Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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This giant red stared right back at me. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

This giant red stared right back at me

Disocactus ackermanni, Red Orchid Cactus, Jungle Cactus

👹 This giant red stared right back at me
  • 🌺 Disocactus ackermanni, also called the Red Orchid Cactus, or Jungle Cactus - is one of those plants that surprises you even when you already know it well. It grows like a tropical fern, with flat, leaflike stems that hang and drape from a basket. Most of the year it looks calm and green. Then, without much warning, it opens a single huge, bright red flower that can reach up to 6 inches wide. The color is intense, almost glowing, and the bloom only lasts a short time, which makes it even more special.
  • 🌺 Despite being a cactus, it behaves nothing like a desert plant. This species is native to the tropical forests of Mexico, where it grows as an epiphyte in trees. It prefers shade or filtered light, and it enjoys regular watering. No spines, no trouble, just a very unusual growth habit and a spectacular bloom.
  • 🌺 The plant usually flowers from spring through summer, sometimes offering more than one flush. When it does, it always steals attention, and it is one of those plants visitors immediately point at and ask about. This makes it a favorite among collectors of epiphytic cacti and unusual hanging plants.
  • 🌺 If you grow it in a hanging basket and give it bright shade, humidity, and consistent moisture, it rewards you with one of the most striking red flowers you will ever see!


🛒 Add Red Orchid Cactus to your collection

📚 Learn more:
Red Orchid Cactus puts out the biggest bloom show
More epiphytic jungle cacti:
Epiphyllum oxypetalum - Queen of the Night
Pseudorhipsalis (Wittia) amazonica - Blue Flame
Epiphyllum guatemalense Monstrosa - Orchid Cactus, Curly Locks

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

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Do you have Shampoo Ginger in your garden? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Do you have Shampoo Ginger in your garden?

Zingiber Zerumbet, Shampoo Ginger, Pine Cone Ginger

Zingiber Zerumbet, Shampoo Ginger, Pine Cone Ginger

💄 Do you have Shampoo Ginger in your garden?

💄Pine Cone Ginger (Zingiber Zerumbet), is called Shampoo Ginger due to its unique, milky substance found in the cones. If you squeeze these bright red cones, a fragrant, milky liquid seeps out - traditionally used in Asia and Hawaii as a natural shampoo. Even today, you’ll find it in commercial shampoos.

🛒 Grow your own Natural Shampoo Ginger

📚 Learn more:

#Shade_Garden #Container_Garden #Remedies #Fun_Facts

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Why gardeners are swapping white Butterfly Ginger for this yellow giant. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Why gardeners are swapping white Butterfly Ginger for this yellow giant

Hedychium flavum x coronarium, Yellow Butterfly Ginger, Nardo Ginger Lily

Why gardeners are swapping white Butterfly Ginger for this yellow giant

Hedychium flavum x coronarium, Yellow Butterfly Ginger, Nardo Ginger Lily - this variety grow fast and much bigger and vigorous than classic White Butterfly Ginger. More flowers - more fragrance!

What makes it especially nice:
  • If you love fragrance in your garden, this plant delivers - the scent from the flower spikes can be wonderfully strong in warm evenings.
  • The yellow-toned flowers are a subtle variation on the classic white butterfly ginger, so you get the same delightful form and perfume but with a twist of color.
  • Bold foliage gives a tropical look - great for adding height, texture and a sense of lushness.
  • Because it grows somewhat larger and more vigorous, it can create a dramatic feature rather than just a filler plant. Make sure you have enough room, especially if planted near other plants.
  • Because the flowers last only a day each (in the white butterfly ginger, each flower lasts about one day) according to one source, you’ll see new blooms and old blooms in succession rather than long-lasting individual flowers.
  • This yellow-butterfly ginger hybrid ticks all the boxes of a showy, fragrant, tropical-style plant with personality. Give it the space, moisture and good soil it craves, and you’ll be rewarded with lush leaves and clusters of softly yellow, scented blooms that draw in attention - and sniffers - all summer long!


🛒 Plant Perfumed Butterfly Ginger

📚Learn more:

#Shade_Garden #Perfume_Plants
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Tacca wants to be a cat! And everyone loves cats! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Tacca wants to be a cat! And everyone loves cats!

Tacca wants to be a cat! And everyone loves cats! Tacca wants to be a cat! And everyone loves cats! Tacca wants to be a cat! And everyone loves cats!
🐈‍⬛ Tacca wants to be a cat! And everyone loves cats!

That’s probably the real evolutionary secret no botanist will admit! Those whiskers? Pure marketing genius from nature.
Cats had it figured out first — look mysterious, add long elegant whiskers, and everyone falls in love.
Tacca just took notes and said, “Alright, I can work with that!”

So now we have a tropical plant that looks half orchid, half bat, and just enough cat to make people stop, smile, and want one for their collection!

  • Tacca is also called the Bat Lily or Devil Flower. This tropical wonder grows bat-shaped wings and foot-long whiskers. The black form (Tacca chantrieri) looks straight out of a gothic dream, while the white one (Tacca nivea) is ghost-like and elegant.

  • Some of our plants are blooming right now in the nursery — true Halloween magic! Blooms are delicate and may not travel, but the plants are strong and will flower again soon in your care.

  • Tacca colors: Black, White, Green:

Tacca nivea - White Tacca
Tacca chantrieri - Black Tacca
Tacca leontopetaloides - Green Tacca

📚 Learn more:

🛒 Add Taccas - Bat Lilies to your collection

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

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