Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

❌� What flowers do NOT attract bees?

Most tropical flowers bring in pollinators, and bees are usually first in line. But what if you’d rather avoid them? Maybe you’re allergic, or just don’t want bees buzzing around. Good news: some flowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, or even flies - but not bees.

• 👉 Quick rules:

• ✔️ Night-blooming + strong fragrance = moths or bats, not bees.
• ✔️ Red tubular flowers with little scent = hummingbirds or butterflies, not bees.
• ✔️ Rotten or fermented smell = flies, not bees.
• ✔️ Carnivorous plants = trap insects, no bee nectar.

1. Night-blooming, fragrant - moth and bat flowers

Bees forage by day, so many night-fragrant flowers skip them.

• ▫️Brugmansia - Angel’s Trumpet - big, hanging blooms, moth and bat pollinated.
• ▫️Cestrum nocturnum - Night-blooming Jasmine - powerful night scent, moths only.
• ▫️Hylocereus Dragon Fruit - huge cactus flowers, bats and moths.
• ▫️Brunfelsia - Lady of the Night - sweet fragrance at dusk, no bee interest.


2. Hummingbird and butterfly flowers

Bees don’t see red well. Tubular reds, oranges, and yellows usually go to birds and butterflies.
• ▫️Hibiscus - hummingbirds and butterflies visit, bees less so.
• ▫️Heliconis and Gingers - designed for hummingbird beaks, bold tubes are for birds, not bees.
• ▫️More good picks: Ruellia, Sanchezia, Aeschynanthus, Aphelandra, Anisacanthus, Cuphea, Fuchsia, Iochroma, Justicia, Lonicera, Hamelia, Russelia, Odontonema, Tecomaria, Bougainvillea.


3. 🐱 Fly-pollinated oddballs

Some flowers smell bad to us but irresistible to flies.
• ▫️Amorphophallus (Voodoo Lily) - rotting meat scent.
• ▫️Tacca (Bat Head Lily) - spooky black flowers, fly-pollinated.
• ▫️Stapelia (Carrion Flower) - also fly-pollinated.
• ▫️Aristolochia (Pelican Flower) - giant, bizarre fly-traps.


4. 🌸 Specialized orchids

Not all orchids rely on bees. Many use moths, butterflies, or beetles instead.
• ▫️Vanilla orchid - its natural bee pollinator is absent in most regions, so no bee appeal elsewhere.
• ▫️Brassavola nodosa and others - open at night for moths, not bees.


5. 🕷 Bonus: carnivorous curiosities

Carnivorous plants don’t offer nectar. They trap insects instead, so bees stay away.
• ▫️Nepenthes (Pitcher Plant) - uses pitchers of liquid to lure and digest insects.

These flowers keep the beauty, fragrance, and wildlife appeal - but without making your garden a bee hotspot.

🛒 Explore butterfly attractors

#Butterfly_Plants #How_to #Discover

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🌺 Rare Orchid Tree you may never find again and everyone wants

• 🌺 Bauhinia madagascariensis, the Red Butterfly Orchid Tree, is one of the most dazzling flowering trees you can grow.
• 🌺 Its scarlet blooms open like bright butterflies, each petal painted with a golden stripe at the base. When in full bloom, the tree looks alive with fluttering wings.
• 🌺 It's fast-growing, can be kept as a small tree or a large bush, and thrives in full sun. A rare orchid tree species and a true collector’s prize. Grow it in a pot or in the ground.

🛒 The butterfly tree of Madagascar will bloom 365 days a year for you

📚 Learn more:

• · The Orchid Tree that NEVER Stops Blooming
• · Orchid tree with stunning red and yellow flowers year around
• · How to grow Orchid Trees in pots
• · Why red flowers are so attractive? Bauhinia galpinii - Pride of De Kaap

#Trees #Butterfly_Plants

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🌞 The sunny show-off hummingbirds love

• 🌞 Caesalpinia mexicana - Mexican Bird of Paradise - the sunny show-off you didn't know you needed. Many gardeners have popular and more common common Bird of Paradise Caesalpinia pulcherrima, with red flowers, but this one is rare in gardens.
• 🌞 While most Bird of Paradise plants rely on looks alone, this one ups the game with fragrant blooms. From spring through summer, it's covered in butter-yellow flowers that stand out against soft, feathery foliage. Hummingbirds love it, and when the blooms fade, it makes woody seed pods that snap open like nature's fireworks.
• 🌞 It's native to northern Mexico, which means it handles heat, sun, and dry conditions without a fuss. You can grow it as a compact shrub or let it stretch into a small tree. Either way, it’s easygoing, low-maintenance, and beautiful all season.

🛒 Attract hummingbirds to your garden

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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👄 Blue lips smell like violets

• 💙 Sclerochiton harveyanus - Mazabuka, or Blue Lips blooms with quirky blue-to-purple flowers that really do look like lips. And in the tropical plant world, blue flowers are rare. And they are lightly violet-lavender-fragrant!
• 💙 Even better? It's a total shade lover. No need for blazing sun - this beauty is happy to bloom in the cool, leafy spots of your garden.
• 💙 Loved by bees and birds, and just the right mix of weird and wonderful.

