Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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National treasure of Thailand: Golden Shower Tree. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Cassia fistula - Golden Shower Tree

🌞 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? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Clerodendrum incisum - Musical Note, Morning Kiss Clerodendrum

🎶 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:

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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It blooms in shade: Red Feather for your Shade Garden. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Sanchezia stenomacra - Red Feather

❣️ 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. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Calliandra emarginata Nana, Dwarf Powderpuff

💖 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:

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants
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Turn up the color in your garden with the bold everblooming Brazilian plume. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume or Red Cloak

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume or Red Cloak

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys flowers

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys flowers

♨️ Turn up the color in your garden with the bold everblooming Brazilian plume
  • ❣️Looking to add nonstop color, tropical flair for shade or sun, and pollinator appeal to your garden?

    • Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume or Red Cloak, is the ultimate show-stopper shrub that takes both sun or shade.
  • ❣️ With its big, bold leaves and eye-catching crimson-to-mauve flower spikes, this plant brings exotic beauty - without the need for a steamy jungle.
  • ❣️The best part? It's surprisingly cold hardy. This lush-looking tropical can handle brief dips into the 30s (F), making it a top pick for USDA zones 9-11. Plant it in full sun or partial shade, and with regular watering, it rewards you with a steady burst of blooms that butterflies and hummingbirds can't resist.
  • ❣️Reaching 5-7 ft tall in the ground, it fills out beautifully to anchor beds or soften fences. In colder regions, it can still thrive in large pots - just give it a sheltered spot, bring it indoors when temperatures drop, and enjoy its vivid flower show all winter long.
  • ❣️If you want a garden that doesn’t fade with the season, the Brazilian plume delivers color, volume, and wildlife appeal - all year round.


🛒 Make your garden pop with color of Brazilian plume

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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Get the Red Jade look without the fuss: cold-hardy Dwarf Red Jade Vine. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Dwarf Red Jade Vine blooming

Dwarf Red Jade Vine blooming

Dwarf Red Jade Vine blooming

Dwarf Red Jade Vine blooming

💃 Get the Red Jade look without the fuss: cold-hardy Dwarf Red Jade Vine
  • 🔥 Love the stunning, fiery blooms of the famous Red Jade Vine (Mucuna benettii) but live outside the tropics?

    • Its cousin - Dwarf Red Jade Vine - is tougher, easier to grow, and just as jaw-dropping, and delivers the same dazzling display of blazing red flower chains - without the high-maintenance, ultra-tropical demands.
  • 🔥 Camptosema grandiflora - Dwarf Red Jade Vine, Cuitelo, or Rooster's Crest - this Brazilian superstar brings cascading chains of bright red blooms that look like flames frozen in mid-air.
  • 🔥 Unlike the ultra-tropical and finicky Mucuna benettii, this cousin is tougher, easier to grow, and just as jaw-dropping. It thrives in full to partial sun, forgives a little drought, and even shrugs off light frost. Blooming in fall and winter, it gives your garden a fiery finale when everything else starts to fade.
  • 🔥 Got a pergola or arbor? Perfect. The hanging flower clusters will light up the space like a botanical chandelier. Just prune it hard in spring and feed it well, and it will thank you with a blooming spectacle year after year.
  • 🔥 If you've been dreaming of the iconic Red Jade Vine but thought it was out of reach - this is your sign.


🛒 Get all the wow of Red Jade Vine - without the worry

📚 Learn more:
Camptosema grandiflora, Dwarf Red Jade Vine - my favorite plant

#Nature_Wonders #Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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Cashmere bouquet - smells like royal bouquet and grows like a weed. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Clerodendrum bungei - Glory Bower, Cashmere bouquet

💐 The shrub that smells like a royal bouquet and grows like a weed?

💐 Clerodendrum bungei - Glory Bower, Cashmere bouquet, fills the air with sweet perfume and bursts of pink blooms that butterflies love. Its dark leaves add contrast, and it grows fast - maybe too fast - so plant it in a pot or tucked-away spot unless you want a fragrant takeover!

