(Cleome, Spider Flower)

Cleome or Spider flower is an annual native to Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil. These colorful, sun-loving annuals have fragrant foliage and colorful, highly scented flowers in mixed shades of pinks, purples, and white. The habit is very upright, the leaves are divided and palmate –like a hand at the bottom of the plant, undivided at the top and there is a spine at the base of each leaf. The airy flowers are produced at the ends of hairy stalks in loose, globular, un-branched groups...

(Spider Flower, Spirit™ Spider Flower)

Cleome or Spider flower is an annual native to Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil. These colorful, sun-loving annuals have fragrant foliage and colorful, highly scented flowers in mixed shades of pinks, purples, and white. The habit is very upright, the leaves are divided and palmate –like a hand at the bottom of the plant, undivided at the top and there is a spine at the base of each leaf. The airy flowers are produced at the ends of hairy stalks in loose, globular, un-branched groups...

(Orthosiphon )

Flowers with extremely long stamens make cat's whiskers an eye-catching plant for a tropical cottage garden. It is a tender, evergreen, perennial subshrub (woody only at the base) that is native from southeastern Asia to Australia and the Philippines.

The dark green, glossy leaves are long triangles with jagged edges. The dark stems are particularly showy when the tips hold a pyramid-like cluster of light violet to white flowers. The flower buds are white, and open first at the base of the cluster,...

(Gloryblower, Mexican Hydrangea)

With handsome, glossy, plump heart-shaped leaves, cashmere bouquet steals the show in summer with clustered flower-balls of fragrant, dark and light pink blossoms. A subropical, semi-woody, deciduous shrub that very aggresively spreads out roots to become a thicket, it is native to eastern India, Burma and southwestern China. The leaves emerge with a purple tint, unfurling into a large, obese, heart-shaped blade with a semi-glossy dark green color. The edges are lined with many short, soft teeth....

(Honolulu Rose, Stickbush)

Aggressively finding and holding its place in the landscape, stickbush has soft fuzzy leaves that are a handsome backdrop to the tight, wedding bouquet-like cluster of double white flowers that appear in spring and summer. An evergreen, clambering and thicket-producing shrub, it is from southeastern China, the Philippines and southern Japan. It dark green, soft fuzzy leaves can become as large as a dinner plate. They are widely oval or robustly triangular in shape, usually found near the top of the...

(Glorybower)

Lovely long, white, tubular flowers and colorful red and blue seeds makes the starfish clerodendrum among the most beautiful large shrubs in the tropical garden. A fast growing, and relatively short-lived shrub, it is native to the island of Sulawesi (Celebes) in Indonesia. Its leaves are smooth, glossy and handsomely green with deep veins. In late spring, the branch tips fill with clusters of pinkish, pleated flowerbuds that are very pretty, and soon thereafter the long, white flower tubes emerge...

(Pagoda Flower)

Pagoda flower has big, maple-like, glossy green leaves that accentuate the large, vivid, orange-red flowers in a long-lasting, dome shaped cluster at the tips of stems throughout spring and summer. Native to southeastern Asia from southern China to Malaysia, this is a frost-tender, suckering, evergreen, multi-stemmed shrub. The bright green foliage is large and obviously veined, with three to five short lobes, resembling those of a maple tree. At anytime of year, but more reliably in the warmest...

(Pagoda Flower)

Pagoda flower has big, maple-like, glossy green leaves that accentuate the large, vivid, orange-red flowers in a long-lasting, dome shaped cluster at the tips of stems throughout spring and summer. Native to southeastern Asia from southern China to Malaysia, this is a frost-tender, suckering, evergreen, multi-stemmed shrub. The bright green foliage is large and obviously veined, with three to five short lobes, resembling those of a maple tree. At anytime of year, but more reliably in the warmest...

(Shooting Star, Starburst Clerodendrum)

This is one of the tropic's most beautiful flowering shrubs. Large, dark-green and burgundy leaves are the backdrop for firework-resembling, pink and white flower clusters in late winter and early spring. A large, frost-tender shrub from the Philippines, shooting star is typically evergreen but will lose foliage if the dry season is exceptionally cool or dry. The leaves can grow quite long, being oval to oblong in shape, a dull, dark green above with a glossy, purple to burgundy underside.

Depending...

(Variegated Shooting Star)

Large cream, dark-green and burgundy variegated leaves are the backdrop for fireworks-like, pink and white flower clusters in late winter and early spring. A large, frost-tender shrub from the Philippines, 'Brandonii' was selected by Mark Herndon of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1995. It is typically evergreen but will lose foliage if the dry season is exceptionally cool or dry. The leaves can grow quite long, being oval to oblong in shape. They are dark green with patches of pale green and cream above...