Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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How to make lots of Insulin Ginger plants quickly and get more health benefits. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How to make lots of Insulin Ginger plants quickly and get more health benefits

Costus igneus (Chamaecostus cuspidatus) - Fiery Costus or Spiral Flag

💚 How to make lots of Insulin Ginger plants quickly and get more health benefits
  • Costus igneus (Chamaecostus cuspidatus) - Fiery Costus or Spiral Flag is believed to help lower blood glucose levels naturally and managing diabetes.
  • Have you heard of Insulin Ginger? Everyone wants to have it in the garden!
  • Gardeners in India grow it not just for its pretty spiral leaves, but for what those leaves do. People with diabetes often chew them fresh or brew them into tea, saying it helps keep their blood sugar under control.
  • Researchers have found something interesting: the leaves contain an insulin-like compound, along with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. In animal studies, extracts from the plant lowered blood sugar, protected the liver and kidneys, and even made the body more sensitive to insulin.
  • The way folks use it is simple. You can chew a leaf right off the plant, steep dried leaves for tea, or find it in powders and capsules. It's one of those plants that shows how tradition and science sometimes meet in the garden.
  • Its lush, turmeric-like leaves spiral around upright stems, with a glossy dark green top and a striking light purple underside. In warm months, it produces bright orange, cone-like flowers that stand out beautifully in the garden.
  • Beyond its beauty and natural insulin effects, the insulin plant is credited with aiding digestion, reducing cholesterol, boosting energy, improving skin health, supporting weight loss, relieving stress, and promoting heart wellness. A real botanical multitasker!


🎥 In this video, we’ll show you how to multiply Insulin Ginger fast, so you’ll have plenty of plants for yourself and even extras to share with friends and family.

✅ Don’t forget to use Green Magic fertilizer for the best results. Gingers absolutely love this plant food - they thrive on it and respond better than any other plant, with vigorous growth, lush foliage and loads of leaves you’ll need for all the benefits.

🛒 Grow your own sugar-fighter - the Insulin Ginger

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Shade_Garden #Discover

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How can you use Elephant Ears? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How can you use Elephant Ears?

🐘 How can you use Elephant Ears?

  • 🟢 Alocasias and Colocasias, or Elephant Ears, are both remarkable and popular plants that can bring a touch of tropical elegance to any garden.

  • 🟢 Striking Foliage: large, lush foliage. The leaves can be enormous, resembling the shape of elephant ears, hence the common name. The foliage is usually rich green, but there are also varieties with hues of purple, black, or variegated patterns. These vibrant leaves create a dramatic focal point.

  • 🟢 Tropical Aesthetic: large, architectural leaves add a sense of drama and create a stunning backdrop for other plants.

  • 🟢 Versatility: work well in containers, making them suitable for patio gardens. In larger landscapes, colocasias and alocasias can be planted directly in the ground, either as standalone specimens or as part of mixed border plantings. They can also be utilized around water features or in bog gardens since they enjoy moist conditions.

  • 🟢 Low Maintenance: thrive in full to partial shade. Regular watering and occasional fertilization will help them grow vigorously.

  • 🟢 Impressive Size: Some varieties can grow several feet tall, creating a stunning vertical element in the garden.


📸 Colocasia esculenta Jacks Giant: This astonishing elephant ear is well-named, it really does look like something that would grow for the giant! The foliage is absolutely massive, many feet long and wide, with a glossy texture, prominent ribbing, and a rich blue-green cast that lightens to chartreuse around the edges.

📚 Learn more from previous posts:
What to plant by the pond?
Pharaoh Mask with stunning 3D effect
Mojito Elephant Ears
Colocasia vs Alocasia - what is the difference?

🛒 Shop Colocasias

#Shade_Garden

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Coral-blooming bonsai with a bottle-shaped trunk - perfect container plant. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Coral-blooming bonsai with a bottle-shaped trunk - perfect container plant

🔥 Coral-blooming bonsai with a bottle-shaped trunk - perfect container plant

  • Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant - is a one-of-a-kind tropical showpiece with a knobby, swollen caudex, massive umbrella-like leaves, and bright coral-red flowers that pop like underwater treasures.

  • Compact and only 2-3 feet tall, it's perfect for containers, bonsai lovers, and small gardens craving something bold and unusual. It thrives in partial shade, grows giant leaves in low light, and needs little water to stay happy. Easy-care and eye-catching, it's more than a plant it’s a conversation starter.


