Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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Advantage of a rainy day. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Cat Philemon in a swing

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Helicopter flower Madhavi - the Spring Herald that clings to a Mango Tree. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower close up

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower close up

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, seeds

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, seeds

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flowers on the bush

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flowers on the bush

🚁 Helicopter flower Madhavi - the Spring Herald that clings to a Mango Tree
  • 🍥 Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower: during TopTropicals plant trip to Thailand, this was one of the first discoveries that caught our attention. We were suddenly stopped by an incredible, sweet perfume drifting through the air. Following the scent, we found its source - a dense, vigorous vine covered in unusual, eye-catching flowers.
  • 🍥 Helicopter Flower? The name comes from its funny three-winged seed pods that spin like little helicopters. But the real show happens when it blooms. Clusters of pink-white-and-yellow flowers appear in profusion, with frilly petals and a fruity perfume that can stop you in your tracks. Best of all, it flowers in winter and early spring, just when most other plants are quiet, so it fills the air with fragrance at a time you need it most.
  • 🍥 Hiptage is easy-going and adaptable. It can be trimmed as a shrub, trained into a small tree, or let go as a climber, but be ready to give it space and strong support if you let it vine. It's fast-growing, tolerant of different soils, and happy in either sun or part shade. You can even keep it in a container and trim it into a rounded bush. It's pretty cold hardy too - can take some light frost.
  • 🍥 In India, the Helicopter Flower is called Madhavi - the Spring Herald, and often paired with mango trees in stories and gardens - the sturdy mango holding up this vigorous fragrant vine, symbolizing love, devotion, and the union of strength with beauty. Planting the two together makes for a striking, symbolic pair!
  • 🍥 For gardeners, it's the rare combination of beauty, fragrance, adaptability, and a good story to tell. A plant that not only perfumes your garden but also brings a touch of legend to it.
  • 🍥 Used medicinally in India.


🛒 Bring Perfume Spring Herald to your garden

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

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Mango chili salt bites: quick n fun exotic recipes. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Mango chili salt bites

Mango chili salt bites

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Giving all to the present. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Cat Timo sits where he fits at TopTropicals

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One bite, your whole day of vitamin C: Barbados Cherry that outdoes oranges! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

One bite, your whole day of vitamin C: Barbados Cherry that outdoes oranges!

Malpighia glabra - Barbados Cherry, Acerola

🍒 One bite, your whole day of vitamin C: Barbados Cherry that outdoes oranges!
  • 🍒 Malpighia glabra - Barbados Cherry, or Acerola has 65 times more vitamin C than an orange! Just a single berry-sized fruit can provide your entire daily vitamin C needs, along with vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, carotenoids, and bioflavonoids. In short, this little cherry is one of the most powerful antioxidant fruits in the world.
  • 🍒 But it isn’t just about nutrition. Barbados Cherry is a compact, fast-growing shrub or small tree that starts fruiting young, often within its first year. It produces crops several times a year, and the bright red cherries are as beautiful as they are useful. The fruit is tangy-sweet and makes excellent juices, smoothies, jams, and jellies. It also freezes well without losing its vitamin content.
  • 🍒 Gardeners love this plant not only for its fruit but also for how easy it is to grow. Unlike many tropicals, it tolerates alkaline soils, is drought-resistant once established, and can handle light freezes. That makes it a surprisingly tough choice for a tropical fruit tree. Birds enjoy the fruit too, so planting one is also a gift to your local wildlife.
  • 🍒 It's also a beauty in the garden, covered in pretty pink flowers and bright red fruit, often both at the same time.
  • 🍒 If you are short on space, the dwarf variety Nana is a perfect choice. With tiny leaves, compact growth, and smaller fruit, it works well in containers, borders, or even as a bonsai. It's both ornamental and productive.
  • 🍒 Whether you want a reliable vitamin boost, a wildlife-friendly garden addition, or just a cheerful little tree with bright red fruit, Barbados Cherry has you covered.


📚 Learn more from previous posts:

🛒 Add this vitamin C tree to your garden

#Food_Forest #Discover #Remedies

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

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The Book of the Cat. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Cat Mr Barcy laying on a couch

Cat Mr Barcy laying on a couch

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What is your favorite variety of Jasmine Sambac? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What is your favorite variety of Jasmine Sambac?

Jasminum Sambac varieties

💮 What is your favorite variety of Jasmine Sambac?
  • 💮 Jasminum Sambac is hands-down the queen of fragrant flowers. The scent is heavenly - so much so that it's the key to jasmine perfume and the secret behind authentic jasmine tea.
  • 💮 Jasmine sambac comes in all shapes and sizes - from neat little shrubs to big, vigorous bushes and even climbing vines. Every variety shows off a different flower form. It’s happy in sun or shade, perfect for pots, and loved as an indoor plant.
  • 💮 At TopTropicals we love them all, but these three are our favorites:

- Belle of India - with elegant long petals
- Arabian Nights - vigorous yet compact, always covered in blooms
- Little Duke - same big carnation-like flowers as Grand Duke, but in a smaller, tidy package
  • 👉 At Top Tropicals, we grow every known variety of Jasminum sambac in cultivation:


❓ Which one would you choose for your garden?
  • ✔️ Arabian Nights - compact slow growing shrub with small delicate flowers
  • ✔️ Belle of India - compact vine with long elegant petals, shade lover
  • ✔️ Grand Duke of Tuscany - the most popular, vigorous bush with carnation-like flowers
  • ✔️ Grand Duke Supreme - bigger, more vigorous version of Grand Duke with larger flowers
  • ✔️ Gundu Malli - new hybrid between Arabian Nights and Grand Duke
  • ✔️ Little Duke - more compact version of the Grand Duke
  • ✔️ Maid of Orleans - vigorous full sun climber, great for hedges and fences
  • ✔️ Mali Chat - very delicate, rare variety, with miniature 3-tier flowers, not easy to establish, shade lover
  • ✔️ Mysore Mulli - vigorous vining shrub for sunny or semi-shade locations

  • 👉 To get more flowers, just use Sunshine Pikake plant booster and enjoy the perfume all day long!


🛒 Smell the Difference – collect Sambac varieties
  • 📚 Learn more:

▫️The most wanted fragrant plant
📚 Jasminum Sambac Absolute Flower - book download

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

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Avocado cacao mousse: quick n fun exotic recipes. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Avocado cacao mousse

Avocado cacao mousse

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