Everything that blooms in the Turks and Caicos Islands, from the nine plants found nowhere else on Earth to the bougainvillea and flamboyant on every resort lawn, and the one EU certified lab in Grace Bay that formulates those flowers into skincare that has just taken three golds in London.
Visitors photograph the water. Residents notice the bush. The Turks and Caicos is the driest corner of the Bahamas archipelago, about 29 inches of rain a year, and everything that flowers here has earned it: limestone, salt wind, thin soil and a dry season that runs for months. The result is a flora that is small in stature and large in interest, with nearly fifty plants shared only with the Bahamas, Cuba or Hispaniola and nine that grow nowhere else.
Then there is the second flora: the introduced garden palette that resorts, villas and roadsides are planted with. Bougainvillea, flamboyant, hibiscus, ixora, frangipani and oleander were all brought here, and most people assume they are the local flowers. This Atlas keeps the two apart, so you know what you are looking at.
The third thread is commercial. Since 2022, Wildflower Skincare Lab has been harvesting flowers from private gardens in Grace Bay and Long Bay, and from partner resorts and families across the islands, and turning them into extracts for a range that has now collected 21 international awards in four years, the latest three golds announced on 28 September 2026. Every flower that appears in one of those products is marked in the tables below, and the Find your flower tool matches your skin to the product and the garden its flower came from.
Petal marks next to each name show the true colour of the bloom (or, for bougainvillea, of its bracts). Tap a colour group in the bar below to isolate it.
Tags: Endemic means TCI only. Native means it grew here before people did. Garden means introduced and planted. Wildflower means the lab makes a product from it. Caution means do not touch it.
Botanical names follow Kew's UK Overseas Territories herbarium for TCI, and the lab's own INCI ingredient lists where a product is cited.
Blurred rows are for registered readers. Registration is free and takes an email address.
Jump to: the endemics, the orchids, natives, the garden palette, Garden to Skin, find your flower, Rosa, the actives, Garden to Skin, grow your own, bloom calendar.
Three plants carry the islands' identity. Only one of them is a flower in the everyday sense, and it is the one most visitors will never see.
Limonium bahamense, Plumbaginaceae. Not a heather at all but a sea lavender: a leafless plant of rubbery, waxy blue-green stems that grows in salt marsh and salina mud on Middle Caicos, Ambergris Cay and Salt Cay. Stoop and you find papery white sepals in tight double rows, each holding a royal blue trumpet with tiny yellow stamens.
Kew lists it among the nine TCI endemics. A heather population on Hispaniola has since been assigned to the same species, so its status as a strict endemic is debated. In the North Caicos conservation nursery it relaxes into a trailing plant three times its wild size.
Melocactus intortus, Cactaceae. The barrel cactus on the flag and coat of arms, named for the red woolly cap, the cephalium, that looks like a fez. Small pink flowers push out of the cap. Found on Middle Caicos, East Caicos, Ambergris Cay and a scatter of uninhabited cays.
Seed sprinkled on soaked perlite germinates in a week; the plant then takes about two decades to reach the size landscapers prize, and longer to grow the cap. All cacti are CITES listed. Do not dig one up.
Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis, Pinaceae. A true pine of the rock pine yards on Middle and North Caicos and Pine Cay. Not common, and under attack from an invasive scale insect accidentally brought in from the US mainland; the Caicos Pine Recovery Project has been fighting for it for over a decade.
The tree most people mistake for it, the feathery Australian pine or casuarina along the beaches, is not a pine and is one of the islands' worst invasives.
Sources: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, UKOTs Online Herbarium (TCI); Visit Turks and Caicos, Flora; Times of the Islands, B Naqqi Manco (2010, 2013).
Found nowhere else on Earth. Seven are visible if you know where to look; two are small and obscure, and one spent thirty years lost to science. Uninhabited East Caicos is the only island where all nine grow.
