Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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The mystery of the White Bat Lily - the plant with wings and whiskers. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

White Bat Head Lily (Tacca nivea)

👻 The mystery of the White Bat Lily - the plant with wings and whiskers
  • Here's a cool shot of the White Bat Head Lily (Tacca nivea) - its dramatic white bracts that flare like wings and those wild, trailing whiskers are impossible to ignore. And it is in full bloom again at Top Tropicals - in the middle of August.
  • This plant that pulls off gothic elegance with two crisp, wing‑like white bracts hovering over a cluster of deep maroon‑black "bat‑face" flowers, complete with long, draping whiskers. Beneath it all lie crinkled, olive‑green leaves that only add to its moody charm.
  • This tropical understory native thrives in humid, shaded spaces - whether that's a greenhouse or a mossy, misty corner indoors. It's an evergreen perennial, endlessly intriguing. When it does bloom, the dark little flowers eventually yield heavy berries - just one more twist in its curious tale.
  • Looking to grow one? You'll need:

✔️High humidity, indirect light, and good air circulation
  • ✔️Rich, orchid‑style soil (think adding bark, peat, perlite to your potting mix)
  • ✔️Consistently moist - but not waterlogged - conditions
  • ✔️And to be patient: flowering often requires a couple of leaves before it even sets stems

  • It's not just a plant - it's a conversation starter, a living gothic sculpture that grows. Maybe a bit finicky? Sure. Totally worth it? Absolutely!


🛒 Add White Bat Head Lily to your collection

Tacca colors: Black, White, Green:
Tacca nivea - White Tacca - the rarest and the most wanted
Tacca chantrieri - Black Tacca
Tacca leontopetaloides - Green Tacca

📚 Learn more:
▫️Spooky Bat Head Devil Flower

#Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden
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Climbing 10 feet for Vanilla Beans! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Vanilla Bean Orchid - Vanilla planifolia

⭐️ Climbing 10 feet… for Vanilla Beans!
  • ⚡️ One of our Vanilla Bean Orchids at TopTropicals has big ambitions - it's already climbed 10 feet up a pine tree! We’re waiting (impatiently!) for those elegant yellow-green flowers, which will hopefully turn into vanilla beans.
  • ⚡️ Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia) is the plant behind that sweet, comforting vanilla flavor we all love. It starts off like any potted orchid, but soon sends out aerial roots and becomes a climber, wrapping itself around trees or trellises. In its natural habitat, it grows high into forest canopies, but in the garden it will happily scale any sturdy support you give it.
  • ⚡️ Once established, it flowers and sets the long green pods we call vanilla beans. Growing your own is a lesson in patience - from flower to dried bean can take month - but nothing beats harvesting your own vanilla for the kitchen.


📚 Learn more:

📱How to produce your own vanilla: secrets of hand-pollination.

🛒 Climb toward your own beans

#Shade_Garden #Container_garden #Food_Forest

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Homegrown coffee - the journey begins. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Coffee tree - Coffea arabica

☕️ Homegrown coffee - the journey begins!

Coffee trees (Coffea arabica) that you saw blooming at Top Tropicals in May with fragrant, gardenia-like flowers, now in August - they are loaded with fruit! We will update on them once they turn red and ripe...

🛒 Start your own coffee harvest

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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Anthurium with leaves longer than you! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Anthurium vittarifolium - Long Leaf Anthurium

🍃 Anthurium with leaves longer than you!
  • 🌿 Ever seen an Anthurium with leaves longer than you are tall? Anthurium vittarifolium - Long Leaf Anthurium - is a true rainforest treasure from South America. Its strap-like leaves can reach an incredible 6 feet in length but stay only about 2 inches wide, creating elegant green ribbons that drape down like a waterfall.
  • 🌿 Grow it in a hanging basket and you’ll get a cascading curtain of foliage that instantly turns any space into a jungle hideaway.
  • 🌿 As if the leaves weren’t enough, this rare beauty produces clusters of bright pink berries that pop against the deep green leaves, adding an unexpected splash of color!
  • 🌿 It's rare, it's dramatic, and it's the kind of plant that makes people stop and ask, “What on earth is THAT?”


🛒 Grow the 6-foot leaf Anthurium

📚 Learn more:

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden
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Blue lips smell like violets - Mazabuka, Sclerochiton harveyanus. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Sclerochiton harveyanus - Mazabuka, Blue Lips

👄 Blue lips smell like violets
  • 💙 Sclerochiton harveyanus - Mazabuka, or Blue Lips blooms with quirky blue-to-purple flowers that really do look like lips. And in the tropical plant world, blue flowers are rare. And they are lightly violet-lavender-fragrant!
  • 💙 Even better? It's a total shade lover. No need for blazing sun - this beauty is happy to bloom in the cool, leafy spots of your garden.
  • 💙 Loved by bees and birds, and just the right mix of weird and wonderful.


