Ten shrubs you need to have for winter colors. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.
Ten shrubs you need to have for winter colors
Garlic Vine, Dombeya - Tropical Hydrangea, Brunfelsia Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow, Fountain Clerodendrum, Tibouchina grandifolia - Glory bush, Chinese hat, Barleria - Philippine violet, Thunbergia - Kings Mantle, Eranthemum - Blue Sage or Lead Flower, Petrea vine - Queens wreath
🌷 Ten shrubs you need to have for winter colors
Many snowbirds ask what to plant when they’re here just for the season. The answer is simple: go for trees and shrubs that bloom in winter. Fall is the perfect time to get them in the ground so your garden will be bursting with flowers once the cool season arrives. In our earlier video, we shared 8 best flowering trees that will bloom for you in Winter. Now, here are the shrubs that will complete your colorful winter garden.
🌷 1. Mansoa alliacea - Garlic Vine
Known for its garlicky scent, it also puts on clusters of lavender to purple flowers in cool weather. Reliable and eye-catching, often trained on fences or trellises. 👉plant it
🌷 2. Dombeya wallichii - Tropical Hydrangea
Large pink pompom clusters hang like lanterns from the branches. Sweetly fragrant and showy, it creates a hydrangea effect right in winter. 👉plant it
Small and manageable, it opens purple flowers that fade to lavender and then white, giving the look of three colors at once. A cheerful winter bloomer for pots or borders. 👉plant it
This shrub lives up to its name with cascades of long white flower sprays, blooming heavily in the cooler months and brightening shaded corners. 👉plant it
Covered in clusters of soft, fuzzy purple blooms, this shrub adds tropical flair during the cooler months. Its velvety leaves are ornamental year-round. 👉plant it
🌷 6. Holmskioldia sanguinea - Red Chinese hat
Cup-shaped bracts form red “hats” around small flowers. This shrub stands out with unique form and long-lasting blooms. 👉plant it
🌷 7. Barleria cristata - Philippine violet
A hardy shrub with masses of purple-violet blooms in the cool season. It flowers when many plants are quiet, adding dependable winter color. 👉plant it
🌷 8. Thunbergia erecta - King’s Mantle
A compact shrub with velvety purple blooms and bright yellow throats. It’s neat, easy to manage, and flowers generously in winter. 👉plant it
🌷 9. Eranthemum pulchellum - Blue Sage, Lead Flower
Few shrubs can match its electric-blue spikes of flowers in winter. Compact and low-care, it brings a rare color to the cool season garden. 👉plant it
A woody vine-shrub that bursts into cascading sprays of lavender stars. It flowers heavily in winter, resembling wisteria in the tropics. 👉plant it 🛒 Explore Winter bloomers
10-minute recipe Bo La Lot with a leaf youve never cooked before! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.
10-minute recipe Bo La Lot with a leaf youve never cooked before!
Bo La Lot recipe with Vietnamese pepper Lalot (Piper sarmentosum)
🍴 10-minute recipe Bo La Lot with a leaf you’ve never cooked before!
🌮 Forget boring tacos - this wrap will blow your mind! In Vietnam they call it Bo La Lot - beef wrapped in peppery Lalot leaves.
🌮 It started as grape leaf wraps in the Middle East, but in tropical Asia grapes don’t grow, so people swapped to Lalot. Way more flavor than grape leaves!
🌮 Grilled beef, garlic, onion, lemongrass - all can be tucked into these shiny green leaves. Smoky, juicy, and so good you’ll wonder why you didn't try it sooner! It's better than grape leaf wraps, because it has so much flavor!
🌮 Most large leaf pepper plants will work for this recipe - Vietnamese pepper Lalot (Piper sarmentosum), Betel Leaf (Piper betle), or even large leaves of the traditional Black Pepper plant (Piper nigrum).
🌯 BO LA LOT RECIPE
✔️ Ingredients
· 1 pound ground beef or turkey
· 2 tablespoons chopped lemongrass (optional)
· 1 tbsp spice powder
· 1 tbsp curry powder
· 1 tbsp finely minced garlic
· 1 tbsp oyster sauce or fish sauce (optional)
· 1 tsp ground black pepper
· 1 tbsp finely minced shallots
· 1 tbsp soy sauce
· 2 tsp sugar or honey
· 1/2 tbsp olive oil
· 1/2 tbsp salt
· 10-15 fresh Lalot leaves
👉 Directions
· Preheat the grill.
· Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
· Wrap about 2 tablespoons of the mixture into each betel leaf.
· Spear 3 to 4 betel leaf wraps onto a skewer and grill until the meat is thoroughly cooked.
Guavas love full sun — aim for 6–8 hours of direct light.
They’re adaptable to many soils but do best in well-drained, organic-enriched
mixes. Plant them in a spot where you can water
easily; guavas are thirsty trees during fruiting.
Container & Indoor Growing
Don’t have space or live in a cooler climate? Guavas thrive in
large pots. Use well-drained potting mix. LINK TO OUR SOIL Keep them on a
sunny
patio during warm months and bring them indoors when nights dip below
freezing. Compact varieties like Dwarf Hawaiian
Rainbow or Tikal are especially
good for pots.
