Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Breaking news: flower smells of freshly baked bread! It smells so good, you want to eat it!

Vallaris glabra - Bread Flower

🍞 Breaking news: flower smells of freshly baked bread! It smells so good, you want to eat it!

🍔 Vallaris glabra - Bread Flower - is one of the most impressive tropical vines that is very popular in Thailand and other South-East Asia countries.
🍔 Moderate growth woody climber with clusters of freshly-baked-bread fragrant white flowers.
🍔 Easy to care and tolerates wide range of conditions. It can be trained as a compact bush and is good for container culture.
🍔 Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.
🍔 Relatively cold hardy, mild frost doesn't do any damage to it, even large tropical leaves stay glossy, green and healthy.
🍔 It is very vigorous grower that can create nice privacy hedge or cover a large fence.

❓ Have you smelled the Bread Flower? Did you like the fragrance? Share in comments👇

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Strophanthus preussii - Poison Arrow Vine, Medusa Flower

Medusa's Head Flower - from Greek mythology...

🐙 Strophanthus preussii - Poison Arrow Vine, Medusa Flower - has an intriguing flower!
🐙 The faintly fragrant flowers have long, slender, and curly petals that resemble the snakes on Medusa's head from Greek mythology, giving it the nickname "Medusa Flower." The petals often extend and twist dramatically, creating an eye-catching appearance. The tips of the petals become narrowed and elongated, forming a twisting, sticky string that dangles down from the flower and touches lower leaves.
🐙 The flowers are brightly colored, often in shades of white, yellow, and red, which can attract pollinators and add to their striking visual appeal.
🐙 As suggested by another common name "Poison Arrow Vine," parts of the plant contain toxic compounds. Historically, the seeds were used by some African tribes to poison the tips of arrows for hunting. This gives the plant a certain mystique...
🐙 Interesting pollination mechanism: the elaborate design of the flowers is not just for show; it plays a role in the plant's pollination strategy. The intricate structure can help ensure that pollinators come into contact with the reproductive parts of the flower, thereby facilitating cross-pollination.
🐙 Blooms almost year around

❓ What bizarre plants do you have in your collection? Share in comments👇

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Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean

Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean seeds

Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean flower

🍔 Hamburger Bean: how to cover a fence fast with an exotic vine: Jade Vine here.

🟡 Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean. You saw the Sea-Green Jade vine in our earlier post. This one is lemon yellow.
🟡 It is much more hardier than the Sea-Green variety and is super fast growing!
🟡 This is a high-climbing woody vine native to rain forests of South America.
🟡 It has long, rope-like stalks hanging below the forest canopy where night-flying bats can easily access the fragrant blossoms.
🟡 The name Brown Hamburger Bean is because of the beautiful seeds (looking like little hamburgers) that are often collected and polished by natives and made into lovely necklaces and bracelets.

Easter Lily Cactus (Echinopsis sp)

🌵 Stop! Don't touch! Just smell that magic fragrance... 😭

💠 Easter Lily Cactus (Echinopsis sp) is native to Brazil and Argentina. It is a globular cactus that produces splendid night-blooming, white fragrant flowers up to 10" long!
💠 Big, white or pink, fragrant blooms.
💠 Flowers open at night or early morning, creating a magical experience.
💠 Blooms last only a day or two, making each one special.
💠 Cool shapes: unique, spiny, ribbed bodies come in different forms and sizes.
💠 Easy Care: low-maintenance, very little water, lots of sunlight, and well-draining soil. Adapted to survive in harsh, dry environments, it can take both drought (obviously - cactus) and rainy seasons (like we have in Florida).
💠 Great for water-saving gardens and container culture.
💠 Many species and hybrids to collect, with a range of colors and forms.

❓ What other cactus species with fragrant flowers do you know? Share in comments👇

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