🛒 Add Blue Lips to your shade garden

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Why this blue tropical flower has a violet fragrance?
• ▫️Surprising Violet fragrance of the Blue Lips

#Perfume_Plants #Shade_Garden #Butterfly_Plants

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🌞 The morning glory that sleeps in? Alamo Vine - the noon-blooming mystery

• 💮 Ipomoea sinuata - Alamo Vine or Woodrose isn't your average morning glory.
• 💮It's a fast-growing, very fine vine with feathery, soft-textured leaves that look like they belong in a fairytale.
• 💮 And its white pretty blooms? They're a little rebellious! Opening around noon instead of morning, then closing again before sunset.
• 💮 Perfect for trellises, fences, or even a container if you want a vine with personality. Attracts butterflies and bees.
• 💮 It's fast, it's different, and it's ready to cover a small fence or trellis.

🛒 Add this noontime bloomer to your garden

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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🍒 Health benefits of a simple plant: Coral bean

• 
  Don't let the tough, thorny branches fool you - this native plant has a long history of traditional use. While the seeds are poisonous, the young leaves and flowers have been safely cooked and eaten in small amounts by various cultures.
• 
  Traditionally, Erythrina herbacea - Coral Bean has been used in folk remedies for calming the nerves, easing muscle pain, and even promoting better sleep.
• 
  Modern science hasn’t fully explored these uses yet, but the plant contains alkaloids that may have sedative and muscle-relaxing properties. It's a reminder that even rugged native plants can carry powerful natural potential.
• 
  As a bonus, Erythrina herbacea is also beautiful and beneficial in the garden, drawing in hummingbirds and butterflies with its vibrant pink flowers - hummingbirds can't resist this wild bloomer! It grows well in poor soil and dry conditions - low effort, high reward!

🛒 Plant once, enjoy for years

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Butterfly_plants #Discover

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🌞 National treasure of Thailand: Golden Shower Tree

• ☀️ Cassia fistula - Golden Shower Tree is known as the national flower of Thailand. It is one of the most spectacular flowering trees for tropical and subtropical gardens.
• ☀️ From late spring through summer, it puts on a breathtaking display of golden-yellow flower clusters that hang in long, pendulous chains, often over a foot long. When in full bloom, the entire tree appears drenched in gold.
• ☀️ This deciduous tree drops its leaves in the dry season, allowing the brilliant flowers to take center stage. The leaves re-emerge after flowering, followed by long, dark brown seed pods that can reach up to two feet.
• ☀️ Cassia fistula is fast-growing, typically reaching 20-30 feet tall, and thrives in full sun with well-drained soil. It prefers a dry season to initiate heavy blooming and is tolerant of drought once established.
• ☀️ Aside from its beauty, the tree has cultural and medicinal significance in Asia in Ayurvedic medicine.
• ☀️ Fun facts:

▫️In Thailand, it’s called Ratchaphruek and symbolizes royal identity.

• ▫️Its golden flowers are often used in local festivals and ceremonies.
• ▫️It attracts bees and butterflies and provides seasonal shade.

🛒 Shop showy Cassia trees

📚 Learn more:
▫️Compact and showy flowering trees: Rainbow Cassias.

#Butterfly_Plants #Trees

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🎶 Do you see Musical Notes in this flower?

• 🎶 Our garden’s putting on a concert - Clerodendrum incisum is in full bloom, and these quirky little musical notes are ready to jazz up your space!
• 🎶 Musical Note, or Morning Kiss Clerodendrum blooms at Top Tropicals garden most of the year, several times - during the warm period, from Spring to late Fall.

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

🛒 Bring home the bloom that sings

📚 Learn more about Music Notes:

• · How to add Music to your garden
• · Why it is called Musical Notes
• · Musical Note hits its peak

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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❣️ It blooms in shade: Red Feather for your Shade Garden

• What colorful flowers can you plant in shade?

A true gem for tropical plant enthusiasts, Sanchezia stenomacra - Blood Red Feather - is a rare Peruvian beauty that brings unusual look and and color to your tropical garden.
• Its feathery, deep red flower plumes rise like flames above glossy green foliage, blooming non-stop and attracting hummingbirds with their vivid orange-red tubes.
• Perfect for humid spots with filtered light, it thrives in greenhouses, shaded patios, or even indoors.
• Upright and fast-growing, it bounces back beautifully from hard pruning and keeps blooming year-round.
• A true collector's treasure with bold style and easy care.

🛒 Bring home the Blood Red Feather

📚 Learn more:
Why is it called Blood Feather

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Butterfly_Plants

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💖 Three things you will love about the tiniest Powderpuff - for the Tidiest Garden

• 💖 Calliandra emarginata Nana, Dwarf Powderpuff - this cheerful little shrub stays compact and blooms non-stop with fluffy pink powderpuff flowers that bees and butterflies can't resist.
• 💖 The name Calliandra means "beautiful stamens" - and it delivers! You'll see round, silky flowerheads popping out along the branches almost all year.
• 💖 It's easy to grow, easy to shape into a tidy bush or a mini tree, and easy to love!

🛒 Shop Calliandras - Powderpuffs

📚 More about Calliandras:

• · Powderpuff and a Bee
• · The best fast growing flowering bush for a privacy screen
• · Baby-pink fluffy flower for butterflies - Lilian
• · Flowering bush that everyone loves
• · Tree Calliandra
• · How to get a big flowering bush quickly? Calliandra - Powderpuff for blocking the unwanted view

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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