Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 5 Jul 2024

Why Pharaoh Mask has stunning 3D effect?

Colocasia Pharaoh Mask

🎭 Why Pharaoh Mask has stunning 3D effect?
  • 👺 Colocasia Pharaoh Mask (tm) that we mentioned earlier is flourishing today in our garden!
  • 👺 Vibrant green leaves highlighted by striking purple veins, giving a distinct 3D appearance.
  • 👺 As they mature, the leaf edges curl, enhancing the purple veins. Each leaf, supported by sturdy, dark stems matching the veins' color, resembles a masquerade mask.
  • 👺 A cluster of these plants creates a striking visual with its unique foliage and dark stems, standing out among other elephant ears.
  • 👺 It's a must-have for any rare plant collector and is sure to be a showstopper and conversation piece!


📸 More pictures in next post

🛒 Get your own Pharaoh Mask

#Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 30 Jun 2024

What to plant by the mailbox? Mailbox plant! Ideal plant for the Brown Thumbs

Kalanchoe - Mother of Thousands, Mailbox plant

Kalanchoe - Mother of Thousands, Mailbox plant

Kalanchoe - Mother of Thousands, Mailbox plant

Kalanchoe - Mother of Thousands, Mailbox plant

📬 What to plant by the mailbox? Mailbox plant! Ideal plant for the Brown Thumbs 👍🏾
  • 🚩 Kalanchoe plants are often called Mother of Thousands or the Mailbox plant - and guess why?
  • 🚩 Kalanchoe is the most convenient plant that will grow even by your mailbox! It requires no care, tolerates almost any conditions.
  • 🚩 Very fast growing, drought tolerant small perennial.
  • 🚩 The young plantlets which grow along the leaf edges are easily dislodged to become new plants and can be found in profusion around the base of the adult plant. Hence the name: Mother of Thousands. You will have as many of these tough cookies as you want!
  • 🚩 Perfect houseplant.
  • 🚩 Spectacular bloomer.


🛒 Shop kalanchoe varieties

#Nature_Wonders

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 29 Jun 2024

How to get big shade tree in one season with an ice cream on it? Its real!

Ice Cream Bean Inga

Ice Cream Bean Inga

Ice Cream Bean Inga

Ice Cream Bean Inga

Ice Cream Bean Inga fruit

Ice Cream Bean Inga fruit

Ice Cream Bean Inga tree

Ice Cream Bean Inga tree

🍧 How to get big shade tree in one season with an ice cream on it? It's real!
  • 🍦 Ice Cream Bean Inga is the ultimate fast-growing, shade-providing fruit tree with an irresistible twist! It not only transforms your yard into a cool, inviting oasis in record time but also produces fruit that kids (and adults!) can't get enough of!
  • 🍦 Picture this: pods up to a foot long, bursting with sweet, creamy pulp that tastes exactly like ice cream!
  • 🍦 Craving instant shade? Perfect for those sunny spots where you need shade, the Ice Cream Bean Inga rapidly unfurls its lush, umbrella-like canopy, creating a natural, leafy retreat in just one season!
  • 🍦 With its delectable treats and speedy growth, this extraordinary tree is sure to be the highlight of your garden - where shade and sweetness meet!


🛒 Get shade with ice cream benefit

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts #Nature_Wonders #How_to

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 27 Jun 2024

Why cannon balls grow on a tree with mollusk open mouth

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree with fruit

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree with fruit

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flower

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flower

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree fruit

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree fruit

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flower

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flower

🔮 Why cannon balls grow on a tree with mollusk open mouth.
  • 🐙 Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree - is a rare tree from South America with a bizarre fruit and flowers, that can be seen only in tropical botanic gardens.
  • 🐙 It is a very tall tree with large, elliptical leaves
  • 🐙 The pinkish-red flowers, strongly scented at night, grow directly from the trunk near the base of the crown, and not on the branches. They look like exotic mollusks! They have a complex structure with numerous stamens that resemble sea anemones or other marine life. The flower is often described as looking like an open mouth or a sea creature.
  • 🐙 The tree blooms year round. Flowers are followed by large, globular fruit, up to 8 inches in diameter, resembling cannonballs, hence the name "Cannonball Tree." They remain on the tree for many months. On older trees there may be dozens of fruits and flower clusters at the same time!
  • 🐙 When the ripe fruits fall from the tree, they can make a loud, cannonball-like noise upon hitting the ground due to their size and weight.


🛒 Shop rare plants

#Fun_Facts #Trees #Nature_Wonders

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 27 Jun 2024

More pictures of the Cannonball Tree for the previous post

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree fruit

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree fruit

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flowers

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flowers

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flower

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flower

More pictures of the Cannonball Tree for the previous post 👆

#Fun_Facts #Trees #Nature_Wonders

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 24 Jun 2024

Would you like a Bat Head?

Bat Head Lily, Bat Flower, Devil Flower or Tacca Lily

Would you like a Bat Head?

The Bat Head Lily we mentioned earlier - is blooming again!

