Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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Why does Allamanda rule the tropics? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Why does Allamanda rule the tropics?

Allamanda colorful varieties

🌸 Why does Allamanda rule the tropics?
  • 🌸 Allamanda is a top favorite - you'll see it in yards everywhere!
  • 🌸 Just look at the colors! Cherry pink, golden yellow, deep mauve, chocolate, even peach - so many stunning colors, blooming nonstop!
  • 🌸 It grows fast, loves the heat, and doesn't ask for much. Want a vine? Perfect. Prefer a shrub? That works too. It's easygoing, showy, and always putting on a show.
  • 🌸 Everyone can grow it - and once you do, you'll wonder how your garden ever got by without it.


🛒 Shop Allamanda colors

📚 Learn more:

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What colors of Allamandas do you have? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What colors of Allamandas do you have?

Peach Allamanda

What colors of Allamandas do you have?

Share your allamandas in comments👇

📚 Learn more from previous posts:
Rare Allamandas: Mandarin-flowered beauty
How to double your Gold
Cabernet - Wine Red Allamanda

🛒 Shop Allamandas

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How to add flowering vines to the landscape. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Urechites lutea (Pentalinon luteum) - Yellow Mandevilla

🔍 How to add flowering vines to the landscape
  • 🍀 Vines, by their nature, are almost always climbers. There are also some that make good hanging flower vines for your baskets hanging under trees or on the front porch.
  • 🍀 Some vines are also in the fruit category. The Passiflora is a beautiful perennial climbing vine that has very showy flowers and then a fruit that can be eaten off the vine or made into a wonderful juice. It would make a nice fast growing vine for a fence or trellis. The Barbados Gooseberry also falls into this category.
  • 🍀 One of the most popular fast growing flowering vines is the trumpet vine - Allamanda. It is an evergreen vine and will take some cold without damage, although it is still considered a tropical flowering vine. It can be grown as a large shrub or small tree and makes a beautiful focal point in the landscape.
  • 🍀 If you have some large trees in your yard, a great climbing vine for shade that also produces a usable product is the Pepper family. Yes, they flower and yes some of them produce pepper that you can use in your kitchen. If you like to know what is in your food, grow your own!
  • 🍀 Another perennial, fast growing and evergreen climbing vine is the Monstera. Monsteras will climb the side of a large tree and can produce an edible fruit after a few years. It is very tropical looking, but will take some cool nights as it is protected under the canopy of the tree.


🎥 Urechites lutea (Pentalinon luteum) - Yellow Mandevilla

🛒 Shop flowering vines

#Hedges_with_benefits #How_to

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Discover rare Allamandas: Mandarin-flowered beauty. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Discover rare Allamandas: Mandarin-flowered beauty

Allamanda violacea - Golden Indonesian Sunset.

🍊 Discover rare Allamandas: Mandarin-flowered beauty

Allamanda violacea - rare variety Golden Indonesian Sunset. Flowers are multi-colored with bronze/golden highlights, some gardeners call it Mandarin Allamanda. Very showy flower, slightly fragrant.

❓ What colors of Allamanda do you have? Share in comments👇

📚 Check out from previous posts:
🍷 Cabernet Allamanda
⭐️ Stansils Double Gold Allamanda williamsii

🛒 Shop Allamanda varieties

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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How to double your Gold. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Allamanda williamsii - Stansils Double Gold

💰 How to double your Gold
  • 💛 Allamanda williamsii - Stansils Double Gold has unusual double flowers! This vining shrub can be very compact unlike common Allamanda vines (that can become quite massive). You can trim it into a small bush, or let it grow over a fence or trellis.
  • 💛 Stansils Double Gold is very attractive ever-blooming vine with bright yellow double trumpet-like flowers 3" wide, slightly fragrant, blooming year-round.
  • 💛 Grows well in most soils. Keep fairly dry during winter and prune in spring before growth begins.


🛒 Order Stansils Double Gold

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A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

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Allamanda x violacea Cabernet - Wine Red Allamanda

🍷 Cabernet Allamanda is in full bloom again!

