Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 8 Nov 2025

It smells like bananas but its a magnolia!

Magnolia figo, Banana Magnolia

🍌 It smells like bananas… but it’s a magnolia!
  • 🌸 Magnolia figo, or Banana Magnolia - is in bloom! It is now filling the air with its unbelievably sweet fragrance! Its creamy, cup-shaped flowers smell like fresh bananas mixed with fine perfume - you have to smell it to believe it.
  • 🌸 This compact evergreen shrub grows only about 5-6 ft in a container, making it perfect for small gardens, patios, or even near an entryway where you can enjoy the scent up close. Glossy green leaves, elegant shape, and that irresistible aroma - it’s pure charm in a pot.
  • 🌸 Cold tolerant, heat tolerant, sun or shade - this little magnolia doesn’t ask for much but gives so much back.


🛒 Plant Banana Magnolia

📚 Learn more:

#Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Trees

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Date: 2 Nov 2025

Winter flowering trees and shrubs - all you need for winter color in your garden

🌺 Winter flowering trees and shrubs - all you need for winter color in your garden.

Many snowbirds ask what to plant when they’re here just for the season. The answer is simple: go for trees and shrubs that bloom in winter. Fall is the perfect time to plant them, so your garden bursts with flowers once the cool season arrives.

📱 We put everything in one place for you!
Check out this single YouTube Post with all our favorite winter-blooming trees and shrubs - your shortcut to a colorful garden this season:
http://youtube.com/post/UgkxRWCHqNDqrRIIwK_BAeWjfi3spnZK0EbA?si=LbNv_RhkKGkc0rxv
Save it for later and share it with your garden friends.

🌸 Videos on Winter flowering trees and shrubs:
👉 See more...

🛒 Want to grow your own winter color garden?

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Date: 21 Oct 2025

Compact Bauhinias - everblooming container trees

Compact Bauhinias - everblooming container trees

Compact Bauhinias - everblooming container trees

🌈 Compact Bauhinias - everblooming container trees

📸 Pictures for the previous post, Bauhinias:
  • ▫️Bauhinia madagascariensis - Red Dwarf Orchid Tree. Blooms from winter through fall, up to 10 months a year. The most cold-hardy of all.
  • ▫️Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree. A large tree in the ground, but compact in pots if trimmed. Grafted trees flower right away. Winter bloomer, cold hardy to light frost.
  • ▫️Bauhinia tomentosa - Yellow Orchid Tree. Flowers from Winter through Summer, cold hardy to light frost.
  • ▫️Bauhinia monandra - Napoleon's Plume Orchid Tree. Almost everblooming with the longest flowering period (less cold hardy than the first three).
  • ▫️Bauhinia acuminata - Dwarf White Orchid Tree. Blooms from summer through winter (also less cold hardy than the first three).


🛒 Explore Bauhinias (Orchid Trees)

#Container_Garden #Trees

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Date: 21 Oct 2025

Cassias - colorful flowering trees

Cassias - colorful flowering trees
🌈 Cassias - colorful flowering trees

📸 Pictures for the previous post, Cassias:

Cassia bicapsularis - Butterfly Bush
Cassia x natalensis - Rainbow Cassia
Cassia grandis- Red Cassia
Cassia didymobotrya- Popcorn Cassia, similar to Senna alata - Empress Candles
Cassia x nodosa - Pink Shower
Cassia roxburghii - Ceylon Senna
Cassia fistula - Golden Shower
Cassia javanica - Apple Blossom Tree

🛒 Explore Cassia trees

#Trees

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Date: 21 Oct 2025

Cassia vs Bauhinia: which is better as an everblooming container tree?

Cassia vs Bauhinia: which is better as an everblooming container tree?

🌈 Cassia vs Bauhinia: which is better as an everblooming container tree?
  • 🌸 Cassia (Senna) trees are very popular flowering trees - fast growing, free-flowering, relatively cold hardy, and they love the summer heat. Cassias come in several colors: yellow, orange, pink, red, and rainbow. Rainbow varieties (which are hybrids between yellow and pink cassias) are the most popular thanks to their multicolor blooms with swirls of yellow, pink, red, and orange. But while Rainbow Cassia is a spectacular flowering tree for southern gardens, is it a good choice for a container when you want color on your patio or pool deck?
  • 🌸 Some yellow-flowering cassias make attractive bushes that bloom most of the year and stay compact, so they can be grown as container specimens:

    • Cassia didymobotrya- Popcorn Cassia
    Senna alata - Empress Candles
    Cassia fistula - Golden Shower (a compact size winter blooming tree)
  • 🌸 When it comes to Rainbow or pink cassias such as Cassia javanica - Apple Blossom Tree or Cassia grandis- Red Cassia and other species and hybrids (Cassia marginata - Rainbow Shower Tree, Cassia roxburghii - Ceylon Senna, Cassia x nodosa - Pink Shower), these are usually more vigorous trees that may take several years to bloom. Their flowering season lasts from a few weeks to a couple of months. These trees grow moderately fast but typically need to reach about 10 feet before they start flowering.
  • 🌸 So, the answer is: if you want rich, deep color year-round from a container tree, go with Bauhinias - Orchid Trees. Most varieties grow well in pots, stay compact, and reach blooming maturity within just one season. The following varieties are everblooming and can produce flowers for up to 10 months of the year:

  • ▫️Bauhinia madagascariensis - Red Dwarf Orchid Tree. Blooms from winter through fall, up to 10 months a year. The most cold-hardy of all.
  • ▫️Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree. A large tree in the ground, but compact in pots if trimmed. Grafted trees flower right away. Winter bloomer, cold hardy to light frost.
  • ▫️Bauhinia tomentosa - Yellow Orchid Tree. Flowers from Winter through Summer, cold hardy to light frost.
  • ▫️Bauhiniamonandra - Napoleon's Plume Orchid Tree. Almost everblooming with the longest flowering period (less cold hardy than the first three).
  • ▫️Bauhinia acuminata - Dwarf White Orchid Tree. Blooms from summer through winter (also less cold hardy than the first three).


🛒 Explore Cassia trees and Bauhinias (Orchid Trees)

📚 Learn more:

#Container_Garden #Trees #How_to

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Date: 17 Oct 2025

The tree that smells like roses and candy

🌹 The tree that smells like roses and candy

  • 🌹 Radermachera Kunming - Dwarf Tree Jasmine. This rare Thai beauty is small but mighty. Its creamy-pinkish blooms release a powerful scent that mixes roses, candy, and fine perfume - you can smell it from yards away!

  • 🌹 The leaves have a graceful, fountain-like shape, and the plant stays compact and full, perfect for pots or small gardens. Relatively cold hardy, everbloomer.

  • 🌹 In Thailand, it’s a symbol of peace and progress, and locals even use the flowers in traditional remedies as a natural relaxant and aphrodisiac. A true gem for anyone who loves fragrance and charm in one small tree.


🛒 Get your own Sacred Tree Jasmine for Peace and Love

📚 Learn more:
Smells like roses, but not a rose

#Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Trees

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Date: 4 Oct 2025

The secret tree behind Chanel No 5 perfume

Ylang-Ylang (Cananga odorata), Chanel No 5 Tree

👑 The secret tree behind Chanel No 5 perfume
  • ⭐️ Ylang-Ylang (Cananga odorata, Chanel No 5 Tree) is the tree behind the worlds most famous fragrance - Chanel No. 5. Its golden, star-like flowers drip from the branches with a scent so powerful you can smell it from yards away.
  • ⭐️ Native to Indonesia and Southeast Asia, this tropical evergreen can reach impressive heights, yet it blooms almost year-round, covering itself in clusters of perfumed flowers. This is one of the most beautiful, fast growing and beneficial flowering trees for Southern landscapes.
  • ⭐️The fragrance shifts as the blooms age, from green to lemon yellow to deep golden, each stage producing an intoxicating scent prized in perfumery and aromatherapy. Even without flowers, its tiered branches and glossy leaves create a striking, almost Christmas-tree effect.
  • ⭐️For smaller spaces, a dwarf form, Cananga fruticosa, brings the same beauty and scent in patio-friendly size. Whether towering or compact, Ylang-Ylang is more than a plant - it's living perfume in your garden.