Winter Care
Mature guavas can handle a light frost (down into the high 20s F), but
young plants need protection. If planted outdoors, cover them with frost
cloth
on cold nights. Container guavas can be wheeled into a garage, greenhouse,
or bright indoor window until the weather warms.
Watering and Fertilizing
Water deeply once or twice a week, more often in hot weather or when
fruit is developing. They don’t like soggy soil, but they won’t
complain about short floods either. Fertilize 3–4 times a year during
the
growing season with a balanced fruit tree fertilizer. Guavas especially love
potassium and phosphorus for strong flowering and heavy crops. We recommend
liquid crop booster Sunshine
C-Cibus and balanced controlled release fertilizer Green
Magic.
Pruning
Prune after fruiting to keep them compact and open up airflow. Remove
crossing or dead branches. In containers, trim back vigorous shoots
regularly
to manage size and encourage more fruiting wood.
Pests and Problems
Guavas are generally tough and pest-resistant. The main thing to watch
for in humid or rainy climates is mealybugs - those cottony white clusters
on
leaves or stems. They're easy to manage with neem oil or a quick spray of
horticultural soap.
Fruit time
Guavas fruit young - often within a year or two.
Pollination
Guavas are self-pollinating, so you'll get fruit even with a single
tree. Planting more than one tree, however, often boosts harvests and gives
you a
longer fruiting season.
If you've ever wanted instant gratification from a fruit tree, guava is
it.
🍴
Guava Recipes
With all that fruit, the next question is always: "What do I do with
it?" Here are our favorites:
Cas Guava: Make Agua de Cas
Boil halved Cas Guava fruits with sugar, simmer, strain, and bottle.
Dilute with water when serving. The concentrate keeps for months in the
fridge.
Check out the recipe.
Hawaiian Gold: Make Drinks
Perfect for Mojitos or Margaritas. Sweet, tangy juice pairs beautifully
with lime and mint. Learn more
Araca Pera: Guava Wine
Famous in Brazil, where the fruit is turned into a vibrant rosу wine.
Locals say it’s the taste of summer in a glass — and yes, you
can make it at home too. Learn more...
Quick snack: Guava Grilled Cheese
Spread guava paste or fresh mashed fruit with cheese, grill until
golden. Sweet and savory heaven. Learn more...
Simple Guava Juice
Blend ripe guavas with water, ice, and a little sugar if you like. Instant
refreshment.
✅Ready to Grow? Whether you want fresh juice, sweet fruit,
or even your own guava wine, we’ve got the best varieties in stock
right now. Your future self, sipping guava juice on a hot summer afternoon,
will
thank you.
Guava varieties: Pink flesh (upper left quarter), White flesh and Cas
(upper right quarter), Red Cattley Guava (bottom left quarter) and Golden
Cattley (bottom right quarter).
Let’s talk Guava. Few fruits check as many boxes: flavor,
productivity, health, and adaptability. We’ve grown guava trees at Top
Tropicals for years here in Florida, and it never fails to surprise people
with how
easy it is — and how quickly it rewards you.
🌿 Health Benefits
We know the first question: "Why guava in addition to all the other
fruit trees I could plant?" Because guava is one of the healthiest tropical
fruits you can eat and grow — and it produces faster than almost
anything
else.
Vitamin C powerhouse — guava has four times more vitamin C than
oranges. One fruit covers your daily needs and then some.
Potassium and fiber — good for balancing blood pressure and
keeping your heart strong.
Antioxidants like lycopene and vitamin C — these keep your skin
glowing and help protect your cells from damage.
Dietary fiber — aids digestion and helps keep blood sugar
steady.
Guava is a true "food as medicine" tree you can plant right in your
backyard or in pot.
♥️ Our Favorite Varieties are Available Now
We currently have a DOZEN excellent guava varieties in stock selected by
our plant expert Tatiana Anderson — something special for every
garden. Our top picks are:
Pink Guavas
Barbie Pink
– Yellow pear-shaped fruit with thick pink flesh, sweet and juicy.
Cold
hardy for a tropical fruit. The best seller.
Hong Kong
– Large, round, smooth pink fruit. Sweet flavor, very few seeds, and
very
productive.
Tikal
– Our top pick. Fast-growing, disease-resistant, and produces the
sweetest
pink guavas with very few seeds.
White Guavas
Indonesian White
– Aromatic, classic white-fleshed guava with an excellent
tropical flavor.
Kilo White
– Giant fruit up to 2 lbs (1 kilo) each! Few seeds, creamy white
flesh,
and fruits even in containers.
Brazilian Araca
Pera – Rare hybrid used for Guava Wine in Brazil. Tart,
concentrated juice makes excellent wine, sorbet, or jelly. Learn more...
Pineapple Guava,
Guavasteen – Feijoa sellowiana. Strongly perfumed fruit, best
enjoyed when the pulp is mixed with sugar – like forest strawberries.
Cold-hardy, tolerates freeze, and doubles as a great windbreak. Learn more...
Guava Tree Plant Care
