Garden Blog - Top Tropicals
Gardeners finally found a perfect everblooming hedge for shade!
Kings Mantle - Thunbergia erecta
Kings Mantle - Thunbergia erecta purple
Kings Mantle - Thunbergia erecta Lavender Lace Variegated
Kings Mantle - Thunbergia erecta White
- 💜 Kings Mantle - Thunbergia erecta - is a perfect flowering bush or hedge for the shady garden.
- 💜 Ever-blooming: Perfect for a continuously blooming hedge.
- 💜 Dense shrub: Bushy, fast-growing, and ideal for mixed beds or medium-to-low hedges.
- 💜 Beautiful flowers: flowers resemble morning glories, with common varieties having rich purple petals and yellow throats.
- 💜 Attractive foliage: Small, dark green leaves.
- 💜 Climber relatives: Unlike many Thunbergia species, this one is a sprawling shrub.
- 💜 Pruning responsive: Can be shaped into a dense hedge, pruning promotes flowering.
- 💜 Sun or shade: Prefers bright light and well-drained soil, but will also bloom in partial shade.
- 💜 Colors: comes in dark blue, white, and the unique, vigorous variegated variety - 'Lavender Ice'.
🛒 Shop King's Mantle
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Why is it called Kings Mantle
King's Mantle - Thunbergia erecta
- ✨ Looking for a hedge that blooms non-stop, even in the shade? King's Mantle - Thunbergia erecta - is ever-blooming superstar is the perfect flowering bush or hedge for those tricky shady spots in your garden.
- ✨ Unlike its climbing cousins, this Thunbergia prefers to sprawl as a shrub, making it easier to manage.
- ✨ With its fast-growing, bushy habit, it's ideal for mixed beds or creating a medium-to-low hedge that stays dense and beautiful year-round.
- ✨ The flowers? Think of morning glories, with stunning purple or white petals and sunny yellow throats. And if you're feeling adventurous, try the 'Lavender Ice' variety with royal, lavender-variegated flowers for a unique twist. The name King's Mantle is well-deserved!
- ✨Not just a pretty face, King’s Mantle also boasts small, dark green leaves that make the flowers pop even more.
- ✨ It's a pruning enthusiast's dream - cut it back, and it'll reward you with even more blooms!
- ✨ Whether you plant it in sun or partial shade, King's Mantle will thrive in well-drained soil, delivering a burst of color all year long.
📚 Learn more from previous post:
Perfect everblooming hedge for shade
🛒 Shop King's Mantle
#Hedges_with_benefits
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How to have the Blue Sky in just one season and forever
Thunbergia laurifolia - Blue Sky vine, Blue Trumpet Vine, Scrambling sky flower
- 🔵 Thunbergia laurifolia - Blue Sky vine, Blue Trumpet Vine, Scrambling sky flower - is a super-fast growing climber that will cover your fence in just one season.
- 🔵 Scrambling sky flower is the most striking blue flowered vine in the world, with a robust and twining habit producing long hanging clusters of 3" sky blue funnel shaped flowers from fall through spring, displayed throughout it's dense deep green foliage.
- 🔵 White flowering variety is Thunbergia grandiflora Alba.
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Curious Gardenia graft
Q: I was told to send you pictures of my hybrid gardenia tree. About 6 months ago the new growth on the top of one side became crinkled. It doesn't get straightened out either. It seems like it just stays like that until it falls off. Any ideas?
A: Your plant is not sick at all. This is what happened...
Your gardenia is a grafted variety. Gardenia varieties (Gardenia jasminoides hybrids) are grafted on rootstock of Gardenia thunbergia (this species is nematode-resistant and used for rootstock especially in Florida).
The side branch that you call "crinkled" is actually the rootstock (Gardenia thunbergia) growing from UNDER the graft. Gardenia thunbergia has naturally "wavy" leaves.
If you follow this branch to its base, you will see where it starts - right below the graft. This happens very often.
