Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date:

You won't believe this red orchid tree exists! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

You wont believe this red orchid tree exists!

Bauhinia galpinii (punctata) - Pride of De Kaap, Nasturtium Orchid tree

☄️ You won’t believe this red orchid tree exists!
  • 💥 Bauhinia galpinii (punctata) - Pride of De Kaap or Nasturtium Orchid tree - has the most unusual color for Bauhinias. It went bold with bright scarlet flowers that look like little flames!
  • 💥 Native to South Africa, it’s a woody shrub you can shape into a small tree about 6-10 feet tall.
  • 💥 It blooms almost year-round, covering itself with clusters of fiery red blooms that butterflies can't resist. The flowers resembling those of nasturtiums, coming in clusters.
  • 💥 As all orchid trees, it has deep green, bilobed leaves are resembling butterfly wings. Tough, sun-loving, and low-maintenance - this beauty brings a touch of Africa right into your garden.


🛒 Plant beautiful Pride of De Kaap

📚 Learn more:
• Why red flowers are so attractive?

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_plants

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

The solution to eliminate weeds finally found! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

The solution to eliminate weeds finally found!

🌞 The solution to eliminate weeds finally found!

📱

  • 🟡 Senna (Cassia) alata – Empress Candle, Candelabra Plant - grows fast and stays in bloom from Summer through Fall, for many months. It covers your garden with lush, vibrant greenery and sunny, candle-like flowers.

  • 🟡 This garden wonder lights up your space with golden, candle-like flowers, while its huge leaves provide cool shade and keep weeds at bay! Weeds 🌱 just don't have a chance to grow under its canopy!

  • 🟡 In just one or two seasons, it can grow up to 10 feet wide and 6-8 feet tall, creating a natural masterpiece of beauty.

  • 🟡 Butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees flock to its bright yellow flowers, which are followed by intriguing, rattling seed pods 🐝

  • 🟡 The Empress Candle isn't just a plant - it's a stunning, must-have addition that transforms any garden into a living work of art.


🎥 Watch the video

🛒 Plant sunny Empress Candle and say goodbye to weeds

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

How we turned an eyesore into a wall of flowers. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How we turned an eyesore into a wall of flowers

Quisqualis vine - Rangoon Creeper

How we turned an eyesore into a wall of flowers
  • Quisqualis vine - Rangoon Creeper - Flamingo pink and fruity fragrance in one!
  • Who said utility areas have to be ugly? Our Quisqualis indica - Rangoon Creeper - turned the roof of our water system into a wall of flowers! This shrubby vine covers itself in clusters of pink, crimson, and white blooms that change color as they age.
  • The fragrance is sweet, fruity, and absolutely unforgettable. Every time we walk by, we can’t help but stop and smell the... creeper!
  • Got a fence, trellis, or an eyesore to hide? This is your plant!


🛒 Plant Quisqualis today for a beautiful spot with perfume tomorrow

📚 Learn more:

#Butterfly_Plants #Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

What's that fragrance in the dark? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Whats that fragrance in the dark?

Brunfelsia - Lady of the Night

🌠 What's that fragrance in the dark?
  • 💐 Brunfelsia? People often ask: what can you plant in a shady spot that blooms year-round and smells amazing? The answer is Brunfelsia, known as Lady of the Night.
  • 💐 This Brazilian beauty is a compact, shade-loving shrub that thrives in low light and rewards you with creamy white flowers. As the sun sets, the blooms release a sweet, unforgettable perfume that lingers through the night. It’s like nature’s way of setting the mood for evening strolls.
  • 💐 Brunfelsia is more than just fragrance. Its flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds, turning shaded corners into lively little stages. Low-maintenance, pollinator-friendly, and elegant, it’s the answer to your prayers: shade, flowers, and fragrance all in one plant.
  • 💐 The most fragrant Brunfelsias are the creamy-white varieties, often called Lady of the Night.

Popular species include: B. americana, B. isola, B. nitida, B. lactea, B. manaca, B. densifolia, B. gigantea.

Do you already grow Brunfelsia? What kind do you have in your garden?

🛒 Experience Brunfelsia fragrance

📚 Learn more about Brunfelsias:

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Plant for birds: feast for wildlife and people from a tiny vine! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Plant for birds: feast for wildlife and people from a tiny vine!

Passiflora suberosa - Corkystem Passion Vine

Plant for birds: feast for wildlife and people from a tiny vine!
  • Passiflora suberosa - Corkystem Passion Flower: did you know this Florida native passion vine is more than just a butterfly host? Birds love it too - they’ll happily snack on the little fruits and sing you thank-you songs all day long!
  • And yes, the fruit is edible for people as well! The berries are small, but they make a fun and exotic treat.
  • The plants has a tiny flower and a tiny fruit – both only about half an inch – but together they create a mighty native habitat.
  • It's a triple win: butterflies, birds, and people can all enjoy something from this charming little plant. Plus, it’s the larval host for Gulf Fritillary, Zebra Longwing, and Julia butterflies, and its tiny greenish flowers provide nectar all year long. Fast-growing, easy, and full of life – a real gem for any Florida garden.
  • This vine is delicate and compact, perfect for a medium trellis or climbing a small tree. Unlike the big, aggressive passion vines that can cover a whole fence, this one stays manageable.
  • This Passion vine is not just charming and wildlife-friendly, it’s also tough as nails. Cold hardy and easy to grow, this native vine takes whatever Florida throws at it – heavy rains, long droughts and heat, poor sandy soils, even total neglect – and still thrives. A perfect choice if you want beauty, wildlife, and resilience all in one little plant.


🛒 Plant this small and tough vine with food and wildlife benefits

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest #Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants #How_to

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Ten shrubs you need to have for winter colors. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Ten shrubs you need to have for winter colors

Garlic Vine, Dombeya - Tropical Hydrangea, Brunfelsia Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow, Fountain Clerodendrum, Tibouchina grandifolia - Glory bush, Chinese hat, Barleria - Philippine violet, Thunbergia - Kings Mantle, Eranthemum - Blue Sage or Lead Flower, Petrea vine - Queens wreath

🌷 Ten shrubs you need to have for winter colors

Many snowbirds ask what to plant when they’re here just for the season. The answer is simple: go for trees and shrubs that bloom in winter. Fall is the perfect time to get them in the ground so your garden will be bursting with flowers once the cool season arrives. In our earlier video, we shared 8 best flowering trees that will bloom for you in Winter. Now, here are the shrubs that will complete your colorful winter garden.
  • 🌷 1. Mansoa alliacea - Garlic Vine

    • Known for its garlicky scent, it also puts on clusters of lavender to purple flowers in cool weather. Reliable and eye-catching, often trained on fences or trellises. 👉plant it
  • 🌷 2. Dombeya wallichii - Tropical Hydrangea

    • Large pink pompom clusters hang like lanterns from the branches. Sweetly fragrant and showy, it creates a hydrangea effect right in winter. 👉plant it
  • 🌷 3. Brunfelsia pauciflora Compacta - Dwarf Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow

    • Small and manageable, it opens purple flowers that fade to lavender and then white, giving the look of three colors at once. A cheerful winter bloomer for pots or borders. 👉plant it
  • 🌷 4. Clerodendrum minahassae - Fountain Clerodendrum

    • This shrub lives up to its name with cascades of long white flower sprays, blooming heavily in the cooler months and brightening shaded corners. 👉plant it
  • 🌷 5. Tibouchina multiflora (grandifolia) - Glory bush, Quaresmeira

    • Covered in clusters of soft, fuzzy purple blooms, this shrub adds tropical flair during the cooler months. Its velvety leaves are ornamental year-round. 👉plant it
  • 🌷 6. Holmskioldia sanguinea - Red Chinese hat

    • Cup-shaped bracts form red “hats” around small flowers. This shrub stands out with unique form and long-lasting blooms. 👉plant it
  • 🌷 7. Barleria cristata - Philippine violet

    • A hardy shrub with masses of purple-violet blooms in the cool season. It flowers when many plants are quiet, adding dependable winter color. 👉plant it
  • 🌷 8. Thunbergia erecta - King’s Mantle

    • A compact shrub with velvety purple blooms and bright yellow throats. It’s neat, easy to manage, and flowers generously in winter. 👉plant it
  • 🌷 9. Eranthemum pulchellum - Blue Sage, Lead Flower

    • Few shrubs can match its electric-blue spikes of flowers in winter. Compact and low-care, it brings a rare color to the cool season garden. 👉plant it
  • 🌷 10. Petrea volubilis (racemosa) - Queen’s wreath

A woody vine-shrub that bursts into cascading sprays of lavender stars. It flowers heavily in winter, resembling wisteria in the tropics. 👉plant it
🛒 Explore Winter bloomers

📚 Learn more:

#Hedges_with_benefits #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Tequila Sunrise Hibiscus breaks the rules. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Tequila Sunrise Hibiscus breaks the rules

Hibiscus El Capitolio Tequila Sunrise

Hibiscus El Capitolio Tequila Sunrise

Tuxedo cat Smoky and Orange Cat Sunshine enjoying Tequila Sunrise

Tuxedo cat Smoky and Orange Cat Sunshine enjoying Tequila Sunrise

🍸 Tequila Sunrise Hibiscus breaks the rules
  • 🌅 Hibiscus El Capitolio Tequila Sunrise is a cousin of Hibiscus El Capitolio Bloody Mary we introduced earlier. El Capitolio is an unusual type of Hibiscus with a graceful, fountain-like growth habit and unique pendant, double-skirted blooms
  • 🌅 Tequila Sunrise has warm peach-orange tones, often with soft pink highlights. The pom-pom-like flowers stand out against glossy green foliage, adding a bright, exotic touch to the garden.
  • 🌅 Blooming from summer through fall, this hardy hibiscus thrives in full sun to partial shade, tolerates heat, drought, salt, and even wet soils. A fast grower reaching 5-10 ft, it's perfect as a showy specimen, hedge, or container plant in USDA zones 9-11.


🛒 Shop Hibiscus plants

📚 Learn more from previous posts:

#Hedges_with_benefits

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Why Desmos - a cousin of Ylang Ylang - is every gardener's dream. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Why Desmos - a cousin of Ylang Ylang - is every gardeners dream

Desmos chinensis - Ylang Ylang Shrub

⭐️ Why Desmos - a cousin of Ylang Ylang - is every gardener's dream
  • ⭐️ Desmos chinensis - Ylang Ylang Shrub - is a rare treasure for fragrance lovers. It's a compact, bushy, vining cousin of the famous Ylang Ylang tree, but with an even more intense perfume. The scent is often compared to sweet lemon candy.
  • ⭐️This shrub shows off graceful, arching branches and pendant flowers that come in golden yellow or the even rarer bright red form. It thrives in warm, humid conditions and becomes vigorous once established.
  • ⭐️Unlike the big Ylang Ylang tree (Cananga odorata) that can shoot up quickly and needs space, Desmos stays compact and can be maintained at about 3 to 6 ft. Perfect for smaller gardens or containers, while still delivering that unforgettable fragrance.


🎥 The rare red-flowered variety of Desmos is one of the most sought-after perfume plants of Southeast Asia.

🛒 Make Desmos the highlight of your fragrance collection

📚 Learn more:
Perfume in a pot: exotic Dwarf Chanel No 5 Tree

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits #Container_Garden

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

How to get a mini flamboyant look in a small yard. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How to get a mini flamboyant look in a small yard

Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise, Pride of Barbados, Peacock Flower

🔥 How to get a mini flamboyant look in a small yard
  • 🔥 Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise, Pride of Barbados, Peacock Flower, or Flower Fence - is the national flower of Barbados, and for good reason!
  • 🔥 Why everyone is planting this butterfly magnet
  • 🔥 It puts on a show of fiery red, orange, yellow, or pink blossoms that look like miniature flamboyant trees.
  • 🔥 Flowers appear almost year-round, making it one of the longest-blooming shrubs.
  • 🔥 A true butterfly magnet - your garden will be full of wings!
  • 🔥 Compact, heat- and drought-tolerant, and low-maintenance.
  • 🔥 Available in different colors - red-orange, yellow, pink - so you can choose your favorite splash.


🛒 Get your own Dwarf Poinciana

📚 Learn more:

#Butterfly_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Nine best tropical shrubs that will bloom for you all summer. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Nine best tropical shrubs that will bloom for you all summer

Abutilon darwinii x striatum - Fireball, Biltmore Ballgown, Acalypha hispida - Cat Tail, Chenille plant, Allamanda, Brunfelsia - Lady of the night, Calliandra - Powderpuff, Clerodendrum speciosissimum - Java Glorybower, Hibiscus El Capitolio, Rondeletia

Abutilon darwinii x striatum - Fireball, Biltmore Ballgown, Acalypha hispida - Cat Tail, Chenille plant, Allamanda, Brunfelsia - Lady of the night, Calliandra - Powderpuff, Clerodendrum speciosissimum - Java Glorybower, Hibiscus El Capitolio, Rondeletia leucophylla - Panama Rose, Senna alata - Empress Candle, Candelabra Plant

🌺 Nine best tropical shrubs that will bloom for you all summer

📸 Pictures for the previous post:

🛒 Explore most spectacular flowering shrubs

#Hedges_with_benefits #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
< Previous pageNext page >Most recent entryBlog table of contents