🛒 Get your own Chanel #5 Tree

📚 Learn more:

📱 What is Chanel No5 made of? The story of Ylang-Ylang

🔽The Ylang-Ylang - Queen of the Perfume World - book - PDF file download

#Perfume_Plants #Trees

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Date: 23 Sep 2025

8 best flowering trees that will bloom for you in Winter

Royal poinciana - Flamboyant tree, Delonix regia (top) Tabebuia impetiginosa - Dwarf Pink Tabebuia (left) Tabebuia chrysotricha - Dwarf Golden Tabebuia (right) Bauhinia variegata - Pink Butterfly Orchid Tree (center top left) Koelreuteria paniculata

Royal poinciana - Flamboyant tree, Delonix regia (top) Tabebuia impetiginosa - Dwarf Pink Tabebuia (left) Tabebuia chrysotricha - Dwarf Golden Tabebuia (right) Bauhinia variegata - Pink Butterfly Orchid Tree (center top left) Koelreuteria paniculata - Golden Rain Tree (center top right) Callistemon citrinus - Weeping Red Bottlebrush (center bottom left) Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree (center bottom right) Jacaranda mimosifolia (acutifolia) (bottom)

💐 8 best flowering trees that will bloom for you in Winter

📸 Pictures for the previous post:

Royal poinciana - Flamboyant tree, Delonix regia (top)
Tabebuia impetiginosa - Dwarf Pink Tabebuia (left)
Tabebuia chrysotricha - Dwarf Golden Tabebuia (right)
Bauhinia variegata - Pink Butterfly Orchid Tree (center top left)
Koelreuteria paniculata - Golden Rain Tree (center top right)
Callistemon citrinus - Weeping Red Bottlebrush (center bottom left)
Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree (center bottom right)
Jacaranda mimosifolia (acutifolia) (bottom)

🛒 Plant a tree now for winter flowers

#Trees #Discover

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Date: 23 Sep 2025

Eight most spectacular winter blooming trees

Eight most spectacular winter blooming trees

💐 Eight most spectacular winter blooming trees

🍁 Fall is the right time to get winter bloomers in the ground. Plant them now, and by the time the cool season settles in, you’ll have flowers to enjoy. We get a lot of snowbirds asking us what to plant when they’re here for just the season, and the answer is simple: pick trees and shrubs that show off in winter!

🏆 8 best flowering trees that will bloom for you in Winter
  • 💐1. Royal poinciana - Flamboyant tree, Delonix regia

    • Known for fiery red-orange blooms, the flamboyant tree creates a spectacular canopy. Even in the cooler season, mature specimens may flower heavily in warm climates.

👉 Learn more
  • 💐2. Tabebuia chrysotricha - Dwarf Golden Tabebuia

    • One of the brightest winter bloomers, this small tree bursts into golden-yellow flowers on bare branches, turning the whole crown into a glowing dome.

👉 Learn more
  • 💐3. Tabebuia impetiginosa - Dwarf Pink Tabebuia

    • A smaller tabebuia with trumpet-shaped pink to lavender blooms. Its leafless winter display is striking and well-suited for compact gardens.

👉 Learn more
  • 💐4. Jacaranda mimosifolia (acutifolia)

    • Famous for its lavender-blue clouds of trumpet flowers, Jacaranda puts on a dramatic show even when most trees are bare. Perfect for lining streets or as a specimen tree.

👉 Learn more
  • 💐5. Koelreuteria paniculata (bipinnata) - Golden Rain Tree

    • This tree stands out in winter with clusters of golden flowers followed by papery lantern-like seed pods. It’s ornamental in every stage, even when not in full bloom.

👉 Learn more
  • 💐6. Callistemon citrinus - Weeping Red Bottlebrush

    • Its crimson brush-like flowers appear in flushes during the cooler months. This tree is tough, drought-tolerant, and attracts pollinators while keeping color in the winter garden.

👉 Learn more
  • 💐7. Bauhinia variegata - Pink Butterfly Orchid Tree

    • Soft pink to lavender blooms open on leafless branches in the cool season. The butterfly-shaped petals make this tree both graceful and eye-catching.

👉 Learn more

💐8. Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree
A sterile hybrid that doesn’t produce seed, this tree is prized for its huge magenta flowers that cover bare branches in winter. Rare and highly ornamental, it’s a true collector’s tree.

🛒 Plant a tree now for winter flowers

#Trees #Discover

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Date: 11 Sep 2025

Five small tropical trees that bloom for you all summer

Bauhinia madagascariensis, Brugmansia, Caesalpinia, Hamelia, Plumeria pudica

Bauhinia madagascariensis, Brugmansia, Caesalpinia, Hamelia, Plumeria pudica

🌳 Five small tropical trees that bloom for you all summer

📸 Pictures for the previous post:

🛒 Check out tropical flowering trees

#Trees #Discover

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