Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 8 Jun 2024

The Drama you want in your garden: dazzling Medinilla!

Medinilla plant

Medinilla plant

Medinilla plant

Medinilla plant

Medinilla plant orange

Medinilla plant orange

Medinilla plant

Medinilla plant

🌺 The Drama you want in your garden: dazzling Medinilla!

  • 🎀 Show-Stopping Blooms: The Medinilla plant is known for its spectacular, dramatic clusters of pink, pendulous flowers that cascade like floral chandeliers - perfect for turning heads!
  • 🎀 Tropical Flair: With its lush, leathery leaves and exotic appearance, the medinilla adds a touch of the tropics to any indoor or outdoor space.
  • 🎀 Conversation Starter: Its unique and eye-catching flowers make the Medinilla a true centerpiece, sparking admiration and conversation among garden visitors.
  • 🎀 Low Maintenance: Despite its luxurious look, the Medinilla is surprisingly easy to care for, thriving in indirect light (loves shade!) and only moderate watering.
  • 🎀 Pollinator's Delight: The vibrant blooms attract a variety of pollinators, making your garden not only more beautiful but also more buzzing with life 🐞🐝
  • 🎀 Year-Round Beauty: Unlike many plants that only shine for a season, the Medinilla can bloom multiple times a year.


🛒 Shop Medinilla plants

#Butterfly_Plants #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 27 Dec 2024

Why New Guinea Creeper is a must-have for your garden

New Guinea Creeper (Tecomanthe dendrophila)

💕 Why New Guinea Creeper is a must-have for your garden

  • 💖 It's this time of the year when beautiful Tecomanthe is opening her majestic blooms!
  • The New Guinea Creeper (Tecomanthe dendrophila) is a stunning, non-aggressive vine that will captivate with its vibrant blooms and lush foliage.
  • 💖 Spectacular flowers: In late winter to early spring, it produces large clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers with deep pink tubes and creamy-white lobes, creating a striking contrast.
  • 💖 Non-invasive growth: This well-behaved climber can reach up to 40 feet but is easily maintained at shorter lengths, making it suitable for trellises, arbors, or even large containers.
  • 💖 Evergreen beauty: With its glossy, pinnate leaves, the New Guinea Creeper adds year-round interest to your garden, even when not in bloom.
  • 💖 Great Butterfly attractor!

Care tip for New Guinea Creeper

🌞 Light: Thrives in partial to full sun; however, it prefers some shade during the hottest part of the day.
💦 Water: Keep the soil consistently moist but well-drained, especially during the growing season.
🌡 Temperature: Ideal for USDA Zones 9-11; protect from frost and provide a warm, humid environment.
Support: Provide a sturdy structure for it to climb, such as a trellis or arbor, to showcase its cascading blooms.

Introduce the New Guinea Creeper to your garden and enjoy a breathtaking display of color and elegance that will be the envy of your neighborhood!

🛒
Shop New Guinea Creeper

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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Date: 3 May 2025

How to add Music to your garden

Clerodendrum incisum - Musical Note, Morning Kiss

🎶 How to add Music to your garden
  • Clerodendrum incisum, also known as Musical Note or Morning Kiss, is a compact, low-maintenance plant with unusual, showy flowers that resemble musical notes, giving it its name.
  • ♪ It thrives in both full sun and shade, tolerates some drought, and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, making it perfect for wildlife-friendly gardens. With blooms bursting everywhere, this plant creates a beautiful carpet of musical-note-shaped flowers around its base, offering a true symphony for your garden.


ℹ️ The unopened flowers resemble musical notes, giving the plant its name.

🛒 Get Musical Notes for your garden

📚 Learn more about Music Notes:


#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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Date: 22 Sep 2022

Ceiba pentandra, Kapok Tree:
Maya's Sacred Tree at the Center of the Earth

by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

Ceiba  pentandra,  Kapok  Tree

...Everybody who sees this tree for the first time, always says "What's THAT???" And everybody wants to have one! Kapok Tree is a large, magestic, gorgeous shade tree that just requires a little bit of space in your garden! It is definitely a conversation piece and is a must for every botanical garden or a large private tropical tree collection. Kapok is a fast growing tree, however, it may take many years to reach its mature size. It is worth the wait though!..

Ceiba  pentandra,  Kapok  Tree  FLOWER

Buy Kapok Tree

Date: 5 Aug 2022

Planting in August

Top Tropicals Garden Calendar

Philly's  garden  calendar

August is the hottest month in most places, and tropical/subtropical areas are not the exception. In Florida we have some hot August days in upper 90's. Is it still OK to plant during hot weather? Yes, and here are some guidelines for you:

1. Hot metabolism.
Many tropical plants grow faster at high temperatures. Select heat-resistant species for August planting (below are just a few suggestions).

2. Water adequately.
Water thoroughly your newly planted tree. Water daily (lightly) with a hose for at least a week, don't rely on sprinklers. Then reduce watering to every other day and gradually switch to sprinkler system if you have it. Do not overwater: non-established plants don't like combination of heat+wet.

3. Mulch well.
Keep mulch 1"away from the trunk to avoid rot.

4. Shading.
Protect the young tree from hot sun with a shade cloth or a sheet if leaves get wilted, for 1-3 days, then remove it, let the plant adjust to bright light.

Trachelospermum  jasminoides  -  Confederate  Jasmine

Photo above: Trachelospermum jasminoides