Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 3 Jul 2025

Coral-blooming bonsai with a bottle-shaped trunk - perfect container plant

🔥 Coral-blooming bonsai with a bottle-shaped trunk - perfect container plant

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant - is a one-of-a-kind tropical showpiece with a knobby, swollen caudex, massive umbrella-like leaves, and bright coral-red flowers that pop like underwater treasures.
Compact and only 2-3 feet tall, it's perfect for containers, bonsai lovers, and small gardens craving something bold and unusual. It thrives in partial shade, grows giant leaves in low light, and needs little water to stay happy. Easy-care and eye-catching, it's more than a plant it’s a conversation starter.

🛒 Get your Gout plant - the plant with a personality

📚 Learn more:

Attention grabber: swollen trunk, giant leaves, and flowers just like corals

#Container_Garden #Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 24 Jul 2023

Easy, stress-free plants
for Summer planting

Q: With the rising temperatures, I'm concerned about shipping my plants safely. Can they withstand the heat during transit? Also, is it okay to plant them in the ground now, or should I wait for cooler Fall weather?

A: Your concern about shipping plants in hot weather is valid. For sensitive plants, we'll delay shipping until conditions are more favorable in your area. However, there are plenty of heat-tolerant tropical plants that handle shipping well with minimal stress. These plants adapt easily when planted during the hot summer months. Simply follow the included planting instructions, gradually acclimate them to full sun, and they should thrive.

Certain flowering tropical plants, such as Allamandas, Calliandras, Caesalpinias, Adeniums, and Clerodendrums, are excellent options for shipping and establishing during the summer. Flowering vines like Jasmines also adapt well. Consider using Sunshine Booster fertilizers to promote robust growth, they are safe to use right after planting.

Additionally, many fruit trees flourish in heat. Mangoes, Avocados, Pomegranates, Pineapples, Loquats, Eugenias - Tropical cherries, Bananas, Jackfruits, Dragon Fruit, and Olive trees are great choices for summer planting. Noni trees are hardy survivors and usually ship and grow well during the summer, in spite of their lush tropical leaves.

Feel free to check with us about the specific plant you plan to order for its suitability in summer shipping. We're here to take care of your green babies and address your year-round planting needs!

Shop Fruit Trees

Pitaya, Yellow Dragon Fruit, Selenicereus megalanthus

Shop Flowering Vines

Jasminum sambac Maid of Orleans thrives and blooms in hot sun

Shop Succulents

Kalanchoe synsepala Magnificent - Walking Cup Kalanchoe, spectacular plant, loves dry and hot conditions

Date: 16 Jun 2019

Horned Holly - a cool bonsai plant

By Onika Amell, tropical plant specialist

Q: I live in Chickasaw, Alabama. I am a beginner bonsai grower. I received a lovely little Horned Holly as a birthday present and I want to know if it is a suitable plant to bonsai?

A: The Ilex cornuta - Horned Holly, or Chinese Holly, is very popular as a bonsai species. It is loved for its very beautiful and distinctive rectangular foliage and for its small, white flowers which give way to large, red berries. The berries are larger than those of the European Holly. The leaves are rectangular and unusually shaped with three large spines at the apex. This bonsai will take both sun and shade, but semi-shade is preferred in midsummer. If indoors, give it plenty of bright light. When kept outdoors, your Horned Holly bonsai will need some frost protection and should be sheltered from strong or cold winds. It will need a fair amount of water and should not be allowed to completely dry out. Watering during the heat of summer is especially important, as well as in spring right before the fruit production, and should be reduced during winter. This species will also appreciate regular misting of the foliage. Repot this bonsai every 1 to 2 years in early spring, using bonsai soil - TopTropicals Adenium Soilless Mix. Fertilize the holly every two weeks throughout the growing season using either a balanced fertilizer diluted to half strength. We recommend for this purpose Tropical Greenhouse Plus - Plant Booster. Pruning should be done in early spring.
Horned Holly is also very popular as a hedge plant as it grows dense and compact. It will grow to between 3 and 5 feet tall and will spread to an equal distance, giving it a round, shrubby form. It is cold hardy! Zones 6 through 9. It will tolerate a wide variety of soils as long as it is well-drained. It likes sun or part shade. It is heat and drought tolerant once established, and are often used in xeriscaping. Its branches produce dark olive-green foliage that is often cut for indoor decorations during the holidays.

Limited time special offer:
buy 1 get 1 free for only $10!

Date: 31 May 2024

What is this shocking pink gardenia? Does it exist?

Kopsia fruticosa - Pink Gardenia

Kopsia fruticosa - Pink Gardenia

Kopsia fruticosa - Pink Gardenia

Kopsia fruticosa - Pink Gardenia

Kopsia fruticosa - Pink Gardenia

Kopsia fruticosa - Pink Gardenia

Kopsia fruticosa - Pink Gardenia

Kopsia fruticosa - Pink Gardenia

👁 What is this shocking pink gardenia? Does it exist?

🌸 Kopsia fruticosa: fondly known as the "Pink Gardenia", this gem is one of nature's most exquisite and elusive treasures.
🌸 Its flowers are a marvel, transitioning from delicate light pink to deep hues with crimson centers, emitting a subtle fragrance.
🌸 Imagine our surprise when we stumbled upon this enchanting plant labeled as a Pink Gardenia during our expedition in Thailand!
🌸 Intrigued, we delved deeper into its botanical identity. While technically not a Gardenia, this beauty is a close relative of Plumeria and Adenium we mentioned earlier, as well as Tabernaemontana (also often confused with Gardenia). All these beauties belong to the esteemed plant family Apocynaceae.
🌸 It's no wonder this plant has captured our hearts; its beauty is simply irresistible, leaving us wanting more.
🌸 With its compact growth habit, it's perfect for containers or in-ground planting, adding a touch of elegance to any garden space.

🛒 Treat yourself with a Pink Gardenia!

#Perfume_Plants #Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 30 May 2024

Attention grabber: swollen trunk, giant leaves, and flowers just like corals! A must for bonsai collection

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant flowers

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant flowers

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant leaves

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant leaves

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant caudex

Jatropha podagrica - Gout Plant caudex

Attention grabber: swollen trunk, giant leaves, and flowers just like corals! A must for bonsai collection.

♥️ Jatropha podagrica: commonly known as the Gout Plant, this plant is a true attention grabber and a must-have in any container garden, as well as in succulent or bonsai plant collection.
♥️ Features a distinctive bottle-like caudex and surprisingly large tropical leaves up to 10-12 inches in diameter. Just like you saw in Adeniums.
♥️ Thrives in the shade, where its leaves grow even larger.
♥️ Perfect for natural bonsai and makes an excellent potted plant or conversation piece in a small garden.
♥️ Grows only 2-3 feet high, with a knobby, swollen stem and eye-catching, coral-like red flowers in large terminal clusters.
♥️ Prefers partial sun and well-drained soil, and is very drought-tolerant.
♥️ Easy to care for, adding exotic flair and intrigue to any plant collection.

🛒 Shop Gout plant

#Container_Garden #Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden

🏵 TopTropicals

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