💄 Does Red flowering banana produce fruit?

• 🌷 Musa coccinea - Scarlet Red Flowering Banana - is a rare, small size tropical banana tree native to China and Vietnam, known for its vibrant red flower bracts that surround delicate yellow blooms.
• 🌷 With glossy, dark green leaves resembling classic banana foliage, this plant makes a striking addition to a rare plant collection.
• 🌷 Although it doesn't produce edible bananas, it grows small orange fruits that enhance its ornamental appeal.
• 🌷 The plant's pseudostems die back after flowering, but new shoots (banana pups) emerge from the roots, ensuring its continued growth.
• 🌷 Compact and easy to grow, it's perfect for small gardens, pots, or as a colorful indoor arrangement.

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💐 This is why it's called Heaven Lotus Tree - fragrant and edible!

• 🪷 Gustavia augusta - Heaven Lotus - is a stunning, small tropical tree from Brazil that looks like it stepped right out of a tropical paradise. The spectacular, perfumed flowers resembling Lotus are as beautiful as they are unique.
• 🪷 These large, striking blooms with white-and pink petals and a magic sweet fragrance are so eye-catching that the central crown almost looks good enough to eat!
• 🪷 Straight, often unbranched trunk, with a single cluster of leaves at the top, gives it a palm-like vibe. As it grows older, it may sprout a few large branches, each with its own leafy crown. The leaves are huge - no other tree around has leaves quite as big, except maybe a palm. They're long, narrow at the base, and broad at the top, making them a real showstopper.
• 🪷 The rounded, pear-shaped fruit grow directly on the trunk (a trait called cauliflory, see earlier post) and contains delicious yellowish-orange pulp that can be boiled and resemble meat in taste. The leaves, when boiled into a decoction, are said to cure intoxication.
• 🪷 Truly an exciting, one-of-a-kind tree, a gem for collectors! Can be grown in containers.

🛒 Enjoy your own Heaven Lotus Tree

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💎 Is Sapphire Gem really a ginger?

• 💎 Despite its name, Blue Ginger is not a true ginger but a member of the Commelinaceae family, closely related to the well-known Tradescantia houseplants.
• 💎 Dichorisandra thyrsiflora - Blue Ginger, Sapphire Gem is a clump-forming perennial enchants with its deep sapphire-blue blooms - a rare and striking color for the tropics.
• 💎 Growing 2-5 feet tall, it features dark green stems with leopard-like spots at the leaf axils and shiny, horizontally held foliage.
• 💎 Native to Brazil and Peru, Blue Ginger thrives in semi-shade or partial shade with moist, well-draining soil, making it an ideal addition to shade gardens, patios, or indoor collections.
• 💎 Its vibrant blue, lavender, or purple flowers attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators, creating a lively display.
• 💎 In warm climates it remains evergreen and can tolerate brief dips into the low 30s. In cooler regions, it grows beautifully in pots and can be overwintered indoors in a cool, bright location. For best results, keep the soil moist but not waterlogged, maintain good air circulation, and fertilize moderately during the growing season.
• 💎 In warm environment, the plant is evergreen and doesn't go dormant (unlike true gingers). Close relative - Dichorisandra pendula - Weeping Blue Ginger

🛒 Get your own Exclusive Christmas Colorama

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🎄 What is the most excusive tropical Christmas flower?

• 🎅 A festive showstopper, Ruellia colorata, known as Colorama, is a rare and vibrant addition to exotic container plant collection. Its brilliant scarlet bracts color up for Christmas and stay bright carmine for several months.
• 🎅 Native to Brazil, this small plant grows 2-4 feet tall, displaying brilliant scarlet bracts and crimson flowers that stay bright for months, adding a touch of holiday cheer.
• 🎅 One of Colorama's most striking features is its photoperiodic response: the top leaves turn crimson red around Christmas time due to changes in daylight length, much like the beloved Poinsettia. After winter, these leaves return to green, keeping the plant lively and versatile year-round.

Photoperiodism is the process where plants respond to the length of day and night, triggering changes such as leaf coloration or flowering.
• 🎅 Its blooms are a magnet for butterflies and hummingbirds, making it a favorite for wildlife enthusiasts.
• 🎅 Colorama thrives in shady to semi-shady spots and requires regular watering to stay lush and healthy. It's perfect for USDA zones 9-11 but can also be grown in colder regions if protected from frost. For winter care in cooler climates, move it indoors or to a warm area to keep this stunning beauty happy and blooming.
• 🎅 When grown in pots, ensure good drainage, use rich organic soil, and place the plant in a bright location.
• 🎅 Prune twice a year to maintain its compact, bushy shape, and fertilize with a flowering fertilizer once established.

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🪶 Why is it called Blood Feather?

• 🩸A true gem for tropical plant enthusiasts, Sanchezia stenomacra - Blood Red Feather - is a rare and stunning perennial.
• 🩸Native to the jungles of Peru, it thrives in humid environments with filtered light, making it perfect for lush, shaded spots in your garden, greenhouse or indoor plant collection.
• 🩸Its striking blood-red flowers, shaped like delicate feathers, add a bold splash of color and are irresistible to hummingbirds. Feathery burgundy-red plumes rise above the deep green foliage and last for weeks. The true flowers are orange-red and tubular, emerging from the wispy flower heads day after day.
• 🩸Upright, vigorous grower. When plants become too large, they can take a hard pruning and quickly recover and re-flower. Flowering continuously throughout the year, it even does well under partial sun.
• 🩸A rare find for private collections, this showy plant is sure to become a centerpiece of your tropical paradise.

🛒 Order Blood Red Feather Sanchezia

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🪩 Does Queen of the Night bloom only one night out of the year?

• 💎 Epiphyllum oxypetalum - Queen of the Night, is a captivating cactus famous for its nocturnal, powerfully fragrant blooms!
• 💎 Native to tropical rainforests, it thrives as an exotic houseplant with its wide, fleshy leaves.
• 💎 This plant earns its royal title by producing stunning, large white fragrant flowers that open only at night, creating a spectacular and fleeting display of beauty.
• 💎 Each flower lasts only one night, but if you missed it - no worries! New blooms will follow from multiple buds. So you actually will have several nights to enjoy it!
• 💎 A must-have for those who love unique and fragrant indoor plants.

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⚡ Why this cactus is called Blue Flame 🔥

• 🔥 Pseudorhipsalis amazonica - Blue Flame Cactus - is a spectacular bloomer!
• 🔥This is a rare, spineless, epiphytic cactus from the rainforests of the Amazon jungle.
• 🔥 The flowers emerge along the leaf edges from late spring through early summer. They have a distinctive blue tip on the magenta flower, just like a blue flame!

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🍑 How soon will Persimmon tree fruit?

• 🍑 Persimmons (Diospyros sp.) are fast-fruiting trees, perfect for gardeners seeking quick results.
• 🍑 Grafted varieties begin producing fruit immediately, even on young, container-grown trees as small as 2-3 feet tall, often flowering in their first year.
• 🍑 When planted in the ground, persimmons grow into compact, space-efficient trees that reliably produce a bountiful harvest every year.

📚 Learn more from previous post:
Native American Persimmon
Persimmons: best varieties for container culture
How to grow Persimmon tree

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😶 Did you know this about Hoyas?

*Wax Plants: Hoyas are often called wax plants because of their thick, glossy leaves and waxy flowers.

*Sweet Scented Blooms: Their star-shaped flowers not only look like candy but also emit sweet, often vanilla-like or chocolatey scents, especially in the evening.

*Epiphytic Nature: Many Hoyas grow as epiphytes in their natural habitats, meaning they live on other plants or trees, getting nutrients from the air and rain.

*Longevity: Hoyas can live for decades and may even be passed down as heirlooms. Some specimens are over 100 years old!

*Nectar Drops: Their blooms produce tiny drops of nectar, a treat for pollinators (and sometimes houseplant owners).

*Hundreds of Species: There are over 500 species of Hoyas, ranging from tiny-leafed varieties to ones with massive leaves or even fuzzy foliage.

*Sun-Loving Flowers: While the plants tolerate lower light, Hoyas flower best with bright, indirect light or even some direct sun.

*Low-Maintenance: They’re perfect for forgetful gardeners since they prefer to dry out between waterings.

*Climbing or Trailing: Hoyas can either climb with the help of trellises or cascade beautifully as trailing plants.

*Flowering Age: Hoyas are patient! Some won’t bloom until they’re a few years old, but the wait is worth it.

*Resilient Peduncles: Never cut off the “flower stems” (peduncles) - Hoyas rebloom from the same spot year after year.

*Exotic Origins: Native to Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, they thrive in tropical and subtropical climates.

*Lucky Charm: In some cultures, Hoyas are considered symbols of love and are gifted as housewarming or wedding presents.

🎥 Hoya calycina - Papua Sweet Scent was discovered in Papua New Guinea in 1913. The flower is very fragrant and can infuse your entire house in a beautiful lilac scent.

😍 Do you have a favorite Hoya species in mind? Share in comments!

📚 More from previous post:
Our favorite houseplants - hoyas

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🔤 When Bamboo blooms with orchid flowers 👀

• ⭐️ The Bamboo Orchid (Arundina graminifolia), or Bird Ground Orchid, is a showstopper with its elegant, pinkish-purple flowers perched on tall, cane-like stems that look strikingly like bamboo.
• ⭐️ These towering plants can grow to hip height or even taller, bringing a bold, exotic vibe to your garden. Their resemblance to bamboo isn't just in the stems – the long, alternating leaves add to the illusion.
• ⭐️ At the top of the canes, delicate flowers bloom one at a time, keeping the show going for weeks. Each flower, about 2-3 inches wide, features soft white petals and a vibrant purple-pink lip, reminiscent of the beautiful Cattleya orchids.
• ⭐️ These blooms can appear almost year-round, with a peak in summer, adding a touch of tropical elegance to your landscape.
• ⭐️ This stunning plant is perfect for those who want a unique and low-maintenance addition to their shade garden that always reaches for the sky!

📱 Ground orchids: all-summer colors for shady gardens

📚Learn more from previous posts:

• 🟡 The prettiest flower for shade
• 🟡 Ground orchids: all-summer colors
• 🟡 Why do we love Ground Orchids
• 🟡 Epidendrum radicans - Orange Reed Ground Orchid, Sunrise
• 🟡 Terrestrial orchids
• 🟡 What orchids can be grown in the ground

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