⚡️ #Fun_Facts: Zig-Zag Cactus

🥨 Cryptocereus anthonyanus (Zig-Zag Cactus) has zigzag-shaped stems and beautiful night-blooming flowers that make it a fascinating addition to cactus collections.

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🥢 Where does Blackberry Jam come from? It comes from Gardenia!

Randia formosa - Blackberry Jam Fruit, Jasmin de Rosa is a curious small evergreen tree from South America that combines features of a fragrant flower and delicious dessert fruit which tastes like fresh Blackberry jam. Fragrant white flowers are similar to Gardenia.

This relatively hardy tropical can be grown in a container as well as in the ground. It's very сompact (4-5 ft), perfect for container culture, will fruit in a container.

Kids love the fruit! Many claim that it is even better than Blackberry preserves.

Large tubular white flowers attract nocturnal moths. Since the plant is closely related to the gardenia (Rubiaceae plant family), its flowers are sweetly fragrant.

Produces as many as 25-30 fruits at a time. Since it blooms for a few months from Summer through Winter, fruiting and flowering can be enjoyed even when other plants are dormant.

Article about Blackberry Jam Fruit formosa

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🌸 How to grow Orchid Trees in pots

🦋 Everyone loves beautiful Orchid trees with butterfly-like leaves and colorful orchid-like flowers. They are widely used in Southern landscapes. But what if you don't have a room in your garden for another tree? Or what if it gets too cold in winter for a tropical Orchid tree? You can grow it in a pot!

📝 This is how to n enjoy the stunning flowers and foliage of Bauhinia right on your patio or balcony:

• 💠 Choose the right variety. Some species suitable for containers:

B. galpinii, B. madagascariensis, B. monandra, B. alba (candida), B. acuminata, B. bidentata, B. blakeana, B. grandidieri and many others.
• 💠 Choose the right pot: Select a large, sturdy pot with good drainage holes. Bauhinia trees have a vigorous root system
• 💠 Use a well-draining potting mix. We recommend a professional soilless mix: Sunshine Abundance.
• 💠 Sunny location: Position the pot in a location that receives full sun to partial shade. Bauhinia plants thrive in warm, sunny conditions.
• 💠 Watering: Keep the soil slightly moist but not waterlogged. Water the plant when the top inch of soil feels dry to the touch.
• 💠 Fertilizing: For the most profuse flowering like in the video, feed the Bauhinia with liquid Sunshine Boosters Megaflor year around, it's safe with every watering.
• 💠 Pruning: Prune the plant to maintain its shape and encourage bushier growth.
• 💠 Winter Care: If you live in a region with cold winters, bring the pot indoors or to a sheltered location to protect the plant from frost.

📸 Bauhinia monandra - Napoleons Plume Orchid Tree, starts flowering when only 2 ft tall and grows well in containers.

📚 Earlier posts on Bauhinias: 1 2 3
Bauhinias: trees with Orchid Flowers and Butterfly Wings

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🎭 Why Pharaoh Mask has stunning 3D effect?

• 👺 Colocasia Pharaoh Mask (tm) that we mentioned earlier is flourishing today in our garden!
• 👺 Vibrant green leaves highlighted by striking purple veins, giving a distinct 3D appearance.
• 👺 As they mature, the leaf edges curl, enhancing the purple veins. Each leaf, supported by sturdy, dark stems matching the veins' color, resembles a masquerade mask.
• 👺 A cluster of these plants creates a striking visual with its unique foliage and dark stems, standing out among other elephant ears.
• 👺 It's a must-have for any rare plant collector and is sure to be a showstopper and conversation piece!

📸 More pictures in next post

🛒 Get your own Pharaoh Mask

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🍏 Why everyone wants the Sugar Apple?

Annona squamosa - Sugar apple - is considered by many as the most delicious tropical fruit. We introduced the Annona trees earlier.

• ✳️ Very small, compact tree, perfect for container or small yard, see photos from our Tropical Fruit Tree contest Winner.
• ✳️ Starts fruiting within 3 year from seed!
• ✳️ Easy to grow and undemanding
• ✳️ The fruit is sheer deliciousness, pulp resembling custard.

🛒 Order Sugar Apple

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💰 Money-making plant for your windowsil

• 🥇 Pilea peperomioides - Chinese Money Plant - is a perfect indoor plant that is famous for its lore of attracting money into your life! It is a small version of a money-making machine, in addition to the Good Luck Plant - Malabar Peanut we mentioned earlier.
• 🥇 It is a highly sought-after houseplant and also known as the missionary plant, pancake plant, UFO plant.
• 🥇 Known for its charming beauty and dwarf size, it is a perfect addition to the windowsill garden.
• 🥇 The round, shiny, peltate leaves become mounded as the plant matures and give the appearance of large, green coins stacked on top of one another.
• 🥇 Its adaptation to low light and succulent leaf structure make it an easy-care plant.

🛒 Get your own Money Plant

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🧀 What happens when a gardener gets a Swiss Cheese? Swiss Cheese Plant!

• 🌿 Monstera x adansonii - Baby Swiss Cheese Plant - is an unusual form of Monstera with leaves that have many holes, much bigger than those in Swiss Cheese!
• 🌿 Makes an interesting indoor specimen, an eye stopper.
• 🌿 Shade lover, but can take some semi-shade too.
• 🌿 Can be grown outdoors in warmer climates and climbs trees or walls wherever you need a green wall.
• 🌿 Grows fast, very undemanding plant. Perfect when you need to fill space with greenery quickly.

🛒 Order Swiss Chees Plant

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💮 It's not an orchid! But it looks like orchid: Laos Silver Stripe

• 💋 Kaempferia angustifolia - Laos Silver Stripe is one of the most beautiful of all the Kaempferia Peacock Ginger cultivars. It is one of the large types.
• 💋 The plant has boldly striped leaves of green and silver.
• 💋 The flowers are orchid shaped white and purple
• 💋 Small, compact perennial, great for container culture. Deciduous in winter, like many others from Ginger family.
• 💋 Shade lover, great as exotic houseplant.
• 💋 This hard to find variety is a must for every Ginger collector.

🛒 Order Laos Silver Stripe

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🦇 Would you like a Bat Head?

The Bat Head Lily we mentioned earlier - is blooming again!

🙈 Bat Head Lily, Bat Flower, Devil Flower or Tacca Lily - is one of the most exotic and bizarre flowers along with Amorphophallus, Sausage Tree and Clitoria.

🛒 Shop Bat Head Lily Tacca

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🏡 What happened to our favorite houseplants - hoyas?

Hoyas are not forgotten! It is one of the most favorite house plants. Hoya Ban Ngong Ngoy from Thailand has a lovely fragrance!

• ♦️ Fragrance is lovely, subtle scent.
• ♦️ Strong, vigorous, fast-growing species, similar to Hoya carnosa.
• ♦️ Beautiful flowers: umbel of flowers is about 3" wide with tiny maroon stars and white frosted edges.
• ♦️ Dark green leaves have silver white flecks and darker green veining.
• ♦️ Provide a trellis or stake to manage its rambling growth.

❓ What varieties of hoya do you have in your collection? Share in comments👇

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