Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 19 Jun 2025

One look and youre hooked: Macaranga!

Macaranga grandifolia - Elephant Ear Tree

One look and you're hooked: Macaranga!

🐸

  • 🐘 These leaves are bigger than your head!
  • Macaranga grandifolia – the Elephant Ear Tree - came from Hawaii. It has leaves so huge, they look like elephant ears or jungle umbrellas! Each one can grow over a foot wide, with a glossy, rounded shape that's pure eye candy.
  • 🐘 Macaranga is easy to grow - perfect for a frost-free garden or in a big pot.
  • 🐘 Macaranga is a real conversation starter. It looks like something straight out of a rainforest dream. Big, bold, and totally tropical! Fast-growing, it brings that lush, exotic vibe instantly to your garden.
  • 🐘 Hard to find, super cool, and ridiculously showy - you’ll want this beauty front and center. Once you see it, you have to have it!


🛒 Get your giant leaves - Elephant Ear from Hawaii

#Nature_Wonders #Trees

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Date: 14 Jun 2025

From berry to beast: how Black Dragons are born

Anthurium Black Dragon seedlings from berry to beast: how Black Dragons are born

From berry to beast: how Black Dragons are born
  • 🐉 Baby dragons have hatched! Anthurium Black Dragon from our earlier video has been busy... and now we have baby dragons!
  • 🐉 Each bright red berry holds a single seed, and the seeds sprout easily - usually in just 2 to 3 weeks. The seedlings start off slow, but here's the exciting part: some come out variegated, with white, purple, or even pink coloring!
  • 🐉 No two are alike, and that's what makes Black Dragons some of the most unique houseplants out there. Everyone needs at least one in their jungle!


🛒 Get your own Black Dragon

📚 Learn more:
#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders
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Date: 23 Jun 2025

Black Tacca Lily

Tacca Lily - Black Bat Flower, Devil Flower

A flying bat with whiskers. Tacca. It's rare. It's weird.

  • Tacca Lily - also known as the Black Bat Flower or Devil Flower, looks like something brewed up in a witch's greenhouse.
  • The flower isn't really a single flower - it's a full-on performance. Giant black-maroon "wings" stretch out like a bat in flight, while long, drooping filaments dangle like eerie whiskers or jungle jewelry. Some can reach over a foot long!
  • Those weird, wild filaments? They're not just for show - they are believed to help mimic the look of decaying matter to attract pollinators like flies. Creepy? Yes. Clever? Absolutely.
  • The plant blooms best when it feels pampered - think filtered light, tropical vibes, and spa-level humidity. A smart indoor exotic for a bathroom with a skylight!
  • It grows from a rhizome, and while the Black Tacca (T. chantrieri) is prized for its spooky looks, its Green cousin (T. leontopetaloides) is actually used to make a type of tropical arrowroot starch.
  • Some gardeners say it takes a while to bloom (maybe a few months) - but once it does, it becomes the crown jewel of the greenhouse. People will ask if it's real. You'll say, "Yes, and it lives here!"
  • Tacca comes in different species/colors: Black, White, Green:
Tacca nivea - White Tacca
Tacca chantrieri - Black Tacca
Tacca leontopetaloides - Green Tacca

📚 Learn more:



🛒 Shop Bat Head Lilies - Devil's Flower Tacca

#Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden #Fun_Facts

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Date: 20 Jul 2025

What is that Big Thing???

Giant Bird's Nest Anthurium - Anthurium x hookeri

What is that Big Thing???

  • What is that big thing in the corner? It's the Giant Bird's Nest Anthurium minding its business and taking up way more than its fair share of space. This plant, Anthurium x hookeri, looks like it wandered in from the jungle and decided to stay.
  • The leaves are enormous - wrinkly, leathery, and can grow over 6 feet long! They feel kind of like cardboard and look like something out of a rainforest movie set.
  • Despite its size, it's easygoing. Doesn’t need much water, tolerates deep shade, and generally keeps to itself. Just give it room to stretch and maybe say hi once in a while.
  • If you like big, bold plants that know how to take up space without being fussy, Giant Bird's Nest Anthurium delivers!


🛒 Adopt the big guy - Giant Birdnest

📚 Learn more:


Discover the Giant Bird’s Nest Anthurium

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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Date: 23 Aug 2025

When plants cross into the Gothic: the Darker Bat Lily

Black Bat Lily (Tacca chantrieri)

When plants cross into the Gothic: the Darker Bat Lily

  • 🖤 Here’s a striking look at the Black Bat Lily (Tacca chantrieri) - its dramatic dark bracts resembling bat wings, trailing whiskers, and tropical elegance all in one. If you met its cousin, the White Bat Head Lily (Tacca nivea) in earlier video, you'll notice the family resemblance - same dramatic whiskers and wing-like bracts, but this one leans fully into the dark side.
  • 🖤 The Black Bat Flower isn’t just a bloom - it's a full performance. Giant black-maroon"wings" stretch out like a bat in flight, while long, drooping filaments dangle like eerie whiskers or jungle jewelry - some over a foot long!
  • 🖤 Those weird, wild whiskers aren't just for show either. They're thought to mimic the look (and no, not the smell!) of decaying matter, luring in pollinators like flies. Creepy? Yes. Clever? Absolutely.
  • 🖤 The Black Bat Flower blooms best when it feels pampered: filtered light, steady warmth, and spa-level humidity. It’s a smart exotic for a greenhouse or even a bright bathroom with a skylight.
  • 🖤 It grows from a rhizome, and while Tacca chantrieri is prized for its gothic looks, its green cousin Tacca leontopetaloides is actually used in the tropics to make arrowroot starch.
  • 🖤 Patience is part of the package - sometimes it takes months to bloom. But when it does, it becomes the crown jewel of the collection. People will ask if it's real. You'll just smile and say, "Yes - and it lives here."


🛒 Add this gothic gem to your collection - Black Tacca

Tacca colors: Black, White, Green:


Tacca nivea - White Tacca
Tacca chantrieri - Black Tacca
Tacca leontopetaloides - Green Tacca

📚 Learn more:


#Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals