Date: 17 Oct 2024
Five Extraordinary, Show-Stopping Flowering Shrubs
Q: I'm looking for something fresh and exciting - something my neighbors won't have! I have both sunny and shady spots in my garden. What unique flowering shrubs would you recommend?
A: Why settle for ordinary when your garden can be extraordinary? Here are five fabulous flowering shrubs that will set your landscape apart. Whether you're dealing with sizzling sun or cool shade, these beauties will add color, character, and charm year-round. Let's dive in!
1. Lobster Claw - Simply Spectacular!
Heliconia rostrata - Lobster Claw. This exotic plant makes a bold statement with its parrot-like blooms. The colorful, dangling flowers last long and are perfect for bouquets. Growing up to 7 feet tall, it thrives in large pots or tropical landscapes, handling temperatures in the high 20s. Just give it room to stretch those stalks!
2. Bat Head Lily - Perfect for Shade
Tacca chantrieri - Bat Head Lily, Black Tacca. Looking for something mysterious? This plant's dark, bat-shaped flowers and trailing "whiskers" will intrigue everyone. It prefers filtered light and high humidity, making it a great pick for shaded areas or a greenhouse. Available in striking colors like black, white, and green, it's a conversation starter in any garden.
3. Ball of Fire - Made for the Sun
Combretum constrictum from Thailand, called Ball of Fire - is one of our favorite tropical flowering shrubs that is constantly in bloom and is so much different from anythings else. With constant blooms and fiery red flowers, this tropical shrub shines bright. Though it might fool you from a distance as a Powderpuff plant, it's a whole different species! It can be shaped into a small tree, handles pruning well, and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. Easy to grow, it only needs regular water to get established.
4. Blue Sage - the Bluest in the Tropics
Eranthemum pulchellum - Blue Sage, or Lead Flower. This winter heavy bloomer thrives in shady spots with its vibrant gentian-blue flowers, a rare color in the tropics. It's compact, easygoing, and the more you prune it, the bushier it gets. When other plants are napping, Blue Sage adds a splash of cool blue, making it perfect for carefree gardeners who want a touch of magic.
5. Candelabra Plant - Massive Gold
Senna alata - Empress Candle, Candelabra Plant - is a fast-growing shrub that brings sunny, candle-like flowers and massive leaves to your garden. It's a weed-fighting hero, shading out invaders with its wide canopy. Butterflies and bees love its golden blooms, and the plant can grow 10 feet wide in just one season! If you want beauty and function, the Candelabra Plant is your golden ticket. Watch the .
Date: 24 Nov 2024
Black Friday Week Has Begun!
Everybody loves these deals:
This holiday week, treat yourself to the best deals of the year and fill your garden with the plants you've always dreamed of! Don't miss these instant discounts:
BOGO deals
discounted items
Secret Garden half price
and of course - FREE SHIPPING limited time promotions
On top of that, use our Thanksgiving code below and make it a steal!
Thanksgiving 10% discount
Shop now and make your garden the envy of the season! Get additional 10% off plants, seeds, and garden supplies with the code below:
THANKS24
Min order $150. Excluding S/H. Exp. 11/29/24
Photo above: Pseudorhipsalis amazonica - Blue Flame Cactus - Spectacular bloomer! A rare, spineless, epiphytic cactus from the rainforests of the Amazon jungle. Flowers emerge along the leaf edges from late spring through early summer, with a distinctive blue tip on the magenta flower.
Date: 18 Apr 2025
Want Constant Blooms? Plant Clerodendrums
Your Shortcut to a Colorful Garden
Q: Q: I live in Florida, and while everything is green, I want more color in my garden and patio. What low-maintenance perennials can add nonstop blooms without constant care? I'm tired of annuals that don't last. Do such plants even exist?
A: Yes, they do - and your perfect solution is Clerodendrums. These colorful tropical perennials grow fast, bloom for most of the year, and thrive in both sun and shade. They're easy to care for, relatively cold-tolerant, and come in many shapes: shrubs, vines, and even small trees. Ideal for both garden beds and containers.
Why Grow Clerodendrums?
Clerodendrums are tough, reliable, and visually striking plants:
- Fast-growing with a compact habit
- Available in many forms: shrubs, vines, and small trees
- Colorful flowers, many of them are sweetly fragrant!
