Who do you think is winning?

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." - Mike Tyson

🐈📸 Cats Bob and Cash always have a plan at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden 

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What flowers do NOT attract bees?

Most tropical flowers bring in pollinators, and bees are usually first in line. But what if you’d rather avoid them? Maybe you’re allergic, or just don’t want bees buzzing around. Good news: some flowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, or even flies - but not bees.

• 👉

  Quick rules:

• ✔️ Night-blooming + strong fragrance = moths or bats, not bees.
• ✔️ Red tubular flowers with little scent = hummingbirds or butterflies, not bees.
• ✔️ Rotten or fermented smell = flies, not bees.
• ✔️ Carnivorous plants = trap insects, no bee nectar.

1.

Night-blooming, fragrant - moth and bat flowers

Bees forage by day, so many night-fragrant flowers skip them.

• ▫️Brugmansia - Angel’s Trumpet - big, hanging blooms, moth and bat pollinated.
• ▫️Cestrum nocturnum - Night-blooming Jasmine - powerful night scent, moths only.
• ▫️Hylocereus Dragon Fruit - huge cactus flowers, bats and moths.
• ▫️Brunfelsia - Lady of the Night - sweet fragrance at dusk, no bee interest.

2.

Hummingbird and butterfly flowers

Bees don’t see red well. Tubular reds, oranges, and yellows usually go to birds and butterflies.

• ▫️Hibiscus - hummingbirds and butterflies visit, bees less so.
• ▫️Heliconis and Gingers - designed for hummingbird beaks,

  bold tubes are for birds, not bees.


▫️More good picks: Ruellia, Sanchezia, Aeschynanthus, Aphelandra, Anisacanthus, Cuphea, Fuchsia, Iochroma, Justicia, Lonicera, Hamelia, Russelia, Odontonema, Tecomaria, Bougainvillea.



3. 🐱

Fly-pollinated oddballs



Some flowers smell bad to us but irresistible to flies.
• ▫️Amorphophallus (Voodoo Lily) - rotting meat scent.
• ▫️Tacca (Bat Head Lily) - spooky black flowers, fly-pollinated.
• ▫️Stapelia (Carrion Flower) - also fly-pollinated.
• ▫️Aristolochia (Pelican Flower) - giant, bizarre fly-traps.

4. 🌸

Specialized orchids

Not all orchids rely on bees. Many use moths, butterflies, or beetles instead.

• ▫️Vanilla orchid - its natural bee pollinator is absent in most regions, so no bee appeal elsewhere.
• ▫️Brassavola nodosa and others - open at night for moths, not bees.

5. 🕷

Bonus: carnivorous curiosities

Carnivorous plants don’t offer nectar. They trap insects instead, so bees stay away.

▫️Nepenthes (Pitcher Plant) - uses pitchers of liquid to lure and digest insects.

These flowers keep the beauty, fragrance, and wildlife appeal - but without making your garden a bee hotspot.

🛒 Explore butterfly attractors

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Mulberry yogurt swirl: Quick-n-Fun exotic recipes

• 🔵Layer fresh mulberries with plain yogurt and a drizzle of honey.
• 🔵The berries bleed into the yogurt, creating a natural tie-dye effect.

Mulberry Yogurt Swirl

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh mulberries
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp honey

Instructions

1. Layer fresh mulberries with plain yogurt in a glass.
2. Drizzle with honey on top.
3. Let the berries bleed into the yogurt, creating a natural tie-dye swirl.

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Discover Mulberry varieties

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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An intelligent man

"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend his time with his fools.” - Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls

🐈📸 Mr B the cat planning his evening at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden 

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Five small tropical trees that bloom for you all summer

📸 Pictures for the previous post:

• ▫️Bauhinia madagascariensis - Red Butterfly Orchid Tree
• ▫️Brugmansia - Angel Trumpet
• ▫️Caesalpinia - Pride of Barbados, Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise
• ▫️Hamelia - Fire Bush
• ▫️Plumeria pudica - Bridal Bouquet

🛒 Check out tropical flowering trees

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