You need to remove this branch altogether, from the point where it starts.
It sucks energy from the plant and eventually may take over the whole plant.
Photo above: Gardenia thunbergia with curly leaves
Everyone wants this vine: Blue Sky is in full bloom now!
Thunbergia laurifolia - Blue Sky vine, Blue Trumpet Vine, Scrambling sky flower
Thunbergia laurifolia - Blue Sky vine, Blue Trumpet Vine, Scrambling sky flower - is a super-fast growing climber that will cover your fence in just one season!
📚 Learn more about Thunbergias from previous posts:
Perfect everblooming hedge for shade
Blue Sky in just one season and forever
Clock Vine
🛒 Shop Thunbergia vines
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Top Eight irresistible vines for a hummingbird haven
vines for a hummingbird haven
Below is the Hummingbird Haven Plan designed for continuous blooms, vertical interest, and year-round hummingbird attraction.
Centerpiece (Tall Structure / Arbor)
- Thunbergia, especially Thunbergia mysorensis (Clock Vine). Provide strong overhead support for its hanging blooms. Let this showstopper trail over a sturdy pergola or arbor. Its long, red-and-yellow flowers will be your garden’s main hummingbird magnet.
- Bignonia capreolata (Crossvine) - A hardy, fast-growing native that clings to supports. Train it on a trellis for early-spring blooms that attract the season’s first hummingbirds.
- Tecomaria (Cape Honeysuckle) - A vigorous, evergreen bloomer that loves full sun. Its bright red-orange tubular flowers draw hummingbirds throughout the year and are perfect for training along fences or trellises.
- Passiflora (especially vitifolia or coccinea). Needs full sun, rich soil, and regular water; prune to manage size and boost flowering. Let it twine near seating areas for bold red blooms and close-up hummingbird visits.
- Ipomoea (including Prince Kuhio Vine) - Thrives in warm, frost-free zones with sun and moisture. Plant at the base of structures or in containers to sprawl or climb with vivid purple-pink blooms.
- Lonicera (including L. sempervirens - Coral Honeysuckle) - Plant at the base of a trellis or fence, near the arbor. This cold-hardy native has red-orange or yellow tubular blooms from spring to fall and adds a delicate contrast to tropical textures.
- Antigonon leptopus - Mexican Coral Vine - Loves sun and drains well; drought-tolerant but frost-sensitive. Great for fences and open trellises as a fast-growing, summer-to-fall bloomer buzzing with activity.
- Pyrostegia venusta (Flame Vine) - Bursting in fiery orange, perfect for fences or pergolas. Plant along a back fence or side trellis where it can sprawl wide and fill empty space. Thrives in full sun, blooms in winter-spring, and complements vertical stars like Thunbergia and Passionflower.
Side Support (Trellis or Fence)
Mid-layer (Fence, Arch, or Large Pot Trellis)
Ground-Level Accents
Wild Touch / Quick Filler
📝 These vines feature tubular, nectar-rich blooms that hummingbirds adore.
Add a shallow birdbath or feeder nearby, and you'll have a full-service nectar station!
See full list of Hummingbird favorite vines in next post ⤵️
🛒Turn Your Garden Into a Hummingbird Paradise!
#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants #How_to
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Why is it called Clock Vine?
Thunbergia mysorensis - Clock Vine
Thunbergia mysorensis - Clock Vine
- 🕰 Thunbergia mysorensis - Clock Vine - is a stunning vine originating from India.
- 🕰 Vibrant yellow flowers with a dark mauve border, of a unique, eye-catching shape.
- 🕰 Supposedly, it is called the Clock Vine because the flowers hang down in a regular, clock-like pattern around the vine. This consistent and orderly arrangement of the blooms resembles the numbers on a clock face, giving the plant its charming and unique name. Do you see it in the flower?
- 🕰 The blooms hang in cascading clusters, creating a spectacular display that can beautifully drape over a trellis or pagoda.
- 🕰 Attaracts butterflies and hummingbirds.
- 🕰 Though it's one of the most popular species among garden enthusiasts, its rarity adds an element of exclusivity to any garden lucky enough to host it.
🛒 Shop flowering vines
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Top irresistible vines for a hummingbird haven
Thunbergia mysorensis - Clock Vine
Bignonia capreolata - Crossvine
Tecomaria capensis - Cape Honeysuckle
Passiflora coccinea - Passion Flower
Ipomoea - Prince Kuhio Vine
Lonicera japonica - Japanese Honeysuckle
Antigonon leptopus - Mexican Coral Vine
Pyrostegia venusta - Flame Vine
Full list of Hummingbird favorite vines for the previous post ⤴️
Antigonon leptopus - Mexican Coral Vine 📸
Aristolochia - Dutchman's Pipe
Bignonia capreolata - Crossvine 📸
Camptosema - Dwarf Red Jade Vine
Chonemorpha fragrans - Frangipani Vine
Clerodendrums - Bleeding Heart and others
Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea
Combretum aubletii - Monkey Brush Vine
Dipladenia (Mandevilla)
Faradaya splendida - Glory Vine
Gmelina philippensis - Parrot's Beak
Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower
Ipomoea - Prince Kuhio Vine 📸
Lonicera - Honeysuckle 📸
Mansoa alliacea - Garlic Vine
Pandorea jasminoides - Pandora Vine
Passiflora - Passion Flower 📸
Petrea volubilis - Queen's Wreath
Pyrostegia venusta - Flame Vine 📸
Quisqualis indica - Rangoon Creeper
Senecio confusus - Mexican Flame Vine
Solandra - Butter Cup
Stephanotis floribunda - Bridal Bouquet
Tecomanthe dendrophylla - New Guinea Creeper vine
Tecomaria capensis - Cape Honeysuckle 📸
Thunbergia - Sky Vine, Clock Vine 📸
Turn Your Garden Into a Hummingbird Paradise!
#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants #How_to
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This is what we plant for a compact colorful hedge solution
Thunbergia erecta - Kings Mantle
🛒 Shop Thunbergias - colorful flowers for sun and shade
📚 Learn more:
- ▫️ Variegated flowers of Lavender Ice
- ▫️ Why is it called King's Mantle
- ▫️ Perfect everblooming hedge for shade
#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants
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Flowering vine around garage trellis
Q: I want to grow flowering vines up and around my garage; however I want to make sure whatever I put will grow long enough to make it all the way around the top. I attached photo of my garage and where I mounted the bolts for the trellis. What plants do you recommend for doing something like this that will eventually grow long enough to complete the arch over the garage? Right now I have mandevillas there but I know they aren't the right species. I know bougainvilleas will work, but I was hoping to do something less thorny since it's near the walkway.
A: There are several vines that can fit your project. These are just a few suggestions:
1017 Aristolochia gigantea - Giant Pelican Flower
Camptosema grandiflora - Dwarf Red Jade Vine
Cissus
rotundifolia - Arabian Wax Leaf (very fast glowing)
Clerodendrum speciosum - Red Bleeding Heart
Clitoria ternatea - Blue Butterfly Pea (very fast glowing)
Jasminum sambac Maid of Orleans
Senecio confusus - Mexican flame vine
Stictocardia beraviensis - Hawaiian Sunset Bell (very fast glowing)
Thunbergia alata var. aurea Sunlady
Thunbergia laurifolia - Blue Sky vine
Trachelospermum jasminoides - Confederate Jasmine
Urechites lutea - Yellow Mandevilla
Check out full list of flowering vines
Photo above: Clerodendrum speciosum - Red Bleeding Heart
Photo above: Senecio confusus - Mexican flame vine
Photo above: Clitoria ternatea - Blue Butterfly Pea
Photo above: Thunbergia laurifolia - Blue Sky vine