| Flower | What you see | Where it grows | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turks and Caicos heatherLimonium bahamensePlumbaginaceae Endemic | Royal blue trumpets in papery white double-row sepals on leafless blue-green stems; occasionally mauve | Salt flats and salinas: Middle Caicos, Ambergris Cay, Salt Cay, East Caicos | The national flower. Studied and mapped with Kew; grows almost as a weed in the North Caicos nursery | |
| Caicos orchidEncyclia caicensisOrchidaceae Endemic Wildflower | Flower stalks to 2.5 m in July and August; colour runs from deep brown-red to pure yellow or white; scent like spiced vanilla coconut biscuits | Caicos Islands only, dry forest and scrub; locally called wild shallot | Protected. Wildflower's Minty Orchid Oleogel uses only mature petals about to drop, from its Long Bay garden and a friend's plants; no plants or stems are cut | |
| Turk's Island prickly pearOpuntia lucayanaCactaceae Endemic | Yellow cactus flowers on flat pads; also called the Lucayan pear cactus | Rarely met anywhere but East Caicos | Its status as an endemic, and even as a valid species, is doubted by the islands' own botanists | |
| Stipitate dog-strangle vineCynanchum stipitatumApocynaceae Endemic | A twining vine with small pale flowers in the milkweed family | North Caicos only, where it is fairly frequent | Easy to walk past; one of the seven visible endemics | |
| Slender-stemmed pepper-grassLepidium filicauleBrassicaceae Endemic | A minuscule mustard-family herb with tiny white flowers | North Wells area of Grand Turk, out of reach of grazing animals | Described 1911, last collected 1975, then missing for decades until refound on Grand Turk | |
| Silvery silverbushArgythamnia argenteaEuphorbiaceae Endemic | Low silvery sub-shrub with small flowers; not an outgoing plant | Fairly common through the Turks (Salt) Islands and the Ambergris Cays | Held in the DEMA conservation nurseries | |
| Britton's buttonbushSpermacoce brittoniiRubiaceae Endemic | Stiff, tangled scrub-brush of a plant with reduced leaves and tiny white button flowers | Coastal scrub | In the nursery it grows leaves four times as long as its wild parents and stands upright | |
| Capillary buttonbushSpermacoce capillarisRubiaceae Endemic | Fine-stemmed sub-shrub with minute white flowers | South Caicos; found on East Caicos for the first time in 2010 | Described in 1978, lost for thirty years, rediscovered on a National Trust seed-collecting trip | |
| StenandriumStenandrium carolinaeAcanthaceae Endemic | A small ground-hugging herb; one of the two obscure endemics | Recorded from East Caicos among the others | No widely used common name; listed by Kew among the nine |
Near-endemics. On top of the nine, the Turks and Caicos shares around forty plants only with the Bahamas, and roughly fifty with the wider Bahamas, Cuba or Hispaniola. One of the prettiest is Egger's shamrock, Oxalis eggersii, a dainty little flower found only in TCI and Cuba. The Bahama spicebush swallowtail, Papilio andraemon, is likewise endemic to the Bahamas and TCI and lays its eggs on the endangered satinwood, Zanthoxylum flavum, wild lime and torchwood.
Sources: Kew UKOTs Herbarium; Times of the Islands, "To Seek and Save the Lost" and "To the Rescue!" (Manco, 2013); Visit TCI, Flora; Times of the Islands, June 2026 (swallowtail).
Ten species, five of them Encyclia, growing on limestone, on bark and in forest leaf litter. Locally they are wild shallots, for the onion-like bulbs. Every one is CITES listed, and the Department of Environment rescues them from building sites and rehomes them with gardeners.
| Orchid | Bloom | Where | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tall EncycliaEncyclia altissima Native | November to February; plants near a metre tall; sweet spicy perfume morning and evening | Shared with the Bahamas, Cuba and Hispaniola; the commonest orchid in TCI | Grow it against the base of a rough-barked tree and it will climb | |
| Red EncycliaEncyclia rufa Native | Despite the name, blooms yellow, green or white in TCI | TCI and the Bahamas | Spherical bulbs and broad strappy leaves make it easy to tell from the others | |
| Rock EncycliaEncyclia gracilis Native | Rarely, in September or October | Directly on limestone on ridge tops and in pine yards; Bahamas and TCI only | Spiky, blade-like leaves built for extreme heat and drought | |
| Inagua EncycliaEncyclia inaguensis Native | Spring | Shared only with Great Inagua | Thin-leaved and delicate | |
| Caicos EncycliaEncyclia caicensis Endemic Wildflower | July and August; stalks to 2.5 m; brown-red through yellow to white | Caicos Islands only | Hybridises with the others when bloom cycles overlap, producing intermediates that confuse botanists. Used, petals only, in Wildflower's Minty Orchid Oleogel | |
| Spotted monk orchidOeceoclades maculata Naturalised | Small brownish flowers above mottled leaves | Forest floor leaf litter across the Caribbean | Arrived from Africa on hurricane winds in the middle of the last century | |
| Green ladies' tressesSpiranthes polyantha Native | Plain green spiral spikes | Deep shade | Easily overlooked | |
| Spring ladies' tressesSpiranthes vernalis Native | White spiral spikes in spring | Soil pockets in pine yards | Grassy-leaved cousin of the above | |
| Adder's mouth orchidMalaxis spicata Native | Tiny green flowers | Occasionally on Middle Caicos | One of the smallest orchids in the islands | |
| Britton's shadow witchPonthieva brittonae Native | Blossoms that look like flying, singing angels in witches' hats | Tropical dry forest on North Caicos only | Commoner in wetter parts of the Caribbean and Florida |
Source: Times of the Islands, "Plants of Passion, Flowers of Fashion", B Naqqi Manco (June 2013); DEMA plant rescue programme. Water orchids with rainwater rather than tap water.
