"/>
Index > Garden Blog

Date:

Where does Vanilla come from? How to grow your own Vanilla Beans

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid beans, seeds

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid beans, seeds

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid flower

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid flower

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid

Vanilla dilloniana - Leafless Vanilla Orchid, flower

Vanilla dilloniana - Leafless Vanilla Orchid, flower

🫘 Where does Vanilla come from? How to grow your own Vanilla Beans.
  • ❣️ Vanilla spice comes from Vanilla Orchid!
  • ❣️ Vanilla planifolia is a leafy climbing orchid from hot, wet tropical America. It is grown for its pods which, when dried, become the commercial vanilla.
  • ❣️ The flowers are hand pollinated.
  • ❣️ The Aztec Indians in Mexico used Vanilla Pods to flavor their chocolate drink 'Xoco-latl'. Vanilla was believed to be a tonic for the brain.
  • ❣️ Vanilla Pods are picked green when they have no scent. The lengthy curing process, which develops fragrant aroma, is one reason for its high cost.
  • ❣️ Vanilla orchid needs a flat, solid, porous support for climbing and in order to flower and produce seed pods. It can be grown over a log or a board (make sure the support wood is not chemically treated), or climb over a tree.
  • ❣️ If really happy, Vanilla orchid can exceed 100 feet in length in just a few years. The plants flower only when mature, which takes a few years. It only flowers when it gets strongly attached to a support with its aerial roots.
  • ❣️Vanilla orchid can be grown indoors as a house plant. Culture is similar to traditional orchids, however, it will need a support or trellis. Just keep in mind that for Vanilla Bean production, Vanilla Orchid must attach to a porous surface (like a wood log).


Learn more:

📚 Vanilla - The Most Versatile Orchid

🎥 How to produce my own vanilla: secrets of Vanilla pollination
Vanilla dillioniana - The Biggest Vanilla Orchid in 100 Gal Pot

🛒 Shop vanilla orchids

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Container_Garden

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Date:

Top Tropicals Telegram Channel

Sunshine Orchidasm Fertilizer

Sunshine Orchidasm Fertilizer

Orchids in bloom

🌸How to grow everblooming orchids like these?
  • 💋Orchids culture is different from garden ornamental plants. They are epiphytes, so you cannot use regular garden fertilizer on orchids, because they are very sensitive to salts.
  • 💋Orchids need a special, acidic type of fertilizer, very mild in action.
  • 💋Sunshine Boosters formula is exactly what orchids need. It is amino-acid based, very mild, and doesn't create nutrient lock up (building up salts is one of the biggest enemies of tender orchids). Sunshine Boosters Orchidasm Complete Feed is scientifically balanced orchid food that contains all necessary nutrients, including micro-elements, for healthy, happy, vigorous orchids.
  • 💋 Sunshine Orchidasm can be used as often as daily with every foliage spray.
  • 💋From our testing experience, after using Orchidasm Booster, orchids not only get happy and thriving - they also bloom more often - up to several times a year, shooting new flower spikes one after another (while normal blooming cycle for most orchids is once a year). It gets even better - the flower display lasts twice longer!


😊To enjoy beautiful Orchid flowers year around - treat them with Love, give them some Orchidasm!

📚 Learn more: Sunshine Orchidasm

🛒 Order Sunshine Orchidasm

#Fertilizers #How_to #Container_garden

🏵 TopTropicals

Date:

How to grow Orchid Trees in pots

Orchid Trees in pots

🌸 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

🛒 Shop Orchid Trees

#Container_Garden #How_to

🏵 TopTropicals

Date:

Why red flowers are so attractive?

Bauhinia galpinii (punctata) - Pride of De Kaap, Nasturtium Bauhinia

Why red flowers are so attractive? ❤️

💋 If red is your favorite color for flowers, this is your plant!👇
  • ❤️ Bauhinia galpinii (punctata) - Pride of De Kaap or Nasturtium Bauhinia - belongs to Orchid trees that we mentioned earlier. But this one has very unusual color of flowers for Bauhinias: bright red or scarlet!
  • ❤️ Native to South Africa, this is a woody, vining shrub that also can be trained into a small tree, reaching 6-10 ft in height.
  • ❤️ As a all orchid trees it has deep green, bilobed leaves are resembling butterfly wings.
  • ❤️ Blooms almost year around, from Summer through late Fall, with vibrant orange-red, resembling those of nasturtiums, coming in clusters. Well-known for its stunning floral display.
  • ❤️ Hardy, low-maintenance, drought-tolerant once established. Prefers full sun but can tolerate partial shade.
  • ❤️ Attracts butterflies and bees


🛒 Order Pride of De Kaap

#Hedges_with_benefits

🏵 TopTropicals

Date:

Its not an orchid! But it looks like orchid:

Kaempferia angustifolia - Laos Silver Stripe

Kaempferia angustifolia - Laos Silver Stripe

 Kaempferia angustifolia - Laos Silver Stripe

Kaempferia angustifolia - Laos Silver Stripe

💮 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

#Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

🏵 TopTropicals

Date:

What is the best shade tree that is fast growing and beautiful?

Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree flower

Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree flower

 Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree

Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree

🌳 What is the best shade tree that is fast growing and beautiful?
  • 🌸 Orchid trees that we mentioned earlier are one of the most popular shade trees in Southern gardens.
  • 🌸 Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree - is the most beautiful of all orchid trees.
  • 🌸 It has the largest flowers, brightly colored.
  • 🌸 Winter bloomer.
  • 🌸 Starts flowering in very small size, when only 2-3 ft tall.
  • 🌸 Very fast growing.


📚 Learn more: Bauhinias - trees with Orchid Flowers and Butterfly Wings
🎥 YouTube Video: Hong Kong Orchid Tree

🛒 Plant a Tree

#Quotes #Trees

🏵 TopTropicals

Date:

Shade Tree Discount Program
How to reduce an electric bill and energy costs?

Cassia fistula

Photo above: Cassia fistula - Golden Shower Tree - one of the most popular trees. This all time favorite is fast growing and elegant.

Q: How to reduce an electric bill and energy costs?

A: This summer is expected to be hot. And the next summer... and next... Want to reduce your electric bill and energy costs? There is an excellent solution: plant a shade tree! Once fully grown, these trees will help keep your house cooler and lower your energy expenses.

Today we are offering a special discount you can use for purchasing trees that will keep your homes cooler in Summer and gardens warmer in Winter!
Check out Fast Growing Shade Trees, as well as other flowering trees and fruit trees and use discount below:

GETSHADE

Your savings with this code:
5% off orders $100+
15% off orders $150+
20% off orders $200+

Excluding S/H. Excluding 15 gal material. Exp. 6-12-24

Tabebuia tree

Photo above: Tabebuia - spectacular winter bloomer.

Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree

Photo above: Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree. The most beautiful of all orchid trees.

Mango trees with fruit

Photo above: Mango trees now. Many varieties are vigorous, large trees.

Cattley guava tree

Photo above: Cattley Guava Tree is an elegant solution for small spaces. Red Button French Kiss Ginger goes well with it!

Date:

One of the top 10 most impressive trees on the planet

 One of the top 10 most impressive trees on the planet
💃 One of the top 10 most impressive trees on the planet

✍️ "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." - Audrey Hepburn


📷 Royal poinciana, Flamboyant tree, Delonix regia - one of the most popular tropical trees covered with bright red orchid-like flowers from late winter through early summer.

"The Royal Poinciana is one of the most spectacular flowering trees in the USA, and probably among the top 10 on this planet. In full bloom, it is like a regal elephant caparisoned in red and yellow brilliance."
(Larry M. Schokman, The Kampong, National Tropical Botanic Garden)

🛒Grow your own Royal Poinciana

#Quotes #Nature_Wonders

TopTropicals.com
We Grow Happiness

Date:

What orchids can be grown in the ground?

 What orchids can be grown in the ground?  What orchids can be grown in the ground?  What orchids can be grown in the ground?  What orchids can be grown in the ground?  What orchids can be grown in the ground?  What orchids can be grown in the ground?  What orchids can be grown in the ground?
🌸 What orchids can be grown in the ground?

Orchids have a mystique that seems to set them apart from most other flowers... they are elegant and almost unreal in their perfection... But not every gardener has luck growing traditional orchids.

  • ⚜️ Terrestrial orchids (a.k.a. ground orchids) grow in regular garden soil instead of in the air on tree branches!

  • ⚜️ Ground orchids come in many colors and shapes.

  • ⚜️ Ground orchids will be happy to bloom in sun or shade and are very easy to grow!


🎥 Watch YouTube: Ground Orchids

🛒 Order Ground Orchids

#Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

🏵 TopTropicals

Date:

Why Bauhinias are called Orchid Trees: orchid flowers with butterfly wings

 Why Bauhinias are called Orchid Trees: orchid flowers with butterfly wings
🦋 Why Bauhinias are called Orchid Trees: orchid flowers with butterfly wings...

Bauhinia trees have striking orchid-like flowers in hues ranging from white and pink to purple and red. The flowers boast delicate petals with intricate patterns, resembling the elegance of true orchids.

The leaves are deeply divided, typically into two lobes or halves, hence another common name "Butterfly tree" due to their resemblance to butterfly wings.

Need a fast growing, easy to care tree with beautiful blooms? Orchid trees offer quick shade solution and guarantee a spectacular winter flower show.

📚 Learn more about Orchid trees

🛒 Shop Orchid Trees

#Butterfly_Plants

🏵 TopTropicals