🛒 Get your Gout plant - the plant with a personality

📚 Learn more:
Attention grabber: swollen trunk, giant leaves, and flowers just like corals

#Container_Garden #Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden

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What plants do you recognize in this display. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What plants do you recognize in this display

What plants do you recognize in this display ❓

Share in comments 🔽

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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What is the most beautiful ginger? 5 most spectacular Ginger species. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What is the most beautiful ginger? 5 most spectacular Ginger species

Hedychium flavum x coronarium - Yellow Butterfly Ginger

Hedychium flavum x coronarium - Yellow Butterfly Ginger

Costus arabicus (amazonicus) variegata - Variegated Spiral Ginger

Costus arabicus (amazonicus) variegata - Variegated Spiral Ginger

Zingiber Zerumbet - Pine Cone Ginger, Shampoo Ginger

Zingiber Zerumbet - Pine Cone Ginger, Shampoo Ginger

Costus vargasii - Spiral Ginger Raspberry Yogurt

Costus vargasii - Spiral Ginger Raspberry Yogurt

Costus fissiligulatus - African Princess, Cameroon Costus

Costus fissiligulatus - African Princess, Cameroon Costus

🎋 What is the most beautiful ginger? 5 most spectacular Ginger species.

Ginger is famous for its culinary and medicinal uses, and many species are also strikingly beautiful, making them perfect centerpieces for tropical gardens or potted plant collections, especially in shaded spots. Here are a few of our favorite cultivars.
  • 🍭 Hedychium flavum x coronarium - Yellow Butterfly Ginger, Nardo Ginger Lily - rare hybrid of White Butterfly ginger we mentioned earlier, it is more vigorous and tall than its parent. With attractive long green leaves with a slight fuzziness, this ginger has open long spikes of pastel yellow flowers with a beautiful heady aroma. Exquisitely fragrant!
  • 🍭 Costus arabicus (amazonicus) variegata - Variegated Spiral Ginger - is a show stopper! Very popular in Hawaii and Florida. Spiraling stems rise with a strong white variegation and topped with green and white cone like flowers. Vigorous grower, it prefers shade, moist soil and lots of water.
  • 🍭 Zingiber Zerumbet - Pine Cone Ginger, Shampoo Ginger - is probably the most popular one. All parts of this ginger are spicy fragrant. The cone shaped flowers are long lasting and useful for cut flower arrangements. It is in fact used as a shampoo in Asia and Hawaii, and as an ingredient in several commercial shampoos! Pinecone ginger is considered a "canoe plant", that is, a plant introduced throughout the Pacific by the ancient Polynesian settlers.
  • 🍭 Costus vargasii - Spiral Ginger Raspberry Yogurt - The name refers to the colorful raspberry colored stem, but that's not the only colorful thing about it: the leaves are dark green, long and glossy with velvety deep purple undersides. The inflorescence is a vivid red with tight bracts and bold yellow flowers. The butterflies love to drink the nectar from the flowers. Large vigorous ginger, growing up to 5-6 ft tall.
  • 🍭 Costus fissiligulatus - African Princess, Cameroon Costus - from Gabon in West Africa. It has a dazzling pink trumpet flower with a yellow throat. It is very floriferous with an inflorescence of numerous flower buds on a shortish plant of 3-4 ft that stands very erect. It is an easy grower


📚 More gingers in previous posts:
Alpinia formosana x zerumbet Variegata - Variegated Ginger
Costus spicatus x woodsonii - Red Button Ginger, French Kiss
Hedychium coronarium - Butterfly Ginger
Kaempferia angustifolia - Laos Silver Stripe

❔ What is your favorite Ginger? Share in comments👇

🛒 Shop Gingers

#Shade_Garden #Container_Garden #Food_Forest

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What is the best flowering shrub for a shady spot? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What is the best flowering shrub for a shady spot?

Aphelandra hartwegiana - Yellow Aphelandra

Aphelandra hartwegiana - Yellow Aphelandra

Aphelandra squarrosa - White Zebra Plant

Aphelandra squarrosa - White Zebra Plant

Aphelandra sinclairiana - Panama Queen

Aphelandra sinclairiana - Panama Queen

Aphelandra x panamensis - Scarlet Candle

Aphelandra x panamensis - Scarlet Candle

💐 What is the best flowering shrub for a shady spot?
  • 🚩 Aphelandra is hands down one of the best solutions for a shade garden where you want to see more colors. It is a great addition to a collectible tropical butterfly garden, can grow into 4-5" tall bushy specimen. Tolerates both sun and shade.
  • 🚩Aphelandras have beautiful lush foliage and showy, long terminal inflorescences throughout the warm season.
  • 🚩These flowers are loved by hummingbirds.
  • 🚩Aphelandra hartwegiana - Yellow Aphelandra. Yellow flowers emerge out of long orange stalks in the fall time. Pretty and unusual!
  • 🚩Aphelandra squarrosa Dania (Snow White) - White Zebra Plant. It is also one of the best house plants, not only pretty because of its white-veined "Zebra" foliage, but also for the apical inflorescence with its beautiful yellow bracts.
  • 🚩Aphelandra sinclairiana - Panama Queen, has extremely tropical look and fragrant flowers of unusual color combination: orange and pink.
  • 🚩Aphelandra x panamensis - Scarlet Candle - a rare hybrid with bright red flowers


📚 Learn more from previous posts:
Panama Queen
How to grow Zebra in container?

