Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 8 Nov 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

Six colorful plants for your indoor garden

Sanchezia stenomacra - Blood Red Feather

Anthurium vittarifolium - Long Leaf Anthurium

Clinacanthus nutans - Snake plant, Phaya-Yor

Aeschynanthus speciosus - Lipstick Plant

Tibouchina multiflora (grandifolia) - Glory bush, Quaresmeira

Calathea zebrina - Zebra Plant

🌈 Six colorful plants for your indoor garden

🎶 Q: I've read your post about growing tropicals indoors and you got me inspired! Can you recommend something unusual, colorful and bright, preferably with flowers, that I can grow as house plants?

🌸 A: House plants don't have to be boring and just green! Below are a few excellent choices for your indoor garden that will brighten your sunroom. Just make sure to follow the 10 key tips for growing tropical plants indoors.

Sanchezia stenomacra - Blood Red Feather - spectacular red feathery blooms and and soft, fussy leaves.
Anthurium vittarifolium - Long Leaf Anthurium - super rare, an eye stopper, with long leaves up to 2 ft long, and bright pink fruit.
Clinacanthus nutans - Snake plant, Phaya-Yor - exotic flower from Thailand resembling snake's open mouth.
Aeschynanthus speciosus - Lipstick Plant - popular house plant with bright showy orange blooms.
Tibouchina multiflora (grandifolia) - Glory bush, Quaresmeira - can be grown outside in Southern gardens, as well as in a pot indoors. Showy purple flowers, velvet leaves are wonderfully soft 6-8" in diameter!
Calathea zebrina - Zebra Plant - the brightest zebra-striped large leaves up to 1 ft long.

What flowering plants do you grow in shade? Share in comments

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TopTropicals

Date: 7 Nov 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

Solving a conflict

Solving a conflict

“I never forget a face, but in your case, I’ll be glad to make an exception.” - Groucho Marx

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Date: 7 Nov 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

What are the best Mulberry varieties

💗 What are the best Mulberry varieties

Muberries are very cold hardy (to hard freeze, up to zone 6), tough trees that take poor soils and grow well in almost any conditions once established.

💬 #Fun_Facts: Did you know that mulberries belong to the same plant family with Jackfruit?

The Best Mulberry Varieties for Your Garden:

🐾 Dwarf Everbearing and Dwarf Issai - Compact, container-friendly varieties perfect for small spaces. These dwarf trees (6-10 ft tall) are disease and drought resistant, with multiple crops year-round, even from the first year! Ideal for patios and small yards..
🐾 Florida Giant - A vigorous, fast-growing tree with large, heart-shaped leaves and long purple-black fruits bursting with a sweet-tart flavor. This beauty grows up to 6-10 ft per year and thrives as far north as zone 6, despite its name.
🐾 Shangri-La - A modest-sized tree with giant leaves and plump, sweet-tart berries. Originally from Florida, it's heat, drought, pest, and disease-resistant. Ripens from April through summer, bringing both beauty and bounty to your garden.
🐾 White Mulberry - Produces medium-sized, super-sweet white fruits without a hint of tartness. This productive tree makes a mess-free option since the fruit doesn't stain. Ideal for fresh eating or drying.

📚 Learn more about Mulberries from previous posts:
Top 10 fast-fruiting trees: #7. Mulberry
How Mulberry fruit helps with diabetes

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Date: 7 Nov 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

What are the best Mulberry varieties

White Mulberry

Shangri-La Mulberry

Dwarf Everbearing or Dwarf Issai Mulberry

Pakistanu Mulberry

White Mulberry and Shangri-La Mulberry

Florida Giant Mulberry

🐾 Dwarf Everbearing and Dwarf Issai - Compact, container-friendly varieties perfect for small spaces. These dwarf trees (6-10 ft tall) are disease and drought resistant, with multiple crops year-round, even from the first year! Ideal for patios and small yards..
🐾 Florida Giant - A vigorous, fast-growing tree with large, heart-shaped leaves and long purple-black fruits bursting with a sweet-tart flavor. This beauty grows up to 6-10 ft per year and thrives as far north as zone 6, despite its name.
🐾 Shangri-La - A modest-sized tree with giant leaves and plump, sweet-tart berries. Originally from Florida, it's heat, drought, pest, and disease-resistant. Ripens from April through summer, bringing both beauty and bounty to your garden.
🐾 White Mulberry - Produces medium-sized, super-sweet white fruits without a hint of tartness. This productive tree makes a mess-free option since the fruit doesn't stain. Ideal for fresh eating or drying.

How much water is too much?

"Always over-water your plants: just improve their soil drainage!" - Murray Corman, horticulturist, rare tropical fruit tree expert.

Q: I always tend to overwater my plants. How often should I water container plants and how to determine if it's too much water?

A: One of the most common challenges in tropical plant care, including houseplants, is overwatering, particularly in container gardening. So, how much water is too much?

The rule of thumb: let the soil dry out a bit before watering again, and never water if the soil feels wet to the touch. For indoor plants with saucers underneath, ensure they don't sit in standing water by removing any excess from the saucer after watering. However, remember that the watering schedule alone isn't the only key to success!

Improve drainage. Surprisingly, water itself isn't harmful to plants, no matter how generous your watering is. The real issue is poor drainage, which leads to stagnation and bacterial buildup, ultimately causing root rot.

In the nature. If you've traveled to places like Hawaii or explored tropical jungles, you might have noticed plants thriving between rocks with minimal soil, receiving a near-constant fine mist of rain. Conversely, swamps support very few trees - only bog or water plants adapted to wet conditions can survive there. The lesson? It's not the water, it's the growing medium!

The Soil Solution: for potted plants, always use a high-quality potting mix with excellent drainage properties. This should include ample "soil conditioners" such as perlite, vermiculite, and pine bark. At our nursery, we use a professional soil mix called Abundance. Learn more about potting soil.

Pot size matters. And the last but not least: if you tend to overwater your potted plants, consider using the smallest container size that comfortably fits the root system. A pot that's too large can mean excess wet soil, increasing the risk of root rot. With proper fertilizer program, container plants don't need to much soil to thrive.

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Photo above: Datura Metel - Horn-of-Plenty - doesn't need a large container for happy blooming indoors!

Plant of the month:
Lipstick Tree, Annatto

Bixa orellana - Lipstick Tree, Annatto, Achiote... Meet the plant that lipstick is made of!

The enchanting Lipstick Tree brings a splash of South American magic to your garden with its bold, heart-shaped leaves and charming pink blooms. But the real showstopper? Its vibrant seed pods brimming with annatto - a natural pigment famed for painting dishes with rich golden hues and spicing up kitchens worldwide.

Annatto isn't just a culinary delight; it's a beauty secret too, adding natural, radiant color to lipsticks and cosmetics. Beyond its practical uses, Bixa makes a striking hedge or screen, adding both beauty and function. This tree is your garden's ticket to tropical flair and everyday usefulness!

Bixa orellana - Lipstick Tree, Annatto, Achiote, fruit, seeds

Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Six colorful plants for your indoor garden

Solving a conflict

What are the best Mulberry varieties

What are the best Mulberry varieties

Did you know that Lipstick plant has pretty flowers?

The secret of a happy marriage

What is your favorite Pineapple variety?

What flower is perfect for coastal gardens

How much water is too much?

Plant of the month:
Lipstick Tree, Annatto

Six colorful plants for your indoor garden

Solving a conflict

What are the best Mulberry varieties

What are the best Mulberry varieties

Did you know that Lipstick plant has pretty flowers?

The secret of a happy marriage

What is your favorite Pineapple variety?

What flower is perfect for coastal gardens

How much water is too much?

Plant of the month: Lipstick Tree, Annatto

Plant of the month:
Lipstick Tree, Annatto