Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date:

How to get a mini flamboyant look in a small yard. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How to get a mini flamboyant look in a small yard

Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise, Pride of Barbados, Peacock Flower

🔥 How to get a mini flamboyant look in a small yard
  • 🔥 Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise, Pride of Barbados, Peacock Flower, or Flower Fence - is the national flower of Barbados, and for good reason!
  • 🔥 Why everyone is planting this butterfly magnet
  • 🔥 It puts on a show of fiery red, orange, yellow, or pink blossoms that look like miniature flamboyant trees.
  • 🔥 Flowers appear almost year-round, making it one of the longest-blooming shrubs.
  • 🔥 A true butterfly magnet - your garden will be full of wings!
  • 🔥 Compact, heat- and drought-tolerant, and low-maintenance.
  • 🔥 Available in different colors - red-orange, yellow, pink - so you can choose your favorite splash.


🛒 Get your own Dwarf Poinciana

📚 Learn more:

#Butterfly_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

What flowers do NOT attract bees? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What flowers do NOT attract bees?

Butterfly on a flower that doesn't attract bees

❌ What flowers do NOT attract bees?

Most tropical flowers bring in pollinators, and bees are usually first in line. But what if you’d rather avoid them? Maybe you’re allergic, or just don’t want bees buzzing around. Good news: some flowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, or even flies - but not bees.
  • 👉 Quick rules:

  • ✔️ Night-blooming + strong fragrance = moths or bats, not bees.
  • ✔️ Red tubular flowers with little scent = hummingbirds or butterflies, not bees.
  • ✔️ Rotten or fermented smell = flies, not bees.
  • ✔️ Carnivorous plants = trap insects, no bee nectar.


1. Night-blooming, fragrant - moth and bat flowers

Bees forage by day, so many night-fragrant flowers skip them.
  • ▫️Brugmansia - Angel’s Trumpet - big, hanging blooms, moth and bat pollinated.
  • ▫️Cestrum nocturnum - Night-blooming Jasmine - powerful night scent, moths only.
  • ▫️Hylocereus Dragon Fruit - huge cactus flowers, bats and moths.
  • ▫️Brunfelsia - Lady of the Night - sweet fragrance at dusk, no bee interest.


    • 2. Hummingbird and butterfly flowers

    Bees don’t see red well. Tubular reds, oranges, and yellows usually go to birds and butterflies.
  • ▫️Hibiscus - hummingbirds and butterflies visit, bees less so.
  • ▫️Heliconis and Gingers - designed for hummingbird beaks, bold tubes are for birds, not bees.
  • ▫️More good picks: Ruellia, Sanchezia, Aeschynanthus, Aphelandra, Anisacanthus, Cuphea, Fuchsia, Iochroma, Justicia, Lonicera, Hamelia, Russelia, Odontonema, Tecomaria, Bougainvillea.


    • 3. 🐱 Fly-pollinated oddballs

    Some flowers smell bad to us but irresistible to flies.
  • ▫️Amorphophallus (Voodoo Lily) - rotting meat scent.
  • ▫️Tacca (Bat Head Lily) - spooky black flowers, fly-pollinated.
  • ▫️Stapelia (Carrion Flower) - also fly-pollinated.
  • ▫️Aristolochia (Pelican Flower) - giant, bizarre fly-traps.


    • 4. 🌸 Specialized orchids

    Not all orchids rely on bees. Many use moths, butterflies, or beetles instead.
  • ▫️Vanilla orchid - its natural bee pollinator is absent in most regions, so no bee appeal elsewhere.
  • ▫️Brassavola nodosa and others - open at night for moths, not bees.


    • 5. 🕷 Bonus: carnivorous curiosities

    Carnivorous plants don’t offer nectar. They trap insects instead, so bees stay away.
  • ▫️Nepenthes (Pitcher Plant) - uses pitchers of liquid to lure and digest insects.


These flowers keep the beauty, fragrance, and wildlife appeal - but without making your garden a bee hotspot.

🛒 Explore butterfly attractors

#Butterfly_Plants #How_to #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Rare Orchid Tree you may never find again and everyone wants. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Rare Orchid Tree you may never find again and everyone wants

Bauhinia madagascariensis - Red Butterfly Orchid Tree

🌺 Rare Orchid Tree you may never find again and everyone wants
  • 🌺 Bauhinia madagascariensis, the Red Butterfly Orchid Tree, is one of the most dazzling flowering trees you can grow.
  • 🌺 Its scarlet blooms open like bright butterflies, each petal painted with a golden stripe at the base. When in full bloom, the tree looks alive with fluttering wings.
  • 🌺 It's fast-growing, can be kept as a small tree or a large bush, and thrives in full sun. A rare orchid tree species and a true collector’s prize. Grow it in a pot or in the ground.


🛒 The butterfly tree of Madagascar will bloom 365 days a year for you

📚 Learn more:

#Trees #Butterfly_Plants

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

The sunny show-off hummingbirds love. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

The sunny show-off hummingbirds love

Caesalpinia mexicana - Mexican Bird of Paradise

🌞 The sunny show-off hummingbirds love
  • 🌞 Caesalpinia mexicana - Mexican Bird of Paradise - the sunny show-off you didn't know you needed. Many gardeners have popular and more common common Bird of Paradise Caesalpinia pulcherrima, with red flowers, but this one is rare in gardens.
  • 🌞 While most Bird of Paradise plants rely on looks alone, this one ups the game with fragrant blooms. From spring through summer, it's covered in butter-yellow flowers that stand out against soft, feathery foliage. Hummingbirds love it, and when the blooms fade, it makes woody seed pods that snap open like nature's fireworks.
  • 🌞 It's native to northern Mexico, which means it handles heat, sun, and dry conditions without a fuss. You can grow it as a compact shrub or let it stretch into a small tree. Either way, it’s easygoing, low-maintenance, and beautiful all season.


🛒 Attract hummingbirds to your garden

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals