grow up to 8-10 ft tall but stays neat with pruning. Loves summer pampering - water, fertilizer, and sunshine. Not a fan of cold snaps, so give it a cozy spot.
  • 🔥 It's the perfect plant for turning up the color without turning up the heat!


🛒 Shop Flowering Shrubs for Hot Summer

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_plants

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The bloom that broke all the rules: Black Sheep Adenium. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

The bloom that broke all the rules: Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

🐑 The bloom that broke all the rules: Black Sheep Adenium

Photos of Black Sheep adenium for the previous post 👆

🛒 Shop adeniums

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Adenium

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The legendary Black Sheep of the family. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

The legendary Black Sheep of the family

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

🖤 The legendary Black Sheep of the family
  • 🐑 Not your average desert rose, Black Sheep Adenium shows up to the garden party dressed in midnight velvet!
  • 🐑 Its petals are so dark they almost swallow the light, with a smoldering red glow at the center that dares you to look closer.
  • 🐑 Mysterious? Yes. Dramatic? Absolutely. This flower doesn’t blend in - it steals the show!
  • 🐑 The perfect plant for those who like their beauty bold, broody, and a little rebellious. You'll want to whisper secrets to it under moonlight. It's not just a plant. It's a statement! See photos of actual Black Sheep Adenium in next post 👇


🛒 Own the drama. Grow the legend: Black Adeniums

❗️Black colored adeniums start as reddish color buds, flower opens as red-black and darkens as matures.
📚 More black and dark-flowered adeniums

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Fun_Facts #Adenium

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Wesley's opportunity. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Wesleys opportunity

Wesley the Cat

Wesley the Cat

🐈🐈🐈 Wesley's opportunity

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." - Albert Einstein

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats #Quotes

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How to make chocolate dumplings in mango sauce: exotic recipe. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How to make chocolate dumplings in mango sauce: exotic recipe

chocolate dumplings in mango sauce

chocolate dumplings in mango sauce

How to make chocolate dumplings in mango sauce: exotic recipe

Ready to sneak this onto your dessert menu under a name like "Tropics Lost in Vienna"?

Ingredients
  • 🔸 For the dough:

• 200 g (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
  • • 1 egg
  • • 3 tbsp water
  • • Pinch of salt

  • 🔸 For the filling:

• 70 g (2.5 oz) dark chocolate
  • • 3 tbsp heavy cream
  • • 1 tsp cocoa powder (optional)
  • • 1 tsp sugar (if chocolate is too bitter)


🔸 For the mango sauce:
  • • 1 ripe mango (or 150 g mango puree)
  • • 100 ml (just under ½ cup) heavy cream
  • • 1-2 tsp honey
  • • 1 tsp lime or lemon juice
  • • Pinch of salt


🔪 Instructions
  • ➡Make the dough: Mix flour, egg, water, and salt into a soft dough. Knead, wrap, and rest for 30 minutes.
  • ➡Prepare the filling: Melt chocolate with cream over a water bath. Stir in sugar and cocoa if using. Let cool until thick.
  • ➡Shape the dumplings: Roll out dough, cut into circles, fill with chocolate, and seal. Freeze for 10 minutes to firm up.
  • ➡Cook: Boil in lightly salted water. Once they float, cook 2–3 minutes more. Lift out gently.
  • ➡Make the mango sauce: Blend mango, then stir in cream, honey, citrus juice, and salt. Warm gently without boiling.
  • ➡Serve: Arrange dumplings, spoon over sauce, and garnish with mint or lime zest if desired.


🛒 Plant your own Mango Tree and always have mango supply

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Mango

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Botanical bedhead: curly, crazy, and full of surprises. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Botanical bedhead: curly, crazy, and full of surprises

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks, leaves

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks, leaves

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks, fruit

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks, fruit

Botanical bedhead: curly, crazy, and full of surprises
  • This wild-looking jungle cactus doesn't grow straight - it spirals, twirls, and twists! Meet Epiphyllum guatemalense Monstrosa - Orchid Cactus, or Curly Locks.
  • A natural mutation of Epiphyllum guatemalense, Curly Locks creates a tangled cascade of curly stems that look like botanical noodles!
  • Perfect for hanging baskets, it blooms fragrant, orchid-like flowers at night and produces juicy, edible pink fruit.
  • It's self-pollinating and thrives in bright, indirect light. Let it get root-bound to encourage blooms, and water moderately.
  • A must-have oddity for cactus lovers and collectors!


🛒 Get the curly cactus now

📚 More about exotic epiphytic cacti:
Disocactus ackermanni - Red Orchid Cactus
Epiphyllum oxypetalum - Queen of the Night
Pseudorhipsalis (Wittia) amazonica - Blue Flame

#Fun_Facts #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

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Another Musk from Africa that came before Elon: the true Healer from Zulu. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Another Musk from Africa that came before Elon: the true Healer from Zulu

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - leaves

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - leaves

🚀 Another Musk from Africa that came before Elon: the true Healer from Zulu.
  • 🚀 This African Musk has less hype and more goodness: it won't buy Twitter but it might cure your cough!
  • 🚀 Musk Bush (Iboza riparia) - also called Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush, is a highly aromatic shrub with a long tradition of healing use in African herbal medicine. Its soft, velvety leaves release a sweet ginger-like scent when crushed and are packed with medicinal value.
  • 🚀 Medicinal uses

  • 💚 Respiratory relief: The Zulu people traditionally use Iboza as an inhalant for coughs, chest congestion, and even malaria. Crushed leaves are often inhaled or made into a steam bath to clear the lungs.
  • 💚 Natural relaxant: Often used alongside Psychotria viridis for calming effects, this plant is prized for its gentle sedative properties.
  • 💚 Headache and digestive aid: Inhaling the fragrance can ease headaches, and teas or infusions are used to soothe stomach aches.

  • 🚀 Plant facts

  • 💚 Growth: Fast-growing (up to 3 ft/year), up to 6 ft tall, with a full, bushy habit.
  • 💚 Leaves: Bright green, heart-shaped, covered in sticky aromatic hairs.
  • 💚 Flowers: showy mist-like white to lilac spikes hang in beautiful, fragrant dense clusters.
  • 💚 Fragrance: Leaves are scented like ginger with a musky twist - especially fragrant after light pruning.


🚀 Growing tips
  • 💚 Best in full sun or partial shade
  • 💚 Likes rich, well-drained soil and regular summer water, drought tolerant once established.
  • 💚 Prune hard after flowering to keep it compact and boost future blooms.
  • 💚 Grows well in pots in cold climates.


🛒 Order Musk Bush - natural remedy for body and mind

#Food_Forest #Remedies

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Mr B knows: the world was here first. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Mr B knows: the world was here first

Mr B the Cat sleeping in a box

Mr B the Cat sleeping in a box

⬆️ Mr B knows: the world was here first

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." - Mark Twain

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats #Quotes

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A flavor bomb of sugar and citrus, syrupy when ripe - Mango Sweet Tart. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

A flavor bomb of sugar and citrus, syrupy when ripe - Mango Sweet Tart

Mango Sweet Tart - tree with fruit on it

🌈 A flavor bomb of sugar and citrus, syrupy when ripe - Mango Sweet Tart

Sweet Tart is a Florida-grown mango prized for its rich, sweet-tart flavor and silky, fiberless flesh. Created by breeder Gary Zill, it's known for its dense orange pulp, excellent sugar-acid balance, and juicy texture. The fruit is oval, heavy for its size, and sometimes develops harmless speckles on the skin. Great fresh, underripe or ripe. Tangy when underripe, syrupy when ripe and perfect for containers thanks to its upright growth and high productivity. A standout variety that lives up to its name!

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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