Last updated on May 17th, 2023 at 07:03 am
The tropical plant with red flowers has been known for its stunning visuals and its easy-to-maintain regime. If you’re new to gardening, adding a red tropical flower to your garden could be one of the best ways to learn about growing plants–no matter where you live. Here are some examples of tropical plants with red flowers along with tips about how to grow tropical flowers.
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Some Tropical plants with red flowers
Most people know plants like philodendrons, monsteras, and palm trees as a big part of tropical plants. These plants are known for their foliage shapes and colors–sometimes they could be almost 3 meters wide, like in Monstera gigas! However, if you’re a fan of flowering plants or, let’s say, already owned your Philo, you should check out these magnificent tropical red flowers. Who knows if some of them could capture your heart?
Canna Tropical Red
Botanical name: Canna
Canna Tropical Red is a perennial or annual tropical plant with red flowers, iris-like blooms, and dark green, elongated oval, thin foliage. They can be grown along with any other plant, making them one of the best companion plants. But make sure to not overcrowd them and give them enough space to grow. Canna Tropical Red can be grown in small areas like containers and pots.
Hibiscus
Botanical name: Hibiscus
This tropical plant with red flowers is the national symbol of Hawaii. Hibiscus belongs to the Malvaceae Family and is known for its 5 petaled blooms with upright stamens that attract many pollinators. They are edible, you can safely use this flower as a cup of hibiscus tea that contains high antioxidants.
Red Anthurium
Botanical name: Anthurium
Also known as Flamingo Lily or Flamingo Flower, this perennial red tropical flower is native to Mexico and tropical parts of America. They produce blooms with bright red spathe and yellow spadix and are good to plant as a houseplant or container plant. However, Red Anthurium contains high levels of toxicity if eaten only in large quantities.
Coral Drops
Botanical name: Bessera
This herbaceous perennial plant is native to Mexico. They have a unique bloom structure, where each stalk consists of several small, short blooms, shaped like an umbrella. Coral Drops are resistant to drought and heat.
Montbretia
Botanical name: Crocosmia
You may have never heard of this exotic tropical plant with red flowers before. Montbretia or Coppertip is a perennial flowering plant that produces tubular, iris-like blooms with irresistible fragrance. They are native to Madagascar, South Africa, and Sudan.
Lipstick Plant
Botanical name: Aeschynanthus radicans
Lipstick Plant is a perennial plant that is often grown as a houseplant. This red tropical flower produces bright red, tubular, small blooms–that almost look like a tube of red lipstick. As a vining plant, pots and hanging baskets can be a perfect growing space for this plant.
Big Seed Copperleaf
Botanical name: Acalypha
Big Seed Copperleaf is a tall tropical plant with red flowers that can grow as tall as 3 meters. Both foliage and blooming parts of this plant are colorful. They produce more than 6 inches long, spike-like red blooms that look like a ‘hairy’ red giant chili from afar!
Flame of the Woods
Botanical name: Ixora coccinea
Also known as Junge Geranium, this native to South-East Asia tropical plant with red flowers is now a popular flowering plant among Floridian gardeners. If they don’t get enough sunlight, Flame of the Woods will only produce small or even no blooms at all. They are ideal as container plants, especially the dwarf variety.
Brazilian Petunia
Botanical name: Ruellia elegans
The following tropical plant with red flowers is the Brazilian Petunia. Don’t get fooled by their name because Brazilian Petunia is not part of the Petunia or Solanaceae Family, but rather the Acanthaceae Family. This annual flower produces blooms that almost look like petunia with a dark green center and upright, bright yellow pistil.
Firecracker Plant
Botanical name: Cuphea ignea
Another exotic-looking tropical plant with red flowers is the Firecracker Plant. Also known as a cigar plant, this plant produces small, long tubular-shaped red-orange blooms with a hint of white and dark-purple colors at the end of every bloom–making it look like a lit cigarette. They can be grown both as an annual and perennial, and thrive well whether in small spaces like containers or your backyard.
Grow a tropical plant with red flowers
We all know tropical areas as hot and humid, but in reality, most tropical plants thrive well not under direct full sun but in partial shade areas. Too much heat can cause problems like leaf burn and browning leaves, and for this tropical plant with red flowers, it is no different.
A few basic things you must know before adopting tropical plants for your garden are to place them in an area with partial shade with a minimum of 6 hours of indirect sunlight each day, provide good soil moisture and humidity, and don’t forget to water regularly. Remember to keep the soil moist but not too soggy since it can cause root rot.
Same as any other plant, there are several challenges to face if you live in an area where the hardiness zone is not between 9-11 (tropical):
First, you must always be aware of sudden temperature drops. Most tropical plants won’t grow in cold temperatures, sometimes they can even go dormant. Some can go as low as 18 celsius and anything under 10 celsius is not good. Take the bare minimum to grow most red tropical flower plants as well as any other tropical plant is 18 to 23 celsius.
To resolve this problem, you can use air conditioning where you can control the temperature, but for some people, this can be quite challenging for the electricity bills. If you’re on a tight budget, you can protect your tropical plant with red flowers using black plastic or cold frames, which are used to restrain heat and are more affordable. Also, don’t forget to always check the humidity, since their natural habitats are warm and with high humidity, so you might want to mimic this. You can use a humidifier that is made for plants.
Second, always consider these things before growing a red tropical flower:
-Determine where your hardiness zone is. Does it fall under the tropical area or colder?
-Determine where you want to grow your plant, is it indoors or outdoors?
-Choose the best potting mix formulated for tropical plants with good drainage holes
-If you are planning to grow your red tropical flower plant indoors, usually, north-facing windows are the best area to plant them since they still get full but not direct sunlight.
Additional tips for optimal growing is choosing the right fertilizer for your tropical plant as they will need a specialized one for maximum growth.
Bottom line
To conclude, growing tropical plants with red flowers can be done by anyone. They also produce such eye-catching blooms which can be used to attract pollinators to your garden. Just keep in mind to maintain the right proper care. If you provide the red tropical flowers with good care, common problems like root rot, yellowing and/or browning leaves, and leggy growth, as well as being prone to pests and other diseases may not occur.
New author in the hood. Loves gardening and flowers are my spirit animals (yes I know they are not animals but I insist). I will be covering most of the flowers’ topics here and occasionally random though as well.