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How to grow your own vanilla orchid at home

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia)

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia)

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia), flower

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia), flower

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia), seed pods beans

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia), seed pods beans

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia)

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia)

🪩 How to grow your own vanilla orchid at home
  • 🍨 The Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia) is a tropical climbing beauty and the source of the world’s favorite spice - vanilla. This luxurious plant adds elegance to any space, indoors or out.
  • 🍨 A piece of history: Once revered by the Aztecs for flavoring the decadent cacao drink Xoco-latl, vanilla remains a symbol of comfort, luxury, and flavor.
  • 🍨 Why it's special: Vanilla pods are scentless at first and develop their rich aroma after careful curing - a reason it’s the second most expensive spice after saffron.
  • 🍨 How to grow Vanilla Orchid:

  • · Support: Use a trellis, log, or burlap-covered board for climbing.
  • · Light: Bright, indirect light works best.
  • · Environment: Keep it warm and humid, like its natural tropical habitat.
  • · For pots: Add a mini-trellis or small log to mimic its natural climbing needs.

  • 🍨 Why you'll love it:

    • Growing your own vanilla means adding a slice of the tropics to your home, with the chance to harvest your own vanilla beans for homemade extracts. It's beautiful, exotic, and endlessly rewarding.
  • 🍨 Ready to start your vanilla journey? Add a Vanilla Bean Orchiв to your cart and bring this fragrant, elegant treasure home today!


📚 Learn more from previous post:
The Secret of how to Make Vanilla Orchid bloom

🛒 Shop Vanilla Bean Orchids

#Shade_Garden #How_to

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

What is the secret of Mameys popularity

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote fruit

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote fruit

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote fruit on a branch

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote fruit on a branch

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote fruit on a branch

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote fruit on a branch

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote fruit

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote fruit

😎 What is the secret of Mamey's popularity
  • 🍊 Pouteria sapota, or Mamey Sapote - is a large tropical fruit with a thick, rough skin and sweet, creamy orange flesh with sweet and pumpkin-like flavor.
  • 🍊 It's eaten fresh, blended into smoothies, or used in desserts like ice cream and shakes.
  • 🍊 National fruit of Cuba, native to the Caribbean and Central America, Mamey has been cultivated for centuries and is valued for its rich flavor and high nutritional content.


Flowers emerge in clusters in the axils of fallen leaves along the branches, followed by the showy fruit. This is called cauliflory - when plants flower and fruit from their main stems or woody trunks. Other examples of cauliflory are Cucumber tree and Jaboticaba.

📚 More from previous post:
Why exotic Mamey is so much wanted

🛒 Order Mamey Tree

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Merry Christmas, everybody!

👋 Merry Christmas, everybody! ❄️

  • 🎄 Today, let's set aside our differences and unite in joy, smiles, and cherished family moments. No matter your beliefs or religion, we come together in our shared love for gardening. The spirit of tropical beauty is something we all hold dear, connecting us across all divides.

  • 🎄 Wishing you happiness, health, and a vibrant green life during this festive season and beyond. Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay green!


🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

How Cardinals Guard runs red carpet for Christmas

Cardinals Guard (Pachystachys coccinea)

Cardinals Guard (Pachystachys coccinea)

Cardinals Guard (Pachystachys coccinea)

Cardinals Guard (Pachystachys coccinea)

Cardinals Guard (Pachystachys coccinea)

Cardinals Guard (Pachystachys coccinea)

🚩 How Cardinals Guard runs red carpet for Christmas⛔️👍
  • 💖 If your garden needs a pop of color, Cardinals Guard (Pachystachys coccinea) is ready to take the spotlight! With its bold, scarlet-red blooms perched atop green cones, this evergreen perennial looks like it's wearing a crown.
  • 💖 Striking Christmas-red flowers emerge from a green cone. Blooms most of the year.
  • 💖 Adds vibrant color and a festive, tropical feel to any space.
  • 💖 Upright, multi-stemmed growth with lush foliage.
  • 💖 Attracts hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators.
  • 💖 Care: Morning sun and afternoon shade (semi-shade preferred). Trim stems to prevent legginess and encourage fresh growth. Perfect for Southern gardens and large containers.


🛒 Plant Cardinals Guard

#Butterfly_Plants #Shade_Garden #Hedges_with_benefits

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Do you have Longevity Spinach in your garden?

Gynura crepioides - Okinawa Spinach, Purple leaves

Gynura crepioides - Okinawa Spinach, Purple leaves

Longevity Spinach (Gynura)

Longevity Spinach (Gynura)

Gynura crepioides - Okinawa Spinach, Purple leaves

Gynura crepioides - Okinawa Spinach, Purple leaves

Gynura crepioides - Okinawa Spinach, Purple leaves

Gynura crepioides - Okinawa Spinach, Purple leaves

Do you have Longevity Spinach in your garden?
  • 🥗 Longevity Spinach (Gynura) is a leafy green plant known for its mild flavor and nutritional benefits. It is one of the Superfoods, known for its longevity-promoting properties in traditional medicine. There are two varieties - Green (Gynura procubens) and Purple leaves (Gynura crepioides - Okinawa Spinach).
  • 🥗 It's often used in Southeast Asian cuisine, added to soups, stews, and salads for its health-promoting properties, including immune support and improved digestion.
  • 🥗 It is prized for being easy to grow and rich in vitamins and antioxidants. This green is also known as cholesterol spinach, and there are many claims that it lowers can cholesterol.
  • 🥗 Perfect for hot and humid climates unlike traditional Spinach that only grown in cooler areas. It will thrive in any type of soil, any type of light other than dark shade, and is pest-free.
  • 🥗 Very adaptable to container gardening and even grows well on a windowsill.
  • 🥗 The leaves and young shoot tips can be steamed, used in stir fry, tempura, stews, and soups. Just add them at the very end.


Check out the recipes⬇️⬇️⬇️

📚 Learn more:
5 most useful edibles for tropical garden
How to make healthy food taste delicious: Longevity Spinach Super-food Recipes
Gynura: Longevity Spinach Superfood Recipes

🎥 Best Hot Weather Spinach Crops - Longevity and Okinawa Spinach

🛒 Plant Longevity Spinach and live long

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Remedies

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

What are the easiest, low maintenance plants?

Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree

Photo above: Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree. The most beautiful of all orchid trees. This winter bloomer starts flowering in very small size, when only 2-3 ft tall, and grows fast. (Bonus plant: makes it 7 easy plants!)

Six easiest to grow, effortless plants

Q: I'm seeking low-maintenance, tropical plants for my yard since I have limited time for gardening. Could you recommend some easy-to-care-for options that will still give my outdoor space a tropical feel?

A: Tropical plants don’t necessarily require extensive care. Many options are low maintenance, effortless, and easy to grow, including a variety of plants, trees, shrubs, and vines that demand minimal upkeep. They are fast growing, not fussy about soil, cold- and heat- resistant, and can rely on regular sprinkler irrigation. Below are six our favorites - the easiest and most effortless tropical plants for your Southern landscape. You can find the full list here.

1. Fruit tree: Lolita Cherry

Eugenia uniflora - Black Surinam Cherry Lolita

Eugenia uniflora - Black Surinam Cherry Lolita. The plant is vigorous and ready to fruit the same year. The fruit has exceptional flavor, very sweet, without aftertaste, large 1-1.2 inch, very juicy. Reliable producer. These cherries are cold hardy and can take short periods of frost.

2. Flowering tree: Shaving Brush Tree

Pseudobombax ellipticum - Shaving Brush Tree

Pseudobombax ellipticum - Shaving Brush Tree is one of the coolest looking flowering trees, this fast-growing tree bears spectacular showy staminate flowers in the spring. It usually has no leaves at that time, which serves to show off the large and striking blooms. Very low water needs, grows fast!

3. Flowering shrub: Firespike

Odontonema cuspidatum - Firespike, Red

Odontonema cuspidatum - Firespike - ultimate butterfly magnet with showy bright red flowers. Will take sun or shade. Very easy and happy plant!

4. Flowering vine: Bleeding Heart

Clerodendrum thomsoniae - Bleeding Heart

Clerodendrum thomsoniae - Bleeding Heart. One of the most spectacular blooming vines. Spectacular, dramatic flowers are slightly flat, they have white sepals on either side of bright crimson petals. The appearance may be liken to a line of dangling hearts, each emerging from the other. Very easy to grow and undemanding plant. Blooms in both sun or shade!

5. Small perennial: Ground Orchids - many colors!

Ground orchids

Ground orchids are the easiest and most rewarding flowers for a tropical garden. They thrive in regular garden soil or potting mix, tolerate both sun and shade, and bloom nearly year-round. They take both sun or shade, are cold-resistant and carefree. And look at these colors! From vibrant purples to soft pinks and yellows, ground orchids bring a splash of tropical beauty with minimal effort. Their consistent blooming makes them a must-have for gardeners seeking color all year.

6. Fragrant exotic: Queen of the Night

Epiphyllum oxypetalum - Queen of the Night

Epiphyllum oxypetalum - Queen of the Night - powerfully fragrant at night! This special cactus grows in tropical rainforests and has large wide meaty leaves. The flower is huge, white, and nocturnal. Blooms at night hours, hence the name. One of the most exotic indoor plants, great shade garden specimen. Easy to care, very low maintenance. Very low water needs.

Shop low maintenance plants

Date:

How to make a healthy Avocado Tropical Smoothie - recipe

How to make a healthy Avocado Tropical Smoothie - recipe
🥑 How to make a healthy Avocado Tropical Smoothie - recipe

🤩 Ingredients:

  • · 1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
  • · 1 cup coconut milk (or any plant-based milk)
  • · 1/2 cup fresh pineapple chunks
  • · 1/2 banana
  • · 1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup (optional)
  • · 1/2 cup ice cubes


🤢 Instructions:

  • · Combine all the ingredients in a blender.
  • · Blend until smooth and creamy.
  • · Taste and adjust sweetness with honey or agave if needed.
  • · Pour into a glass and serve immediately.