🛒 Shop Aphelandras

#Butterfly_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits #Shade_Garden

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What rare showy plant can I wish for that will thrive indoors? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What rare showy plant can I wish for that will thrive indoors?

Philodendron x Paraiso Verde

What rare showy plant can I wish for that will thrive indoors?
  • 💚 Philodendron x Paraiso Verde is a unique and visually striking, large-leaf plant that perfect for growing indoors, virtually care-free!
  • 💚 Stunning leaves: long, variegated leaves with a mix of green, cream, and sometimes pinkish hues.
  • 💚 Rare and exotic: it is highly sought after by plant enthusiasts and collectors due to its rarity and exotic appearance, and may be pretty expensive in trade.
  • 💚 Fast climber: capable of climbing up to 10 feet in a single season, with stems growing over an inch thick. Just provide a support and you will have a lush tropical paradise in no time.
  • 💚 Low maintenance: easy to care for, thriving in indirect light and requiring minimal watering. In captivity, indoors on a totem, Paraiso Verde is easy to grow and may only need to be trimmed once a year or so.
  • 💚 Air-purifying: helps purify the air by removing toxins, making it great for indoor environments - home or office.
  • 💚 Unique patterns: each leaf has a unique pattern, just like fingerprints! 💅

    • It is making every plant distinct and adding a touch of individuality to your plant collection.
  • 💚 Tropical aesthetic: brings a lush, tropical feel to any space, perfect for creating an indoor jungle vibe. Truly beautiful!


🛒 Get your own Philodendron x Paraiso Verde

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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Why Pharaoh Mask has stunning 3D effect? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Why Pharaoh Mask has stunning 3D effect?

Colocasia Pharaoh Mask

🎭 Why Pharaoh Mask has stunning 3D effect?
  • 👺 Colocasia Pharaoh Mask (tm) that we mentioned earlier is flourishing today in our garden!
  • 👺 Vibrant green leaves highlighted by striking purple veins, giving a distinct 3D appearance.
  • 👺 As they mature, the leaf edges curl, enhancing the purple veins. Each leaf, supported by sturdy, dark stems matching the veins' color, resembles a masquerade mask.
  • 👺 A cluster of these plants creates a striking visual with its unique foliage and dark stems, standing out among other elephant ears.
  • 👺 It's a must-have for any rare plant collector and is sure to be a showstopper and conversation piece!


📸 More pictures in next post

🛒 Get your own Pharaoh Mask

#Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

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Money-making plant for your windowsil. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Money-making plant for your windowsil

Pilea peperomioides - Chinese Money Plant

Pilea peperomioides - Chinese Money Plant

💰 Money-making plant for your windowsil
  • Pilea peperomioides - Chinese Money Plant - is a perfect indoor plant that is famous for its lore of attracting money into your life! It is a small version of a money-making machine, in addition to the Good Luck Plant - Malabar Peanut we mentioned earlier.
  • It is a highly sought-after houseplant and also known as the missionary plant, pancake plant, UFO plant.
  • Known for its charming beauty and dwarf size, it is a perfect addition to the windowsill garden.
  • The round, shiny, peltate leaves become mounded as the plant matures and give the appearance of large, green coins stacked on top of one another.
  • Its adaptation to low light and succulent leaf structure make it an easy-care plant.


🛒 Get your own Money Plant

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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What happens when a gardener gets a Swiss Cheese? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What happens when a gardener gets a Swiss Cheese?

Monstera x adansonii - Baby Swiss Cheese Plant

Monstera x adansonii - Baby Swiss Cheese Plant

Monstera x adansonii - Baby Swiss Cheese Plant

Monstera x adansonii - Baby Swiss Cheese Plant

What happens when a gardener gets a Swiss Cheese? Swiss Cheese Plant!
  • 🌿 Monstera x adansonii - Baby Swiss Cheese Plant - is an unusual form of Monstera with leaves that have many holes, much bigger than those in Swiss Cheese!
  • 🌿 Makes an interesting indoor specimen, an eye stopper.
  • 🌿 Shade lover, but can take some semi-shade too.
  • 🌿 Can be grown outdoors in warmer climates and climbs trees or walls wherever you need a green wall.
  • 🌿 Grows fast, very undemanding plant. Perfect when you need to fill space with greenery quickly.


🛒 Order Swiss Chees Plant

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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