Date: 30 Jan 2019
Featured plant. Clitoria ternatea - Blue Butterfly Pea
Clitoria ternatea - Blue Butterfly Pea
Butterfly pea, Asian pigeonwings. Perfect vine! Blooms year-round, fast growing, easy, not invasive, controllable, not messy, curious bright blue flower - Clitoris-like flower shape, hence the name of the plant. Fast-growing climber with fine foliage, pinnate leaves. Besides being a great ornamental, this plant has some practical and medicinal value. The seed pods are edible, as well as the flowers. The flowers are used for blue food dye for rice and teas. It is also a nitrogen fixer and helps prevent E-coli.
Date: 16 Jan 2019
Fascinating Spekboom (Portulacaria afra, or Baby Jade)
By Mark Hooten, the Garden Doc
...I love this plant! I first grew it in the 1960s when I was just a
kid. I found it growing as a fantastic four-foot tall houseplant in a big sunny
window in a schoolmate's home and was happily given a cutting. When I
inquired about this most unusual plant, my friend's mother explained that she had
brought a piece of it with her when she came from South Africa many years
earlier. She told me that in Africa, it is a favorite food for both Elephants and
Rhinoceros and that it was grown all over her families farm for feeding both
animals and people. Being a little kid in Illinois, I found this especially
fascinating...
Continue reading...
Date: 12 Dec 2018
Six ideas for the best Christmas gift plants
It's this time of the year again when a million dollar question arises: "What do I get them for Christmas?" It's an easy task to buy a gift for a gardener - because we always have a long wish-list! But what to get for everybody else? The answer a simple - buy a live plant... that can bring: Surprise, Love, Joy, Meaning, Convenience, and an Action into their lives! Below are a few wise suggestions.
1. Surprise for Tradition. Everybody knows Ponsettia. Everybody buys it. Every house has it... Red, yellow, white,
and even purple... unusual? No, simply dyed with a paint. Ahh. Go RARE!
Ponsettia is Euphorbia, get a rare Euphorbia. It has indestructible nature,
almosts zero maintenance, and FREE shipping!
Euphorbia leucocephala - Snows of Kilimanjaro
Euphorbia
geroldii - Thornless Crown of Thorns
Euphorbia Exotic Thai Candyland, variegated leaves
Euphorbia Pink Cadillac
2. Love. Gardenia Aimee Yoshioka First Love. With a dramatic history behind this cultivar, it is a perfect expression of Love that one can bring to another for Christmas...
3. Joy of Miracle. Miracle fruit. It speaks for itself and is one of the greatest container plants.
4. Meaning. Symbol of Long Life! Adansonia digitata - Baobab, also called the Tree of Longivity, can live for 5000 years. Pass this remarkable plant in your family from generation to generation! Regarded as the largest succulent plant in the world, the Baobab tree is steeped in a wealth of mystique, legend and superstition wherever it occurs in Africa, being a tree that can provide food, water, shelter and relief from sickness. FREE shipping and easy to maintain bonsai.
5. Convenience. A gift card will give your loved ones a chance to browse amazing wonderland of Tropical Plant World, pick something they like and have it shipped to them weather permitting. The gift card (certificate) has no expiration date!
6. Action. Coffea arabica - Coffee. Want to give your kids a project to drag them away from their smartphones? Have them grow a Real Coffee tree. It is a rewarding plant that is happy indoors and gives you a feeling of Creator - for your care, it will bloom for you with fragrant flowers and fruit for you with real coffee beans!
Check out the full list of plants that are great gifts!
If you need further advice on great looking gift plants for Christmas, contact us!
Date: 30 Aug 2018
6 Things to Do on Labor Day Weekend
1. Plant a tree... or a shrub, even just a small perennial will do. This plant will make you feel good and accomplished for the whole year, until next Labor Day (or even longer!). You will always see this fruit of your work and remember your motivation, so things are not that bad with you!
2. Pull 66 weeds. Needless to say, you have plenty of those in your yard at the moment. Why 66? Just do it and see what happens. If you don't see any happy results, pull another 66.
3. Fertilize all plants in your garden or potted collection with slow release fertilizer and microelements. Remember, this is the last chance to give them food and strength to survive, before winter. Starting October, all leftover fertilizer goes to storage, even in tropical gardens.
4. Apply SUNSHINE
booster to protect your plants from cool temperature, help to go into
dormancy and rest without stress.
Remember, there are products for all your pre-winter needs: Sunshine-T for improving cold tolerance, Sunshine-BC for caudex and bonsai plants, Sunshine-H for houseplants, and general booster Sunshine-E to cover all occasions... 50 and 100 ml bottles available for large plant collections.
Sunshine-Honey
Date: 24 Jun 2018
Elephant Foot, Turtle Shell - back in stock!
Dioscorea
elephantipes.
Dioscorea is a curious plant
with tuber above ground level covered with layers of corky
bark, resembling a caudex. It is a slow growing, very
unusual succulent. Tuber contains saponins, originally
cooked and eaten as a famine food by the Hottentots.
Caudex that grows up to 6' in nature, resembling an
elephant's foot and looks as if it is segmented into
geometric patterns (smaller plants look like tortoises)
and looks dead but is actually a living tuber. A plant
with 18"caudex can be almost 100 years old! The plant
grows into a vine with attractive heart-shaped leaves and
small yellow flowers. Culture is relatively easy. The
vines may die back and regrow several times a year,
depending on the particular plant and your region. The
plant doesn't send down deep roots, so plant in a shallow
pot about 1" larger than the diameter than the caudex. Potting soil should be very
porous/loose so that there is easy drainage. Water
well around the edges. Keep in a warm area and wait for
the first shoots of the vine to appear. Water regularly
from that point on. The plant should not be kept damp as
with other tropical plants. Allow it to dry before
watering again. Many books will say that they are winter
growers, because they are native to the southern
hemisphere. In fact, they grow in all seasons! Let the
plant be your guide. You cannot force them to grow, and
over watering will simply cause them to rot.
Elephant Foot is a collectors item, but remarkably easy to
grow. It will be with you for years with no effort. It is
a wonderful conversation piece! See more info about Dioscorea
elephantipes.
We have limited stock, while supply lasts, hurry up!
*** 4-6"caudex *** 6-8" caudex *** 10-12"caudex *** Seeds. Don't forget special TopTropicals Adenium Soilless Mix