🔥 What is a good exotic looking flowering plant for a shade garden?

• 🏀 One of the most unusual looking plants in or shade garden collection is Chrysothemis pulchella - Copper Leaf, Black Flamingo.
• 🏀 It is a spectacular tropical perennial that can be grown as a houseplant or in a greenhouse.
• 🏀 From summer to late fall it is covered with showy orange-red flowers, may bloom sporadically several times a year.
• 🏀 Forms a dense mountain of flowers and foliage.
• 🏀 The plant forms tubers at the base of the stem. By the end of fall the leaves may die back, the plant goes dormant till spring. Then it re-sprouts in Spring again.
• 🏀 Reduce water to minimum during dormancy period.

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❤️💰 Fruit of Money and Love

Theobroma cacao, commonly known as the Chocolate Tree or Cacao Tree, is very exciting plant and a superfood as we mentioned earlier.

• 💥 Theobroma means "food of the gods" in Greek. "Theo" means god, and "broma" means food.
• 💥 The Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs were among the first to cultivate cacao, using it to make a bitter beverage called xocoatl. It was often spiced with chili peppers and used in various rituals and ceremonies.
• 💥 Currency: in ancient Mesoamerican cultures, cacao beans were so valuable that they were used as a form of currency. For example, 100 beans could buy a slave or a turkey.
• 💥 The Aztecs believed that cacao had stimulating properties and used it as an aphrodisiac. Emperor Montezuma was said to consume a large amount of cacao before visiting his harem. We can't deny that chocolate's mood-enhancing properties, combined with cultural and psychological factors, contribute to its romantic allure! ❤️
• 💥 A cacao pod contains 20 to 50 beans, each surrounded by a sweet, mucilaginous pulp. The pods grow directly on the trunk and larger branches of the tree, a feature known as cauliflory.
• 💥 After harvesting, cacao beans are fermented for several days, a critical step that develops the flavor precursors needed for chocolate production.
• 💥 The Cacao tree thrives in the humid, tropical regions around the equator. It can be grown as an exciting house plant.
• 💥 Health benefits: cacao beans are rich in antioxidants, magnesium, iron, and other minerals. They also contain flavonoids, associated with heart health benefits.
• 💥 There are three main varieties of cacao beans: Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario. Criollo is considered the highest quality but is less common due to its susceptibility to disease. Forastero is the most widely grown, known for its hardiness. Trinitario is a hybrid of the two.
• 💥 It takes about 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate. The beans undergo roasting, grinding, and mixing with sugar and other ingredients to produce the final chocolate product.

📚Learn more: Plants of Love - Aphrodisiacs of the plant world

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Researchers discover what a perfume from Ancient Rome was made of: Patchouli!

• ⚡️ A research team at the University of Cordoba has identified the composition of a Roman perfume more than 2,000 years old thanks to the discovery of a small vessel of ointment in Carmona, Spain.
• ⚡️ The mausoleum held the remains of six individuals in six urns, one of which was made of glass and contained the remains of a woman who died between 30 and 40 years of age. Her cloth bag held a rock crystal flask sealed with a stone and bitumen and three amber beads...
• ⚡️The well-preserved material inside the flask was examined with X-ray diffraction, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry. The study determined that the scent was derived from Pogostemon cablin, a plant from India used to produce the scent Patchouli.
• ⚡️Patchouli only grows in the tropical climates of southern and southeastern Asia. This means it would have been imported into Roman territory and sold in products crafted for wealthy patrons who craved access to exotic ingredients.
• ⚡️ The high quality of the flask holding the scent suggests that it was a valuable product.

⚠️ Get your own valuable Patchouli Plant and always have the heavenly smell with you!

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💃 Does Red Passion flower produce edible fruit?

• ♥️ Passiflora coccinea, or Red Passion Flower, is a spectacular, passion-red variety!
• ♥️ It is tropical, evergreen vine from South America known for its stunning scarlet-red flowers and edible passion fruit. Yes, the fruit are edible, but they are very rarely seen.
• ♥️ It thrives in full sun or part shade with fertile, well-drained soils and can grow up to 10-12 feet long.
• ♥️ This easy-to-grow plant is perfect for trellises, walls, and containers. Minimal pruning is needed, and it blooms primarily in summer and fall.
• ♥️ Attracting butterflies and hummingbirds 🐝

💻 Do you grow Passion vines? Share yours in comments👇

📚 From previous post: The truth about Passion flower and Passion fruit.

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🔮 Why cannon balls grow on a tree with mollusk open mouth.

• 🐙 Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree - is a rare tree from South America with a bizarre fruit and flowers, that can be seen only in tropical botanic gardens.
• 🐙 It is a very tall tree with large, elliptical leaves
• 🐙 The pinkish-red flowers, strongly scented at night, grow directly from the trunk near the base of the crown, and not on the branches. They look like exotic mollusks! They have a complex structure with numerous stamens that resemble sea anemones or other marine life. The flower is often described as looking like an open mouth or a sea creature.
• 🐙 The tree blooms year round. Flowers are followed by large, globular fruit, up to 8 inches in diameter, resembling cannonballs, hence the name "Cannonball Tree." They remain on the tree for many months. On older trees there may be dozens of fruits and flower clusters at the same time!
• 🐙 When the ripe fruits fall from the tree, they can make a loud, cannonball-like noise upon hitting the ground due to their size and weight.

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