Author: Steve Turner

Rare & Unusual Tropical Trees & Plants, Flowering, Fruit, Native, Palm, Bamboo, Heliconia, Hummingbird, Butterfly

Snowflake Shrub

Euphorbia leucocephala is a small shrub with many common names. They range from Little Christmas Flower, White Lace Euphorbia, Snow Bush, Snows of Kilimanjaro, and White Christmas Bush. However, most people just call it Snowflake. It’s at peek bloom at Christmastime and only for a few weeks. The shrub is native to Mexico like its…
Read more


December 26, 2021 0

Queen’s Tears Bromeliad

Billbergia nutans is an epiphytic bromeliad native to South America which can also be grown in the ground. This bromeliad readily forms clumping narrow upright rosettes which are bronze/green in color, about 2 feet tall. As with most bromeliads, it is the flowers that attract most growers. In South Florida this bromeliad is currently in…
Read more


December 19, 2021 0

Glow Vine

Saritaea magnifica, the Glow Vine is a woody vine native to Columbia and Ecuador. It blooms in South Florida in the fall/winter consisting of bright trumpet magenta flowers with white throats. When not in bloom, the foliage has dark green leathery leaves which are very attractive on their own. Richard Lyons Nursery currently has this…
Read more


December 12, 2021 0

Yucatan Daisy

Yucatan Daisy (Montanoa atriplicifolia) is a woody shrub that acts like a vine as it sprawls over other plants. Maybe it is a vine that tends to be somewhat shrublike. It seems to be one of those plants that is somewhere in the middle, neither shrub nor vine. It is native to southern Mexico and…
Read more


December 5, 2021 0

Red Shrimp Plant

The red shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana) is native to Mexico but it has naturalized in areas of South Florida. It grows to a height of 1-3 feet with spindly stems which gives it a sprawling mounding appearance. It also suckers along the stems spreading as it grows. This is an ideal plant for a shady…
Read more


November 27, 2021 0