🛒 Add Clerodendrum bungei to your garden today - before it grows away!

📚 Learn more:

#Hedges_with_benefits #Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Butterfly_Plants

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Bleeding Heart Vine surprised everyone this year! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Bleeding Heart Vine - Clerodendrum thomsoniae

💞 Bleeding Heart Vine surprised everyone this year!
  • ❣️ Bleeding Heart Vine (Clerodendrum thomsoniae) is not just a winter bloomer! Despite the common belief that it blooms only in winter, this beauty actually flowers year-round in warm climates, putting on a continuous display of red and white "hearts". It bloomed in winter, then in spring, and now - it's a summertime - it is still full of flowers!
  • ❣️ The "bleeding heart" look comes from the striking contrast between the white calyx and the deep red flower inside - like a heart bursting with color.
  • ❣️ It's a vigorous vine, perfect for trellises, arbors, or containers. It can even be trained as a shrub!
  • ❣️ Grows best in bright filtered light or partial sun, and appreciates regular watering - but it's not fussy.
  • ❣️ Pollinator magnet! The blooms attract hummingbirds and butterflies, adding motion and life to your garden.
  • ❣️ Tough and tropical - i'’s hardy, low maintenance, and stays evergreen in frost-free areas.
  • ❣️ It's not shy, not seasonal, and definitely not boring!


📚 Learn more from previous posts:

🛒Get your own Bleeding Heart

#Butterfly_Plants #Shade_Garden #Fun_Facts #Hedges_with_benefits #Container_Garden

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This is what we plant for a compact colorful hedge solution. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Thunbergia erecta - Kings Mantle

💜 This is what we plant for a compact colorful hedge solution
  • 💜 Thunbergia erecta - Kings Mantle - is currently in full bloom in our garden, showcasing its vibrant flowers that last almost year-round.
  • 💜 One of our favorite flowering shrubs, it's compact, easy-going, and perfect for adding a splash of color.
  • 💜 Available in blue, white, and even variegated lavender flowers, King's Mantle thrives in both sun and filtered light, with its dense, manageable habit making it ideal for low-growing hedges or garden specimens.
  • 💜 It attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, and with simple pruning, it stays under 4 feet while producing a profusion of blooms.
  • 💜 Hardy to 30°F and suitable for USDA Zones 9-11, it's also great for container gardening in colder regions.


🛒 Shop Thunbergias - colorful flowers for sun and shade

📚 Learn more:

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants
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Top 20 plants for a Butterfly Haven. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Best plants for a Butterfly Haven Garden

Best plants for a Butterfly Haven Garden

Top 20 plants for a Butterfly Haven

🏆 The most spectacular butterfly plants for the previous post 👆

*️⃣Acacia farnesiana, Sweet Mimosa
*️⃣ Antigonon leptopus - Mexican Coral Vine
*️⃣ Aristolochia - Pelican Flower, Dutchmans Pipe
*️⃣ Caesalpinia - Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise
*️⃣ Calliandra - Powderpuff
*️⃣ Cassia (Senna) - especially yellow-flowered varieties
*️⃣ Clerodendrums - all varieties
*️⃣ Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea
*️⃣ Dombeya - Tropical Hydrangea
*️⃣ Jatropha - Coral Plant
*️⃣ Justicia - Brazilian Plume
*️⃣ Lonchocarpus violaceus - Lilac Tree
*️⃣ Lonicera - Honeysuckle
*️⃣ Mansoa alliacea - Garlic Vine
*️⃣ Passiflora - Passion Vine
*️⃣ Petrea - Queens Wreath
*️⃣ Pyrostegia venusta - Flame Vine
*️⃣ Quisqualis Indica - single flower
*️⃣ Senecio confusus - Mexican flame vine
*️⃣ Tecoma and Tecomaria

🛒 Transform your yard into a Butterfly Haven with exotic plants

📚 Learn more:
#Butterfly_Plants
Five best butterfly attractors for a Southern garden

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