🙈 Bat Head Lily, Bat Flower, Devil Flower or Tacca Lily - is one of the most exotic and bizarre flowers along with Amorphophallus, Sausage Tree and Clitoria.

🛒 Shop Bat Head Lily Tacca

#Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 19 Jun 2024

Breaking news: flower smells of freshly baked bread! It smells so good, you want to eat it!

Vallaris glabra - Bread Flower

🍞 Breaking news: flower smells of freshly baked bread! It smells so good, you want to eat it!
  • 🍔 Vallaris glabra - Bread Flower - is one of the most impressive tropical vines that is very popular in Thailand and other South-East Asia countries.
  • 🍔 Moderate growth woody climber with clusters of freshly-baked-bread fragrant white flowers.
  • 🍔 Easy to care and tolerates wide range of conditions. It can be trained as a compact bush and is good for container culture.
  • 🍔 Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.
  • 🍔 Relatively cold hardy, mild frost doesn't do any damage to it, even large tropical leaves stay glossy, green and healthy.
  • 🍔 It is very vigorous grower that can create nice privacy hedge or cover a large fence.


❓ Have you smelled the Bread Flower? Did you like the fragrance? Share in comments👇

🛒 Shop tropical vines

#Hedges_with_benefits #Nature_Wonders #Butterfly_Plants

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 18 Jun 2024

Medusas Head Flower - from Greek mythology

Strophanthus preussii - Poison Arrow Vine, Medusa Flower

Strophanthus preussii - Poison Arrow Vine, Medusa Flower

Strophanthus preussii - Poison Arrow Vine, Medusa Flower

Strophanthus preussii - Poison Arrow Vine, Medusa Flower

Strophanthus preussii - Poison Arrow Vine, Medusa Flower

Medusa's Head Flower - from Greek mythology...
  • 🐙 Strophanthus preussii - Poison Arrow Vine, Medusa Flower - has an intriguing flower!
  • 🐙 The faintly fragrant flowers have long, slender, and curly petals that resemble the snakes on Medusa's head from Greek mythology, giving it the nickname "Medusa Flower." The petals often extend and twist dramatically, creating an eye-catching appearance. The tips of the petals become narrowed and elongated, forming a twisting, sticky string that dangles down from the flower and touches lower leaves.
  • 🐙 The flowers are brightly colored, often in shades of white, yellow, and red, which can attract pollinators and add to their striking visual appeal.
  • 🐙 As suggested by another common name "Poison Arrow Vine," parts of the plant contain toxic compounds. Historically, the seeds were used by some African tribes to poison the tips of arrows for hunting. This gives the plant a certain mystique...
  • 🐙 Interesting pollination mechanism: the elaborate design of the flowers is not just for show; it plays a role in the plant's pollination strategy. The intricate structure can help ensure that pollinators come into contact with the reproductive parts of the flower, thereby facilitating cross-pollination.
  • 🐙 Blooms almost year around


❓ What bizarre plants do you have in your collection? Share in comments👇

🛒 Order Medusa Flower

#Hedges_with_benefits #Nature_Wonders #Butterfly_Plants

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 17 Jun 2024

Hamburger Bean:

Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean

Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean seeds

Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean seeds

Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean flower

Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean flower

🍔 Hamburger Bean: how to cover a fence fast with an exotic vine: Jade Vine here.
  • 🟡 Mucuna sloanei - Yellow Jade Vine or Hamburger Bean. You saw the Sea-Green Jade vine in our earlier post. This one is lemon yellow.
  • 🟡 It is much more hardier than the Sea-Green variety and is super fast growing!
  • 🟡 This is a high-climbing woody vine native to rain forests of South America.
  • 🟡 It has long, rope-like stalks hanging below the forest canopy where night-flying bats can easily access the fragrant blossoms.
  • 🟡 The name Brown Hamburger Bean is because of the beautiful seeds (looking like little hamburgers) that are often collected and polished by natives and made into lovely necklaces and bracelets.


🛒 Shop Jade Vines

#Nature_Wonders #Hedges_with_benefits

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 14 Jun 2024

Stop! Dont touch! Just smell that magic fragrance

Easter Lily Cactus (Echinopsis sp)

🌵 Stop! Don't touch! Just smell that magic fragrance... 😭
  • 💠 Easter Lily Cactus (Echinopsis sp) is native to Brazil and Argentina. It is a globular cactus that produces splendid night-blooming, white fragrant flowers up to 10" long!
  • 💠 Big, white or pink, fragrant blooms.
  • 💠 Flowers open at night or early morning, creating a magical experience.
  • 💠 Blooms last only a day or two, making each one special.
  • 💠 Cool shapes: unique, spiny, ribbed bodies come in different forms and sizes.
  • 💠 Easy Care: low-maintenance, very little water, lots of sunlight, and well-draining soil. Adapted to survive in harsh, dry environments, it can take both drought (obviously - cactus) and rainy seasons (like we have in Florida).
  • 💠 Great for water-saving gardens and container culture.
  • 💠 Many species and hybrids to collect, with a range of colors and forms.


❓ What other cactus species with fragrant flowers do you know? Share in comments👇

🛒 Order online

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden

🏵 TopTropicals
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