🛒 Add Blue Lips to your shade garden

📚 Learn more:

#Perfume_Plants #Shade_Garden #Butterfly_Plants
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Caught on camera: found this on the Flower of Caipora. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Ruellia affinis - Flower of Caipora

🌺 Caught on camera: found this on the Flower of Caipora.
  • 🍁 Ruellia affinis, the Flower of Caipora - is a rare tropical gem from the forests of Brazil, with tropical red blooms when you need them most!
  • 🍁 This isn't your typical Ruellia. It's a climbing, vining shrub that puts out blazing red flowers in winter when most plants are taking a nap especially during Fall-Winter holidays.
  • 🍁 You can let it vine up a trellis or pinch it back to make a bushy, compact shape. Either way, those scarlet blooms will pop once the older stems mature.
  • 🍁 Just give it light shade, warmth, and moisture - and it'll reward your patience with color when you least expect it!


🛒 Limited! Get Flower of Caipora, hard-to-find tropical bloomer

📸 What's on the plant? Anyone knows the name of this Moth?

#Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

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More than white: rare Butterfly Gingers. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Hedychium - Butterfly Ginger

More than white: rare Butterfly Gingers
Looks like the classic white, but with soft yellow blooms and the same rich fragrance. Long, slightly fuzzy green leaves and flower spikes that light up late summer with scent and color. This variety grow fast and much bigger than plant also much bigger and vigorous than classic white Butterfly ginger.

🛒 Smell the difference - get your ginger trio

#Shade_Garden #Perfume_Plants
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Color that lasts year-round: Ti plant: bold color, easy care. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Cordyline fruticosa - Hawaiian Ti plant

🌈 Color that lasts year-round: Ti plant: bold color, easy care
  • 🌿 Looking to add some serious color to your garden without adding a lot of work?

    • Cordyline fruticosa, also known as the Hawaiian Ti plant comes as beautiful colorful leaves in so many shades and varieties!
  • 🌿 Shades of deep burgundy, hot pink, bright green, even chocolate - and everything in between. The glossy, sword-shaped leaves look like something out of a vacation photo.
  • 🌿 And the best part? It's super easygoing. Ti plants grow well in sun or shade, in the ground or in pots, and need very little water.
  • 🌿 Perfect for borders, containers, or as a tropical accent - Ti Leaf brings instant island vibes to your space.


🛒 Ti time! Click to grow

#Container_Garden #Hedges_with_benefits #Shade_Garden

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What is that Big Thing??? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Giant Bird's Nest Anthurium - Anthurium x hookeri

What is that Big Thing???
  • What is that big thing in the corner? It's the Giant Bird's Nest Anthurium minding its business and taking up way more than its fair share of space. This plant, Anthurium x hookeri, looks like it wandered in from the jungle and decided to stay.
  • The leaves are enormous - wrinkly, leathery, and can grow over 6 feet long! They feel kind of like cardboard and look like something out of a rainforest movie set.
  • Despite its size, it's easygoing. Doesn’t need much water, tolerates deep shade, and generally keeps to itself. Just give it room to stretch and maybe say hi once in a while.
  • If you like big, bold plants that know how to take up space without being fussy, Giant Bird's Nest Anthurium delivers!


🛒 Adopt the big guy - Giant Birdnest

📚 Learn more:
▫️Discover the Giant Bird’s Nest Anthurium

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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A plant wearing a sweater. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Tradescantia sillamontana - White Velvet, Cobweb Spiderwort

👚 A plant wearing a sweater
  • 👕 Tradescantia sillamontana - White Velvet, Cobweb Spiderwort - is one of those plants that stops people in their tracks and makes them ask, "What is that fuzzy thing?" Here's why it's so cool:
  • 👕 It looks like it's wearing a sweater! Its silvery-green leaves are covered in a soft, white fuzz that looks like cobwebbing - hence the nickname Cobweb Spiderwort. It's as if the plant dressed itself for a chilly morning
  • 👕 It grows low and spreads nicely, forming a neat, dense mound about 10-12 inches tall and 18 inches wide, making it perfect for edging, containers, or spilling over walls.
  • 👕 In summer and fall, it surprises you with vivid magenta-purple flowers tucked among the fuzzy foliage.
  • 👕 Despite its delicate appearance, this plant is hardy to light freezes (zone 8) and thrives on neglect. Dry spells? No problem. It pairs beautifully with succulents. Sun or shade!
  • 👕 Whether in a rock garden, pot, or tucked into a sunny nook, White Velvet brings texture, contrast, and plenty of personality. This little spiderwort is weird, wonderful, and surprisingly easy to grow.


🛒 Get your own Fuzzy White Velvet Tradescantia

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

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