Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 7 Jul 2025

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Chonemorpha fragrans - Frangipani vine

💎 What is better than Plumeria? Only climbing Plumeria!
  • 💮 It's in bloom again at Top Tropicals Garden! Over and over, from Spring through Winter! Almost year around non stop. What a vigorous vine, and the perfume flowers never stop coming.
  • 💮 Imagine Plumeria's wild cousin climbing your fence: Chonemorpha fragrans, the Frangipani vine, is a tropical liana with jumbo 12-inch leaves and creamy white flowers that fill the air with that unmistakable Plumeria scent.
  • 💮 This beauty doesn’t grow like a tree - it climbs! Perfect for fences, trellises, or pergolas, it brings vertical drama and sweet, Plumeria-like fragrance to sunny or lightly shaded spots.
  • 💮 Give it some support and a little fertilizer, and your garden will bloom into a lush, fragrant escape that smells like a Hawaii vacation!


🛒 Grow your own wall of perfume

📚 Learn more:


#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 19 Dec 2021

Easy Sunday Morning Deals: Red Peppers and Hot Pepper Kit

It's time for our favorite day and another Easy stroll through Top Tropicals' Garden with savings of 50% and MORE! We're counting down to 2022 and this is our last sale of the year. There's still a few days remaining for you to receive 20% off savings on any order over $75! See discount code for this extended sale at the end of this email.

Saving on your favorite plants is Easy.
Easy like Sunday Morning...

Photo above: Holmskioldia sanguinea - Chinese hat, Holiday bloomer, covered with flowers from late fall through Winter.


This week we celebrate Beautiful Red Peppers and bring the heat with our Hot Pepper Kit:

The Biquinho Pepper and the Wiri Wiri Pepper
50% OFF and MORE!

Biquinho... Wiri Wiri... sounds like an exotic island, and these rare peppers will bring you the combination of the no-heat, yet intense fruity habanero flavor of the Biquinho with the hot and flavorful taste Bang! of the Wiri Wiri.

Hot Pepper Kit - Biquinho Wiri Wiri

For this Easy Sunday we have priced these at incredible savings:
The Biquinho Pepper regularly $39, is on Easy Sunday sale for only $19
The Wiri Wiri Pepper, regularly $49, is on Easy Sunday Sale for only $24 .
Combine the two for your own Hot Pepper Kit and save even more, only $34 for the set!

Biquinho Pepper

Biquinho's oddly shaped bright orange to finally red fruits are prolifically produced along the branches of compact plants. What separates this variety from others is its unique flavor which packs quite a bang! Not because of its heat, but because of its intense fruity habanero flavor.

Wiri Wiri Pepper

The Wiri Wiri pepper from Guyana is the illustrious gem; hard sought and rarely found. What makes it so much different than any other hot pepper? Hot? It is not just about heat, it is about flavor! Guyanese dinners will only take one of those meals for you to never forget! The secret of their food is the flavor, and one of the cornerstone ingredients in many of their dishes is the Wiri pepper. The Guyanese population claim that it is not just a key ingredient to their diet, but also to why they are so good looking, live so long, and have such great skin.

Remember, the Easy Sunday special and the 20% off for eligible orders will expire on Wednesday December 22nd. Limited availability, hurry up!

For 20% off - use code YEAREND20

Min. order $75 (excluding S&H). Good through December 22d

Enjoy your Hot Deals!

Photo above: Find a cat in this Christmas tree?

Date: 1 May 2025

🌸 Plumeria Power: The Signature Scent of the Tropics

Plumeria  collage

Q: What is the most fragrant variety of Plumeria? Are some colors more fragrant than others? How do you keep Plumeria blooming?

A: From Kristi, TopTropicals Flower Expert: At Top Tropicals, we used to think yellow Plumeria was the most fragrant. That was until we discovered multi-colored hybrids and stunning "rainbow" varieties! These rare beauties are prized not just for their sweet, strong fragrance but also for their dazzling mix of tropical colors.

We just received new arrivals of stunning new Plumeria varieties - but quantities are limited, so don't wait! Choose your favorite colors and bring home the irresistible scent of the tropics.

Plumerias are famous for their rich colors and unforgettable fragrance. With just a few simple steps, you can grow your own blooming tree and enjoy flowers just like in the pictures.

5 simple rules how to grow a fragrant Plumeria

1. Use well-drained soil. Choose a potting mix rich in perlite, bark, and coconut fiber. We recommend Sunshine Abundance professional soil mix for best results.

2. Choose the right container. Use a pot just slightly larger than the root ball to prevent water-logging. Plumeria prefers dry conditions - water only when the soil is slightly dry.

3. Give it full sun. Plumeria needs plenty of light to bloom. If grown indoors, place it in the brightest spot and bring it outside for sunbathing whenever possible.

4. Let it rest in winter. Plumeria drops its leaves and goes dormant during the cooler months. When this happens, reduce watering to a minimum and let the plant rest until new growth begins.

5. Feed it to bloom. Plumeria is a heavy feeder and needs fertilizer to flower well. Use a plant food high in phosphorus, like Sunsine Megaflor Bloom Booster liquid fertilizer. It's safe to use with every watering, all year round.

New Video of Exotic Plumeria Hybrids

Check out different varieties of Plumerias in full bloom. Just look at these colors in this short video !

Date: 20 Dec 2019

Plumeria cold protection

Q: We have a purple-flowering plumeria which resides on our sunny deck during the warm months and then Winter vacations on our back porch where we can close the plastic film windows and where it stays above 50 degrees (overnite) until it can get moved outside again. We live in zone 8+ in South Carolina and I would love to plant it outside. Do you think if we ghost-covered it when alerted that we would have an overnite freeze, that it would survive being planted in the ground and recover to flower when warm? I don't believe the soil in our yard has ever frozen below the top 1/2 inch or so, and never for more than a few hours at a time. What do you think?

A: Plumerias are tropical plants, which means, they need frost-free environment. Even if the ground is frozen only on "the top ½" or so"- this may be enough to kill the plant. From our experience, plumerias can withstand a few hours of windchill frost (not frozen soil), but even if they survive, they may get some branches damage, and recovery may take so long that the plant may not even bloom the next year. So I wouldn't take that risk even with a ghost-cover cold protection. We have customers who grow tropical plants in the ground in colder areas, but they have greenhouse protection: this means, the soil is warm and the air temperature is maintained above 45-50F. For example, this Greenhouse in Virginia.

We recommend to continue growing your rare plumeria in container and move it inside when temperatures drop below 50F (recommended) and for sure when they drop below freezing. Plumeria can take a cold night (a few hours of upper 30's) as long as it is followed by a nice warm sunny afternoon with at least upper 50s. Otherwise, keep it indoors. The good news is, since plumerias are deciduous and have no leaves in winter, low light level won't affect the plant.
Just make sure to minimize watering and keep the plant on a dry side until it starts growing new leaves in Spring. You may continue fertilizing once a week with half-doze of Sunshine boosters - Sunshine TotalFeed. This will maintain the plant healthy and prepare for the blooming season in Spring.

Date: 30 May 2019

Selecting the right jasmine

TopTropicals.com

Q: Would you please help me select the right jasmine? I want to find a jasmine that smells like lily of the valley or honeysuckle or roses, not the one that smells like gardenia. I'm in Missouri, zone 6, so I want a jasmine for my deck for the summer, so I want it to bloom this season.

A: There are 3 major types of tropical flower fragrances - Sweet, Fresh, and Fruity (including Lemony). Below are the most interesting fragrant tropical flowers, excluding Gardenias (which are sweet type). These are all same-year bloomers, so you can enjoy the fragrance this year assuming proper care and bloom booster feeding.

* - The fastest growers that can be treated as annuals. Others can be grown in a pot and brought inside for winter, and be enjoyed every year.

Sweet

* Aloysia virgata - Almond Bush
* Cestrum diurnum - White Chocolate Jasmine, Day Blooming Jasmine
* Cestrum nocturnum - Night blooming jasmine
* Heliotropium peruviana - Turnsole, Cherry Pie
Portlandia Cubanola domingensis - Cubanola (Warm white Chocolate)
Portlandia grandiflora - Glorious Flower of Cuba (Warm white Chocolate)

Fresh

Beaumontia grandiflora - Easter Lily Vine
* Brugmansia Jean Pasco - Yellow Angels Trumpet
* Brugmansia Variegated Orange Angel Trumpet
* Brunfelsia americana - Lady of the night
* Brunfelsia lactea - Lady of the night
* Brunfelsia nitida - Lady of the night
Crinum Queen Emma - Spider lily
* Eucharis grandiflora - Amazon Lily
* Hedychium coronarium - Butterfly Ginger
Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower
Hoya odorata - Fragrant Hoya
Ixora hybrid Sea Green
Ixora odorata - Fragrant Ixora
* Jasminum azoricum - River Jasmine
* Jasminum Molle - Indian Jui
Jasminum nitidum - Star Jasmine
* Jasminum officinale Flore Pleno - French Perfume Jasmine
* Jasminum polyanthum - Pink Winter Jasmine
* Jasminum sambac Belle of India
* Jasminum sambac Grand Duke
* Jasminum sambac Maid of Orleans
* Polianthes tuberosa - Tuberose
*Sclerochiton harveyanus - Blue Lips, Mazabuka (Lavender-violet-like)

Fruity

Aglaia odorata - Chinese Perfume Plant (Lemony)
Artabotrys siamensis - Climbing Ylang-Ylang (Lemony)
Cananga fruticosa - Dwarf Ylang-Ylang
Carissa grandiflora - Natal Plum
Cerbera x manghas hybrid - Enchanted Incense
* Jasminum dichotomum - Rose Bud Jasmine
* Lonicera japonica - Japanese Honeysuckle
Magnolia figo - Banana Magnolia (Banana-like)
Magnolia x Alba grafted (Bubble-gum-like)
* Mirabilis jalapa - Four oclock plant
Oxyceros horridus, Randia siamensis
* Quisqualis - Rangoon Creeper
* Radermachera Kunming - Dwarf Tree Jasmine
* Stephanotis floribunda - Bridal Bouquet
Strophanthus gratus - Climbing Oleander
Telosoma cordata - Pakalana vine (Lemony)

Fertilizers for profuse flowering:

Pink N Good Daily Plant Food - Flower Booster
Tropical Allure - Smart-Release Booster
SUNSHINE-Superfood micro-elements