- Thrive in sun or shade; cold tolerant; not picky about soil
- Bloom repeatedly or continuously
- Excellent for pots, patios, or indoors
Clerodendrums as Shrubs
- Clerodendrum
bungei - Glory Bower: fragrant pink blooms, spreads quickly
- Clerodendrum
incisum - Musical Note: unique buds shaped like musical notes
- Clerodendrum
inerme - Wild Jasmine: salt-tolerant, good for seaside areas
- Clerodendrum
mastacanthum - Pink Butterfly Bush: long-blooming, eye-catching pink
- Clerodendrum
paniculatum - Pagoda Flower: layered red-orange towers of flowers
- Clerodendrum
philippinum - Cashmere Bouquet: double fragrant flowers, shade-tolerant
- Clerodendrum
ugandense - Blue Butterfly: delicate blue blooms that attract pollinators
Clerodendrums as Vines
- Clerodendrum
thomsoniae - Bleeding Heart: classic red-and-white contrast, climbs
easily
- Clerodendrum
speciosum - Red Bleeding Heart: vivid magenta blooms, great on trellises
Clerodendrums as Small Trees
- Clerodendrum minahassae - Fountain Clerodendrum: upright, white flower
sprays
- Clerodendrum
sahelangii - Champagne Clerodendrum: cascading white blooms
- Clerodendrum
quadriloculare - Winter Starburst: purple leaves, late winter blooms
- Clerodendrum
schmitii - Chains of Glory: dangling flower clusters, unusual look
- Clerodendrum
wallichii - Bridal Veil: long white flowers, graceful arching branches
Date: 12 Dec 2021
Golden Sugar Apple and Jackedak Cheena
50% OFF and MORE!
We've combined the exotic fruit of this rare Annona from Costa Rica - Golden Sugar Apple with the sweet, crunchy and excellent flavor of the Jackedak Cheena. Both rare and unique plants can be yours at considerable savings, but don't delay as there are limited quantities in stock.
Rare Fruit Collection:
two Jackfruit-textured rare fruit!
For this Easy Sunday we have priced these at incredible savings:
The
Golden Sugar Apple regularly $39, is on Easy Sunday sale for only $19
The
Jackedak Cheena, regularly $49, is on Easy Sunday Sale for only $24
.
Combine the two for your own Rare Fruit Collection and save even more, only $39 for the set!
Jackedak Cheena
Artocarpus x integer (Jackfruit x Chempedak) - Jackedak Cheena has been grown in TopTropicals garden from a seedling and fruited within 3 years from planting. The fruit is the best we ever tasted! It is super sweet, crunchy, with a rich, excellent flavor, with very little latex which makes it easy to handle when cutting up. Our tree survived light frosts as well as 48 hours of 3 ft flooding, with no damage! Cheena is a natural hybrid between Jackfruit and Chempedak with low and spreading growth habit, can be maintained at 8 ft with annual pruning.
Picture of 3 y.o. Cheena at Top Tropicals garden, loaded with fruit:
Golden Sugar Apple
The Golden Sugar Apple or Pineapple Annona originally was brought to us by our customer from Costa Rica. We believe it to be a natural hybrid between A. muricata and A. glabra. It is a very ornamental small tree similar in growth habit to A. muricata, A. montana or Rollinia. Fast growing, forms nice bushy specimen. Fruit is very large, up to 1 lb, golden to orange when ripe, with strong Pineapple scent, and resembling Jackfruit in texture, with pineapple, papaya, apricot and melon overtones. The tree tolerates flooding and is cold hardy at least to upper 20's. Very interesting for rare fruit collectors as much more hardy and water tolerant alternative to its sensitive relatives Soursop and Rollinia.
Picture of 3 y.o. tree full of fruit:
Remember, the Easy Sunday special has been extended through Wednesday, December 15th. Limited availability, hurry up! All orders over $75 (excluding S&H) are eligible for 20% off!
For 20% off - use code YEAREND20
Min. order $75 (excluding S&H). Good through December 15th
Enjoy your Holiday Tropical Fruit!
Photo above: Jim is Holiday decorating with super-sweet tropical fruit balls - Pom-Poms
Date: 1 Jan 2022
Easy Sunday Morning Deals: Five Tropical Garden favorites for 2022
Saving on your favorite plants is Easy. Easy like Sunday Morning...
"...The ticking of the hands of your watch are telling you how time is passing away, never to return. Listen to it..."
Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic
Tropical Colors for the New Year
This New Year, resolve to add color into your garden and into your life.
Today we feature five Tropical Garden favorites for 2022.
1. Bolivian Sunset
Gloxinia sylvatica - Bolivian Sunset. Low growing perennial that will always surprise you with a sudden burst of scarlet blooms in Fall-Winter.
2. Dwarf Tibouchina
Tibouchina lepidota - Jules Dwarf. So much purple for such a small compact plant! Relatively cold tolerant.
3. Tropical Hydrangea
Dombeya seminole - Tropical Rose Hydrangea. All time favorite that blooms for several months from Fall through Winter.
4. Cranberry Hibiscus
Hibiscus acetosella - African Cranberry Hibiscus. Super fast growing colorful shrub with beautiful flowers and edible leaves.
5. Burgundy Thread
Alternanthera dentata - Red Thread Burgundy. Ultimate fast growing groundcover for sun or shade, any soil and any water, any size of garden, cold- and heat-tolerant.
The Easy New Year Deal expires at midnight Sunday,
January 2nd, 2022.
Enjoy your Hot Deal!