Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 28 Jun 2025

Get the Red Jade look without the fuss: cold-hardy Dwarf Red Jade Vine

Dwarf Red Jade Vine blooming

Dwarf Red Jade Vine blooming

Dwarf Red Jade Vine blooming

Dwarf Red Jade Vine blooming

💃 Get the Red Jade look without the fuss: cold-hardy Dwarf Red Jade Vine

  • 🔥 Love the stunning, fiery blooms of the famous Red Jade Vine (Mucuna benettii) but live outside the tropics?
  • Its cousin - Dwarf Red Jade Vine - is tougher, easier to grow, and just as jaw-dropping, and delivers the same dazzling display of blazing red flower chains - without the high-maintenance, ultra-tropical demands.
  • 🔥 Camptosema grandiflora - Dwarf Red Jade Vine, Cuitelo, or Rooster's Crest - this Brazilian superstar brings cascading chains of bright red blooms that look like flames frozen in mid-air.
  • 🔥 Unlike the ultra-tropical and finicky Mucuna benettii, this cousin is tougher, easier to grow, and just as jaw-dropping. It thrives in full to partial sun, forgives a little drought, and even shrugs off light frost. Blooming in fall and winter, it gives your garden a fiery finale when everything else starts to fade.
  • 🔥 Got a pergola or arbor? Perfect. The hanging flower clusters will light up the space like a botanical chandelier. Just prune it hard in spring and feed it well, and it will thank you with a blooming spectacle year after year.
  • 🔥 If you've been dreaming of the iconic Red Jade Vine but thought it was out of reach - this is your sign.


🛒 Get all the wow of Red Jade Vine - without the worry

📚 Learn more:


Camptosema grandiflora, Dwarf Red Jade Vine - my favorite plant

#Nature_Wonders #Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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Date: 16 Jun 2025

Cashmere bouquet - smells like royal bouquet and grows like a weed

Clerodendrum bungei - Glory Bower, Cashmere bouquet

💐 The shrub that smells like a royal bouquet and grows like a weed?

💐 Clerodendrum bungei - Glory Bower, Cashmere bouquet, fills the air with sweet perfume and bursts of pink blooms that butterflies love. Its dark leaves add contrast, and it grows fast - maybe too fast - so plant it in a pot or tucked-away spot unless you want a fragrant takeover!

🛒 Add Clerodendrum bungei to your garden today - before it grows away!

📚 Learn more:
#Hedges_with_benefits #Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Butterfly_Plants

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Date: 10 Jun 2025

Bleeding Heart Vine surprised everyone this year!

Bleeding Heart Vine - Clerodendrum thomsoniae

💞 Bleeding Heart Vine surprised everyone this year!

  • ❣️ Bleeding Heart Vine (Clerodendrum thomsoniae) is not just a winter bloomer! Despite the common belief that it blooms only in winter, this beauty actually flowers year-round in warm climates, putting on a continuous display of red and white "hearts". It bloomed in winter, then in spring, and now - it's a summertime - it is still full of flowers!
  • ❣️ The "bleeding heart" look comes from the striking contrast between the white calyx and the deep red flower inside - like a heart bursting with color.
  • ❣️ It's a vigorous vine, perfect for trellises, arbors, or containers. It can even be trained as a shrub!
  • ❣️ Grows best in bright filtered light or partial sun, and appreciates regular watering - but it's not fussy.
  • ❣️ Pollinator magnet! The blooms attract hummingbirds and butterflies, adding motion and life to your garden.
  • ❣️ Tough and tropical - i'’s hardy, low maintenance, and stays evergreen in frost-free areas.
  • ❣️ It's not shy, not seasonal, and definitely not boring!


📚 Learn more from previous posts:



🛒Get your own Bleeding Heart

#Butterfly_Plants #Shade_Garden #Fun_Facts #Hedges_with_benefits #Container_Garden

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Date: 7 Jun 2025

This is what we plant for a compact colorful hedge solution

Thunbergia erecta - Kings Mantle

💜 This is what we plant for a compact colorful hedge solution

  • 💜 Thunbergia erecta - Kings Mantle - is currently in full bloom in our garden, showcasing its vibrant flowers that last almost year-round.
  • 💜One of our favorite flowering shrubs, it's compact, easy-going, and perfect for adding a splash of color.
  • 💜Available in blue, white, and even variegated lavender flowers, King's Mantle thrives in both sun and filtered light, with its dense, manageable habit making it ideal for low-growing hedges or garden specimens.
  • 💜It attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, and with simple pruning, it stays under 4 feet while producing a profusion of blooms.
  • 💜Hardy to 30°F and suitable for USDA Zones 9-11, it's also great for container gardening in colder regions.


🛒 Shop Thunbergias - colorful flowers for sun and shade

📚 Learn more:


#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants
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Date: 3 Jun 2025

Top 20 plants for a Butterfly Haven

Best plants for a Butterfly Haven Garden

Best plants for a Butterfly Haven Garden

Top 20 plants for a Butterfly Haven



🏆 The most spectacular butterfly plants for the previous post 👆

*️⃣Acacia farnesiana, Sweet Mimosa
*️⃣ Antigonon leptopus - Mexican Coral Vine
*️⃣ Aristolochia - Pelican Flower, Dutchmans Pipe
*️⃣ Caesalpinia - Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise
*️⃣ Calliandra - Powderpuff
*️⃣ Cassia (Senna) - especially yellow-flowered varieties
*️⃣ Clerodendrums - all varieties
*️⃣ Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea
*️⃣ Dombeya - Tropical Hydrangea
*️⃣ Jatropha - Coral Plant
*️⃣ Justicia - Brazilian Plume
*️⃣ Lonchocarpus violaceus - Lilac Tree
*️⃣ Lonicera - Honeysuckle
*️⃣ Mansoa alliacea - Garlic Vine
*️⃣ Passiflora - Passion Vine
*️⃣ Petrea - Queens Wreath
*️⃣ Pyrostegia venusta - Flame Vine
*️⃣ Quisqualis Indica - single flower
*️⃣ Senecio confusus - Mexican flame vine
*️⃣ Tecoma and Tecomaria

🛒 Transform your yard into a Butterfly Haven with exotic plants

📚 Learn more:


#Butterfly_Plants
Five best butterfly attractors for a Southern garden

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