🐸 This smoothie is rich, creamy, and packed with tropical vibes - a refreshing and healthy treat!

🛒 Plant your own Avocado Tree

#Food_Forest #Recipes

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Why Coffee tree is the best gift plant

House plant Coffee (Coffea arabica) and a cat

House plant Coffee (Coffea arabica) and a cat

☕️ Why Coffee tree is the best gift plant
  • ☕️ Discover the joy of growing one of the most beloved indoor fruit trees – the Coffee Plant (Coffea arabica). Whether you’re a coffee enthusiast, a plant lover, or looking for the perfect gift, this lush, shade-loving plant is a stunning addition to any home. Enjoy the satisfaction of growing your own beans!
  • ☕️ 5 Reasons to Grow a Coffee Plant
  • ☕️ Perfect Indoor Fruit Tree

    • Coffee plants thrive indoors and add a unique touch to your collection. They’re compact, adaptable, and incredibly rewarding to grow.
  • ☕️ Shade-Loving & Low Maintenance

    • Perfect for homes with limited sunlight, coffee plants prefer indirect light and need only little watering to thrive. No green thumb? No problem!
  • ☕️ Stunning Aesthetic Appeal

    • With glossy green leaves and star-shaped, fragrant white flowers (similar to gardenias, as they are from the same family!), your coffee plant will bring a refreshing tropical vibe to your home.
  • ☕️ Sustainable Fresh Coffee

    • Grow and harvest your own beans! Enjoy the satisfaction of drying, roasting, and grinding your very own homegrown coffee.
  • ☕️ Year-Round Beauty & Fragrance

    • Coffee plants stay evergreen, providing lush greenery all year long. Plus, the fragrant flowers add a sweet, soothing aroma to your space.
  • ☕️ What Makes Coffee Plants Special?
  • ☕️ Easy to Grow: Coffee plants are forgiving and flourish with minimal care. Regular water and filtered light keep them happy.
  • ☕️ Unique Fruiting: The berries change color from green to yellow to red as they ripen. Inside are the seeds – your coffee beans!
  • ☕️ Gardenia-Like Blooms: Fragrant, white star-shaped flowers appear in clusters, adding charm and elegance to any room.
  • ☕️ Perfect Gift Idea: Looking for a thoughtful and unique gift? Coffee plants make amazing gifts for friends, family, or any coffee lover 🎁


📚 Learn more from previous posts:
Top 10 fruit you'll ever need for your health benefits: #2. Coffee Tree
What is the best Gift plant?
What is the most popular and the easiest tropical fruit tree grown as a house plant?

📱 Video: growing Coffee tree

🛒 Plant a Coffee Tree

#Food_Forest #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Happy sunny flowers with lush tropical foliage for shady spots

Barleria micans - Giant Yellow Shrimp

⭐️ Happy sunny flowers with lush tropical foliage for shady spots

Barleria micans - Giant Yellow Shrimp is a bright, pollinator-friendly shrub with stunning summer blooms!
  • ☀️ Foliage: Lush, dark green, tropical-looking leaves.
  • ☀️ Flowers: Showy yellow blooms in summer, often covering the plant.
  • ☀️ Pollinator Magnet: Attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
  • ☀️ Growth: Grows 4–5 ft tall; thrives in filtered sun or shade with regular water.
  • ☀️ Soil & Climate: Does well in rich, well-drained soil; heat and humidity tolerant.
  • ☀️ Seasonal Charm: Winter bloomer for Zone 10+.


🛒 Plant Giant Yellow Shrimp

#Butterfly_Plants #Shade_Garden #Hedges_with_benefits

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

What to do with a lot of Jackfruit: Jackfruit BBQ Sliders recipe

What to do with a lot of Jackfruit: Jackfruit BBQ Sliders recipe
🥧 What to do with a lot of Jackfruit: Jackfruit BBQ Sliders recipe

🤩 Ingredients:

  • · 2 cups ripe jackfruit, shredded (remove seeds)
  • · 1 cup barbecue sauce
  • · 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • · 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • · 6 slider buns
  • · Optional toppings: coleslaw, pickles


🤤 Instructions:

  • · Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat and sauté the onion until soft.
  • · Add the shredded jackfruit to the pan and cook for 5 minutes.
  • · Stir in the barbecue sauce, mixing well to coat the jackfruit. Let it simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • · Toast the slider buns lightly.
  • · Pile the jackfruit mixture onto the buns and top with coleslaw or pickles if desired.


💪 These sliders are a tropical twist on a BBQ classic, perfect for casual gatherings!

🛒 Plant your own Jackfruit Tree

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Jackfruit

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
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