♥️ Allamanda x violacea Cabernet - Wine Red Allamanda that we mentioned earlier - blooms non stop most of the year. We never saw it without flowers! Spectacular vine.

🛒 Add some Cabernet to your garden

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🏵 TopTropicals

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It's not a wine, it's a vine! But everyone wants it! Spectacular show of Cabernet flowers. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Allamanda x violacea Cabernet - Wine Red Allamanda

🍷 It's not a wine, it's a vine! But everyone wants it! Spectacular show of Cabernet flowers.

♥️ Allamanda x violacea Cabernet - Wine Red Allamanda - is a new hybrid between A. cathartica and A. violacea. We can't propagate enough of it, everyone wants it once the see it in fool bloom. Which is almost year around!

🔴 Spectacular flowering vine, great as a gift, as well as specimen container plant.

🛒 Add some Cabernet to your garden

#Hedges_with_benefits

🏵 TopTropicals

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Easy compact bush for sandy soil

Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Red Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise

Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Red Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise.

Q: Can you recommend a flowering bush that will be in full sun and in sandy soil. I do not want it to exceed 10 feet.

A: For a garden specimen bush that is medium size and tolerates poor soils, we can recommend to choose from the plants below. These are all easy to grow, not fussy about soil and water, and stay compact and require minimal or no trimming at all.

Calliandra surinamensis - Powderpuff - 6-8 ft
Hibiscus mutabilis Cotton Candy - Mallow Hibiscus - 5-6 ft
Dombeya seminole - Tropical Rose Hydrangea 4-6 ft
Allamanda schottii - Dwarf Allamanda Bush 3-4 ft
Brunfelsia pauciflora Compacta - Dwarf Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow - 4-5 ft
Calliandra schultzii - Dwarf calliandra - 4-5 ft
Plumbago auriculata Imperial Blue
Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Red Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise - 2-4 ft
Hibiscus schizopetalus - Coral Hibiscus - 5-6 ft
Jatropha integerrima compacta - 4-5 ft
Clerodendrum bungei - Glory Bower - tolerates shade, 4-5 ft
Eranthemum pulchellum - Blue Sage, Lead Flower (prefers shade) - 4-5 ft
Magnolia figo - Banana Magnolia - small tree, 6-8 ft
Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume (tolerates shade) - 5-6 ft
Tibouchina lepidota - Ecuador Princess, Jules Dwarf - 3-4 ft
Leonotis leonurus - Lions Ears - 3-4 ft

Also, for your further reference, check out the reference chart Hedges with Benefits Chart to see different flowering bushes that are great for hedges as well as garden specimens, depending on your specific needs.

See all Hedges with Benefits

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume.

See all Shrubs

Brunfelsia pauciflora Compacta - Dwarf Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow

Brunfelsia pauciflora Compacta - Dwarf Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow.

Leonotis leonurus - Lions Ears

Leonotis leonurus - Lions Ears.

Date:

Hedges with Benefits
Reference Chart

Hibiscus mutabilis flowering hedge

Large and fast growing

Tithonia diversifolia - Sunflower tree
Acacia farnesiana - Sweet Mimosa
Calliandra surinamensis - Powderpuff
Aloysia virgata - Almond Bush
Dombeya x wallichii - Tropical Hydrangea
Cornutia grandifolia - African lilac
Gmelina philippensis - Parrots Beak
Hibiscus mutabilis Cotton Candy - Mallow Hibiscus
Senna alata - Empress Candle, Candelabra Plant

Medium or easy-trim

Acalypha hispida - Cat tail, Chenille plant
Bauhinia galpinii - Pride of De Kaap
Cestrum nocturnum - Night blooming jasmine
Dombeya seminole - Tropical Rose Hydrangea
Gardenia thunbergia - Forest gardenia
Hamelia patens - Fire Bush
Hibiscus variegated Snow Queen
Jasminum sambac Maid of Orleans
Ochna integerrima - Vietnamese Mickey Mouse, Hoa Mai
Odontonema callistachyum - Lavender Butterfly Bush
Odontonema cuspidatum - Firespike, Red
Rondeletia leucophylla - Panama Rose
Tecoma stans - Yellow Elder

Short or slow growing

Aglaia odorata - Chinese Perfume Plant
Allamanda schottii - Dwarf Allamanda Bush
Brunfelsia pauciflora Compacta - Dwarf Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow
Clerodendrum incisum - Musical Note
Calliandra schultzii - Dwarf calliandra
Gardenia vietnamensis - Vietnamese Gardenia
Leonotis leonurus - Lions Ears
Neea psychotrioides - Pigeon Plum, Hoja de Salat
Plumbago auriculata Imperial Blue

Garden Specimens

Combretum constrictum Thailand, Ball of Fire
Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Red Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise
Clerodendrum quadriloculare - Winter Starburst
Euphorbia leucocephala - Snows of Kilimanjaro, Pascuita
Gardenia nitida - Shooting Star Gardenia
Hibiscus schizopetalus - Coral Hibiscus
Jatropha integerrima compacta
Kopsia fruticosa - Pink Gardenia
Malvaviscus x penduliflorus Variegata - Summer Snow
Mussaenda philippica x flava - Calcutta Sunset (Marmelade)
Plumeria pudica - Bridal Bouquet

Semi-Shade to Shade

Clerodendrum bungei - Glory Bower
Clerodendrum paniculatum - Pagoda Flower
Eranthemum pulchellum - Blue Sage, Lead Flower
Clerodendrum speciosissimum - Java Glorybower Mary Jane
Justicia carnea - Pink Brazilian Plume, Jacobinia
Magnolia figo - Banana Magnolia
Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume
Thunbergia erecta - Kings Mantle
Tibouchina lepidota - Ecuador Princess, Jules Dwarf

Edible Hedges

Eugenia uniflora - Black Surinam Cherry Lolita
Camellia sinensis - Tea Leaf
Hibiscus sabdariffa - Flor de Jamaica, Karkade Sorrel
Laurus nobilis - Bay Leaf
Manihot esculenta - Yuca Root
Nashia inaguensis - Moujean Tea, Bahamas Berry
Sauropus androgynus - Katuk, Tropical Asparagus
Sauropus Variegata - variegated Katuk

See full list of flowering shrubs

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Easy, stress-free plants
for Summer planting

Cat with Bananas

Q: With the rising temperatures, I'm concerned about shipping my plants safely. Can they withstand the heat during transit? Also, is it okay to plant them in the ground now, or should I wait for cooler Fall weather?

A: Your concern about shipping plants in hot weather is valid. For sensitive plants, we'll delay shipping until conditions are more favorable in your area. However, there are plenty of heat-tolerant tropical plants that handle shipping well with minimal stress. These plants adapt easily when planted during the hot summer months. Simply follow the included planting instructions, gradually acclimate them to full sun, and they should thrive.

Certain flowering tropical plants, such as Allamandas, Calliandras, Caesalpinias, Adeniums, and Clerodendrums, are excellent options for shipping and establishing during the summer. Flowering vines like Jasmines also adapt well. Consider using Sunshine Booster fertilizers to promote robust growth, they are safe to use right after planting.

Additionally, many fruit trees flourish in heat. Mangoes, Avocados, Pomegranates, Pineapples, Loquats, Eugenias - Tropical cherries, Bananas, Jackfruits, Dragon Fruit, and Olive trees are great choices for summer planting. Noni trees are hardy survivors and usually ship and grow well during the summer, in spite of their lush tropical leaves.

Feel free to check with us about the specific plant you plan to order for its suitability in summer shipping. We're here to take care of your green babies and address your year-round planting needs!

Shop Fruit Trees

Pitaya Yellow Dragon Fruit, Selenicereus megalanthus

Pitaya, Yellow Dragon Fruit, Selenicereus megalanthus

Shop Flowering Vines

Cat with Bananas

Jasminum sambac Maid of Orleans thrives and blooms in hot sun

Shop Succulents

Cat with Bananas

Kalanchoe synsepala Magnificent - Walking Cup Kalanchoe, spectacular plant, loves dry and hot conditions

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