Tropical Plants

The Blue Glory Vine produces 2-1/2" wide purple trumpets with yellow throats that are produced freely from spring to fall. A mounding and upright to spreading perennial to small (3-4'H) rambling climber, it is one of our favorite root hardy perennials for adding purple to a semi-shady area of the garden or in containers and it has excellent flower power. The Blue Glory Vine is happy in light shade to partial sun conditions but seems to prefer midday to afternoon shade in hot summer climates. It makes an easy container plant where not hardy. Item# 327

The large, 3-4'' wide, blue to lavender, Hibiscus-like flowers are produced throughout the warmer months of the year to year-round under warm frost free conditions. The Blue Hibiscus, Alyogyne huegelii, is an upright to rounded, naturally evergreen, Australian native shrub that is heat and sunloving and is somewhat drought resistant once well-established. It is fairly adaptable to soil types and moisture as long as they are provided with excellent drainage, otherwise it tends to be fairly short-lived. Full sun is optimal and it can be enjoyed both as a container plant as well as making a nice specimen or informal hedge in the garden and landscape. It is sometimes trained as a tree standard to good effect. Plants tend to be somewhat open and if foliage becomes too sparse or the plants too larger they can be pruned back fairly hard and will put out vigorous new growth and some sources suggest that it flowers best after a good pruning. Item# 12881

Bluish-purple 3" trumpets are borne in succession throughout summer and into fall on this upright to loosely open and spreading shrub-like tropical. The Morning Glory Bush is considered root hardy throughout much of zone 9. Provide your plants with a warm protected site, a well draining soil, and extra protection during hard or extended freezes for the best results. In frost-free climates the Morning Glory Bush can develop into a loose open shrub. Item# 329

2022 Missouri Botanic Garden Plants of Merit selection! One of the most amazingly blue colored flowers in the plant world! This small growing but vigorous annual or tender perennial vine produces loads of brilliant deep blue flowers with recurving and overlapping petals with a white to creamy yellow throat. It can be successfully overwintered but it's easier just to save a few seeds to plant in spring. Item# 9114

Blue dye can be extracted from the blossoms!!

Deep indigo 1/4" blooms adorn the long spike-like bloom stems from spring to frost above the rich green glossy foliage. Blue Porterweed is an intermediate growing Porterweed and has a fairly dense upright habit. An excellent choice for butterfly gardens or in containers. Also known as Blue Snakeweed, Verbena Azul, Cayenne Snakeweed. Item# 330.

Light blue to blue-purple 1/4" wide nectar-rich flowers adorn the tall narrow indeterminate flower spikes from spring to frost to year round under warm tropical conditions. Native to Florida and much of the tropical Americas, Blue Porterweed, Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, has smoother lighter green foliage and generally grows wider than tall whereas the other Blue Porterweed, Stachytarpheta cayennensis or S. urticifolia, has more rugose or quilted deeper green glossier foliage with a typically upright habit. Porterweeds are excellent pollinator plants where they attract a continuous menagerie of aerial acrobats from spring until frost. This a heat and sunloving tropical to tender perennial that can be added to gardens and landscapes or plant them in containers to draw the pollinators in for upclose viewing. Blue Porterweed is also a caterpillar host plant for the Tropical Buckeye butterfly. Item# 12046

Clusters and chains of large 3" wide purple-blue trumpet shaped flowers with contrasting yellow throats are produced throughout much of the growing season and attract larger bees and butterflies as well as the occassional hummingbird. The Blue Sky Vine, Thunbergia grandiflora, is an exceptionally popular tropical vine that is easy, reliable, has excellent flower power and it can be grown as a die-back perennial in zones 8-9 if established early in the growing season (click the "More Details and Growing Info" link or the plant's image to learn more). It may remain evergreen in warm frost free tropical climates where it can flower nearly yearround. The Blue Sky Vine is a heat and sunloving twining vine suitable for metal fences, smaller arbors, and medium to large trellises or other sturdy supports. Provide a well-drained, moderately fertile soil. The Blue Sky Vine can also be enjoyed as an easy and low-maintenance container plant. Item# 1108.

Dense broadly conical 3-4" high spikes of intense sapphire blue tubular flowers open from the bottom upwards with the first flowers to open creating the broad brim of the witches hat. Blue Witches Hat, or Hedgehog Sage, begins flowering in autumn and in areas where it is protected from frosts it can flower throughout winter and into spring. It is a medium to short day flowering plant. This tropical South African member of the mint family can develop into a shrub where winters are freeze and frost free reaching up to 8' high, 3-4' high in a container is more typical. Item# 11750

The widely flaring deep blue-purple fan shaped flowers open from tubular buds, and are very reminiscent of Scaevola or Half-Flower, open singly and in clusters held at the growing tips as well as in the leaf axils attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The 5-lobed flowers of Blue-Lips, Sclerochiton harveyanus, are produced most heavily throughout the warmer months of the year. This is a shade tolerant naturally spreading to scandent (vine-like) evergreen tropical shrub with rounded, glossy deep green foliage. Blue-Lips is considered to be frost resistant but not freeze tolerant and it is easily maintained as a shrub form for containers, including hanging baskets, in and around larger growing shade-loving tropicals in the garden as well as on a shaded porch or patio. Provide it with an average moist, acidic to neutral, well-drained soil in a site that receives at least some cool morning sunlight or filtered sunlight for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 12268

