Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 23 Jul 2024

Where does Vanilla come from? How to grow your own Vanilla Beans

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid beans, seeds

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid beans, seeds

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid flower

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid flower

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid

Vanilla planifolia - Bourbon Vanilla Bean Orchid

Vanilla dilloniana - Leafless Vanilla Orchid, flower

Vanilla dilloniana - Leafless Vanilla Orchid, flower

Where does Vanilla come from? How to grow your own Vanilla Beans.

  • ❣️ Vanilla spice comes from Vanilla Orchid!
  • ❣️ Vanilla planifolia is a leafy climbing orchid from hot, wet tropical America. It is grown for its pods which, when dried, become the commercial vanilla.
  • ❣️ The flowers are .
  • ❣️ The Aztec Indians in Mexico used Vanilla Pods to flavor their chocolate drink 'Xoco-latl'. Vanilla was believed to be a tonic for the brain.
  • ❣️ Vanilla Pods are picked green when they have no scent. The lengthy curing process, which develops fragrant aroma, is one reason for its high cost.
  • ❣️ Vanilla orchid needs a flat, solid, porous support for climbing and in order to flower and produce seed pods. It can be grown over a log or a board (make sure the support wood is not chemically treated), or climb over a tree.
  • ❣️ If really happy, Vanilla orchid can exceed 100 feet in length in just a few years. The plants flower only when mature, which takes a few years. It only flowers when it gets strongly attached to a support with its aerial roots.
  • ❣️Vanilla orchid can be grown indoors as a house plant. Culture is similar to traditional orchids, however, it will need a support or trellis. Just keep in mind that for Vanilla Bean production, Vanilla Orchid must attach to a porous surface (like a wood log).

Learn more:

📚 Vanilla - The Most Versatile Orchid

🎥 How to produce my own vanilla: secrets of Vanilla pollination


🛒 Shop vanilla orchids

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Container_Garden

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Date: 26 Dec 2024

How to grow your own vanilla orchid at home

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia)

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia)

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia), flower

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia), flower

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia), seed pods beans

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia), seed pods beans

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia)

Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia)

How to grow your own vanilla orchid at home

  • 🍨 The Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia) is a tropical climbing beauty and the source of the world’s favorite spice - vanilla. This luxurious plant adds elegance to any space, indoors or out.
  • 🍨 A piece of history: Once revered by the Aztecs for flavoring the decadent cacao drink Xoco-latl, vanilla remains a symbol of comfort, luxury, and flavor.
  • 🍨 Why it's special: Vanilla pods are scentless at first and develop their rich aroma after careful curing - a reason it’s the second most expensive spice after saffron.
  • 🍨 How to grow Vanilla Orchid:


  • · Support: Use a trellis, log, or burlap-covered board for climbing.
  • · Light: Bright, indirect light works best.
  • · Environment: Keep it warm and humid, like its natural tropical habitat.
  • · For pots: Add a mini-trellis or small log to mimic its natural climbing needs.


🍨 Why you'll love it:


Growing your own vanilla means adding a slice of the tropics to your home, with the chance to harvest your own vanilla beans for homemade extracts. It's beautiful, exotic, and endlessly rewarding.

🍨 Ready to start your vanilla journey? Add a Vanilla Bean Orchiв to your cart and bring this fragrant, elegant treasure home today!

📚 Learn more from previous post:


The Secret of how to Make Vanilla Orchid bloom

🛒 Shop Vanilla Bean Orchids

#Shade_Garden #How_to

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Date: 29 Dec 2025

New way to grow Vanilla Orchid, and a wise message at the end

Vanilla planifolia - Vanilla Bean Orchid

🎆 New way to grow Vanilla Orchid, and a wise message at the end

  • Vanilla planifolia - Vanilla Bean Orchid (they call it also Madagascar, Bourbon, or French Vanilla) discovered a new set up!
  • ✨ I gave this vanilla orchid as a tiny plant last year: "Bathroom with a skylight, add trellis" - classic vanilla advice.
  • ✨ Fast forward to this Christmas - and this thing has gone rogue! It climbed out of the bathroom, marched down the hallway, and claimed the concrete wall by the front door. And yes, it looks very happy doing it!
  • ✨ Every visitor stops. Every visitor stares. And then they notice the sign underneath. Turns out vanilla orchids are excellent at pointing things out.
  • ✨ If you’ve ever wondered where vanilla really wants to grow… this one has opinions. Add something unexpected to your garden - or your house.


🛒 Plant Vanilla Orchid the new way!

📚 Learn more:



📱How to produce your own vanilla: secrets of hand-pollination.

#Shade_Garden #Container_garden #Food_Forest

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Date: 15 Aug 2025

Climbing 10 feet for Vanilla Beans!

Vanilla Bean Orchid - Vanilla planifolia

⭐️ Climbing 10 feet… for Vanilla Beans!

  • ⚡️ One of our Vanilla Bean Orchids at TopTropicals has big ambitions - it's already climbed 10 feet up a pine tree! We’re waiting (impatiently!) for those elegant yellow-green flowers, which will hopefully turn into vanilla beans.
  • ⚡️ Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia) is the plant behind that sweet, comforting vanilla flavor we all love. It starts off like any potted orchid, but soon sends out aerial roots and becomes a climber, wrapping itself around trees or trellises. In its natural habitat, it grows high into forest canopies, but in the garden it will happily scale any sturdy support you give it.
  • ⚡️ Once established, it flowers and sets the long green pods we call vanilla beans. Growing your own is a lesson in patience - from flower to dried bean can take month - but nothing beats harvesting your own vanilla for the kitchen.


📚 Learn more:



📱How to produce your own vanilla: secrets of hand-pollination.

🛒 Climb toward your own beans

#Shade_Garden #Container_garden #Food_Forest

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Date: 15 Dec 2024

What is the Secret of how to Make Vanilla Orchid bloom?

Vanilla Bean Orchid climbing a tree

😱 What is the Secret of how to Make Vanilla Orchid bloom? Let it climb!
  • ✨ Check out this Vanilla Bean Orchid thriving at TopTropicals! It's happily climbing a tree, gripping the bark tightly with its aerial roots.
  • ✨ Here's the scoop: Vanilla orchids won't bloom until they start climbing and feel securely attached to something strong.
  • ✨ If you are growing Vanilla in a pot, no worries - just add a small log or a burlap-covered board. This clever hack gives your vanilla the "solid ground" it craves, and soon enough, it'll reward you with blooms and vanilla beans!


📚 Learn more:


Where does Vanilla come from? How to grow your own Vanilla Beans.
Vanilla - The Most Versatile Orchid

📱


🛒
Shop Vanilla Bean Orchids

#Shade_Garden #How_to

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