Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 21 Jul 2025

Five best fragrant plants for summer plantings

Brunfelsia isola - Lavender Lady of the Night

☀️ Five best fragrant plants for summer plantings

  • ☀️ Summer heat? No problem. These fragrant plants thrive in it - and will make your garden smell like vacation every day.
  • ☀️ Brunfelsia - Lady of the Night - releases its sweet scent after sunset, filling warm evenings with a dreamy, tropical perfume.
  • ☀️ Gardenia - Queen of Scent - classic creamy blooms with a rich, unmistakable fragrance that perfumes the air even in peak summer.
  • ☀️ Jasminum sambac - the most popular and the most fragrant Jasmine for both indoor or outdoor culture. Varieties: Arabian Nights, Belle of India, Mangalore Malli, Grand Duke, Grand Duke Supreme, Gundu Malli, Maid of Orleans, Mali Chat, Mysore Mulli, Little Duke Supreme - Baby Duke.
  • ☀️ Nyctanthes arbor-tristis - Parijat. Small tree or shrub from India with highly perfumed flowers, one of the most desired fragrant plants. Mythology says the plant came to earth with God Krishna, shedding flowers like tears before dawn.
  • ☀️ Plumeria - tropical icon known for its heavenly scent and stunning flowers - blooms all summer and keeps your garden smelling like vacation!


🛒 Shop fragrant plants

🎥 Brunfelsia isola, or Lavender Lady of the Night, are a "marble" twist of cream and purple, changing hue unpredictably. They are deliciously fragrant at night.

📚 More fragrant garden ideas:


Six most desired perfume plants

#Perfume_Plants #Discover

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Date: 21 Jul 2025

On the superiority of the Cat over Futurism

Cat Macaron on windowsill

Cat Macaron on windowsill

Cat Macaron yawning

Cat Macaron yawning

Sleepy Cat Macaron

Sleepy Cat Macaron

On the superiority of the Cat over Futurism🐾

(or why cat hair on your pants is better than progress charts)
  • 🐾"While they build charts and fly to Mars -
  • the cat simply lies on the keyboard and wins."
  • 🐾"The cat doesn't ask: 'What is the meaning of life?'
  • It KNOWS: the meaning is a warm window, a bowl, and you nearby."
  • 🐾"Futurism says: 'Soon everything will be better!'
  • The cat says: 'It’s already good. Pet me.'"
  • 🐾"Ideal systems collapse.
  • The cat remains. Soft, independent, eternal."
  • 🐾"When everything goes wrong - the cat starts to purr.
  • It's his way of saying: 'Hang in there. I’m here.'"
  • 🐾"Futurists dream of terraforming Mars.
  • The cat naps under a blooming jasmine and calls it paradise."
  • 🐾"While they plan vertical farms and biotech gardens -
the cat rolls in basil, digs up the mulch, and feels joy."

🐈📸 Macaron has been busy helping with plants and trying to show us the meaning of life.

PeopleCats.Garden  #PeopleCats

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Date: 12 Sep 2025

What flowers do NOT attract bees?

Butterfly on a flower that doesn't attract bees

❌ 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.
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

#Butterfly_Plants #How_to #Discover

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Date: 18 Oct 2021

Flowering vine around garage trellis

Q: I want to grow flowering vines up and around my garage; however I want to make sure whatever I put will grow long enough to make it all the way around the top. I attached photo of my garage and where I mounted the bolts for the trellis. What plants do you recommend for doing something like this that will eventually grow long enough to complete the arch over the garage? Right now I have mandevillas there but I know they aren't the right species. I know bougainvilleas will work, but I was hoping to do something less thorny since it's near the walkway.

A: There are several vines that can fit your project. These are just a few suggestions:

1017 Aristolochia gigantea - Giant Pelican Flower
Camptosema grandiflora - Dwarf Red Jade Vine
Cissus rotundifolia - Arabian Wax Leaf (very fast glowing)
Clerodendrum speciosum - Red Bleeding Heart
Clitoria ternatea - Blue Butterfly Pea (very fast glowing)
Jasminum sambac Maid of Orleans
Senecio confusus - Mexican flame vine
Stictocardia beraviensis - Hawaiian Sunset Bell (very fast glowing)
Thunbergia alata var. aurea Sunlady
Thunbergia laurifolia - Blue Sky vine
Trachelospermum jasminoides - Confederate Jasmine
Urechites lutea - Yellow Mandevilla

Check out full list of flowering vines

Photo above: Clerodendrum speciosum - Red Bleeding Heart

Photo above: Senecio confusus - Mexican flame vine

Photo above: Clitoria ternatea - Blue Butterfly Pea

Photo above: Thunbergia laurifolia - Blue Sky vine

Date: 24 Jul 2019

Perfect small tree for a pool area

Q: I need a tree for a space that is close to a pool and I don't want a tree that is shedding leaves all year long. I don't want it too big either. The canary tree caught my attention but I need to know if it is a tree that is dropping leaves all year. If it does then can you recommend another tree? I live in Fort Lauderdale.

A: Canary tree is a good choice. It is free-flowering pretty little tree. It is evergreen and doesn't shed leaves too much especially in your area with mild winter. However, keep in mind that every plant sheds leaves. Even evergreen trees replace old leaves with new ones. Some trees more than others. Flowers also have a seasonal drop. You may check the full list of compact flowering trees suitable for small spaces.

Another great choice is a Dwarf Tree Jasmine, Radermachera - also a free-flowering tree with rose-fragrant flowers and large, architectural leaves that hardly ever drop. It has very dense yet compact columnar shape, and is one of the greatest trees for smaller landscapes.

Recommended fertilizers and supplements:

Pink N Good Daily Plant Food - Flower Booster
Tropical Allure - Smart-Release Booster
SUNSHINE SuperFood - plant booster