Soft pastel pink with hints of purple 6-8" long trumpets are produced seemingly throughout the year on this smaller growing hybrid Angel's Trumpet with trumpets angled down and sideways versus just the typical straight downward hanging trumpets of most Brugmansia cultivars. Blushing Bride Brugmansia is a compact and smaller growing plant with probably the longest flowering season of any that we currently grow. The smaller habit lends it to use as a magnificent container specimen. Due to its Brugmansia sanguinea parentage we are not yet certain of its cold hardiness in the ground but some suggest zone 8. Provide a moderately fertile, well-drained average moist soil and midday shade for optimum vigor and flowering. Blushing Ballerina is sweetly night fragrant. Item# 11667

The Bolo Bolo has 2-3" wide fuchsia flowers that are centered with a boss of yellow staminodes that sit above the vertical stems in small clusters. The Bolo Bolo may flower throughout the year under warm lush conditions. This African tropical naturally develops into a multi-stemmed shrub with an upright to spreading growth habit. The somewhat fig-like bronze tinged leaves and hairy stems add to its interest along with the unusual bristly seed pods. Easy to grow in full to mostly sunny wet to average moist soils. Item# 11274

The narrow deep green to bluish-green foliage is adorned with broad creamy white vareiegation down the center of each recurving leaf. In typical Airplane Plant fashion, Bonnie produces a multitude of miniature plantlets along creamy white arching stems eventually developing into a dense mass of foliage that is perfectly suited for small to medium-sized hanging baskets and containers. It will do best where it receives bright indirect sunlight in an average moist, fertile soil. We have long been in love with this cultivar not only for the name it shares with our mother but also for its neat dense and unusual habit. Easy and carefree and perfectly suited for shaded porches, patios, atriums, and gardens or enjoy it indoors with bright to medium indirect sunlight. In warm tropical climates Airplane Plants may be utilized as shady groundcovers. Item# 12461

Large dense clusters of deep red bottle-brush shaped flowers are produced throughout the growing season suspended at the ends of the ropelike weeping limbs adorned with deep green glossy narrow foliage. Boyette Weeping Bottlebrush was selected for its continuous display of showy red flowers, where most Weeping Bottlebrush cultivars are spring and fall flowering, and an extreme weeping habit. The nectar and pollen laden flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Moderately drought resistant once well-established. Boyette Weeping Bottlebrush develops into a small evergreen tree whose unusual form lends it to use as a specimen tree in a sunny site with a well-drained soil. Young plants may need staking until they reach the desired height. Item# 12013

Unusual fuchsia colored flowers with exerted purple stamens and pistil are produced throughout the year attracting hummingbirds along with occasional butterflies. Brazilian Candles, Pavonia multiflora, is an exceptionally free flowering, naturally evergreen tropical shrub with an upright to vase shaped growth habit and glossy dark green textured foliage. Provide a well-drained, average moist, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. This rare tropical shrub is sure to be a conversation piece! Item # 544

The 1" long, showy tubular flowers are red to red-orange at their base and quickly fade into bright sunny yellow and are held against a foil of dainty, glossy dark green foliage. The flowers are produced heaviest in fall and spring with intermittent flowers in between. The Brazilian Fuchsia or Firecracker Flower, Justicia rizzinii or now J. floribunda, is a naturally evergreen, small tropical shrub typically growing to up to 2-3' high and potentially as wide. It can be enjoyed as an indoor plant where it is sure to provide a little cheer during the cold dreary winter days in a warm sunny window. The flowers of the Brazilian Fuchsia attract hummingbirds and other pollinators in fall and spring as they migrate through when grown outdoors. Utilize it as a porch or patio plant during the warmer months or in the ground in areas with mild, generally frost free winters like in zone 10 as it is reported to be hardy to brief dips to about 28^oF. Tolerant of full sun to light shade and provide an average moist, well-drained, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. An RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. Item# 12807

Clusters of sunny yellow orchid-like flowers are borne in summer and into fall to yearround under warm tropical conditions on this vigorous twining vine. The Brazilian Golden Orchid Vine, Stigmaphyllon ciliatum, is a naturally evergreen woody twining climbing with dark green arrowhead shaped foliage that has a heart-shaped, or cordate, leaf base and fine bristles along their edges as well as along the sepals. It is not quite as cold hardy as the Yellow Butterfly Vine, Mascagnia macroptera, with which it is easily confused but it has larger flowers. The flowers attract a variety of pollinators including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Where not hardy it is easily overwintered indoors in a warm sunny location. Provide a well-drained, moderately fertile, acid soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 12001

An unusually free-blooming white flowered plumeria, producing a succession of the 1 1/2" white flowers with a yellow eye are born throughout the warmer months. Unusual spatula shaped, shiny, deep green foliage on an upright plant. A great patio plant. Item # 788

The rounded flower clusters open to bright orange-yellow and deepen into pumpkin orange all on a compact mounding plant growing to about 12-15"H x 15-18"W. Bright Orange Lantana's compact habit makes it a no-brainer for colorful containers as well as in the garden and landscape where it is sure to attract all shapes and sizes of pollinators with its nectar rich flowers. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in a fertile, average moist soil for optimum vigor and continuous flowering. Images courtesy of Robrick Nursery, all rights reserved. Item# 13119

The Buddha's Belly Bush or Gout Plant produces long lasting clusters of bright reddish orange flowers that open a few at a time on sturdy stems held well above the large tri-lobed, rounded tropical foliage. The base of the plant develops into a swollen caudex providing the Buddha's belly. These are easily grown and rewarding plants that flower throughout the warmer months and will often flower sporadically through winter on established plants. Its drought tolerance lends it to a well-drained soil and is an excellent choice for the porch, patio, or even indoors. Item # 339.