The flowers of the dry forest, the coppice and the dune line. Most are small, many are scented at night rather than showy by day, and several are the ones the resorts are now planting because they ask for no water.
| Flower | Bloom | Where you will meet it | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sacred lignum vitaeGuaiacum sanctum (also G. officinale)Zygophyllaceae Native | Masses of small purple-blue flowers once or twice a year, then orange fruit that splits to show a red seed | Upland thicket; ancient specimens at old plantation and salt-era sites, many dating from when those sites were working | The densest wood in the world; near threatened. Grows very slowly in the wild, faster with water. Grows almost too easily from seed, and takes heavy pruning | |
| Yellow elderTecoma stansBignoniaceae Native Wildflower | Clusters of bright yellow trumpets through the year, heaviest after rain; bees and hummingbirds | Bush, roadsides and every second garden; also the national flower of the Bahamas | Wildflower's Verdant Day Cream, Gold for Best Organic Moisturiser at the 2022 Global Green Beauty Awards, is built on yellow elder from the lab's Grace Bay and Long Bay gardens | |
| Wild frangipaniPlumeria obtusa (lab uses Plumeria alba)Apocynaceae Native Wildflower | White, yellow-eyed, heavily scented; flowers spring through autumn and drops its leaves in the dry winter | Native to the Bahamas archipelago and the Greater Antilles; the islands have their own native form alongside the imported cultivars | Frangipani from the lab's Long Bay garden goes into Notre Fleur Evening Cream, Silver for Best Evening Moisturiser in 2024. Rots if overwatered | |
| Wild cottonGossypium (sea-island cotton)Malvaceae Native Wildflower | A hibiscus-like flower that opens cream and turns pink as it ages, before the boll forms | Growing wild in every neighbourhood on Providenciales; the Loyalist plantations at Cheshire Hall and Wade's Green grew it commercially in the 1790s | The flower, not the fibre, goes into Wildflower's Cotton and Hibiscus Cleanser, Gold for Best Vegan Cleanser at the 2026 awards; harvested in Grace Bay and Long Bay | |
| Wild allamandaPentalinon luteumApocynaceae Native | Yellow trumpets on a scrambling vine | Coastal thicket and the National Museum garden on Grand Turk | Not the same plant as the garden allamanda from Brazil | |
| Bahama strongbackBourreria ovataBoraginaceae Native | Small white fragrant flowers followed by orange berries that birds strip | Upland thicket across the Caicos islands | Takes heavy pruning; one of the best native hedges | |
| Wild sage, button sageLantana involucrataVerbenaceae Native | Small white to pale lavender flower heads with a yellow eye, most of the year | Scrub and roadsides everywhere; a butterfly magnet | Native cousin of the garden lantana; recorded on the Middle Caicos Darwin survey | |
| Sea lavender, bay lavenderHeliotropium gnaphalodesBoraginaceae Native | Curled sprays of tiny white flowers on silvery felted foliage | The front line of the dune on every beach | Salt-proof; increasingly used in beachfront landscaping | |
| Sea ox-eye daisyBorrichia arborescensAsteraceae Native | Yellow daisies on grey-green succulent leaves | Salt marsh edges and rocky shore | Recommended for the toughest coastal beds | |
| Beach morning glory, railroad vineIpomoea pes-capraeConvolvulaceae Native | Pink-purple funnels that open at dawn and fade by midday | Running across the sand above the tide line | Binds the dune; leave it be | |
| Spider lilyHymenocallis latifoliaAmaryllidaceae Native | Long-lasting fragrant white flowers with thread-thin outer petals | Wet edges and, increasingly, resort beds as 2 to 3 ft ground cover | Reseeds itself; tolerates long drought | |
| JoewoodJacquinia keyensisPrimulaceae Native | Small white, sweetly scented flowers; orange-red fruit | Coastal rock and scrub | Worth saving on any building lot; prune lightly, heavy cutting can kill it | |
| Jamaican caperCapparis cynophallophoraCapparaceae Native | Brush-like white flowers flushing pink, scented at night; silver-backed leaves that shimmer in wind | Dry forest; sold by the nurseries as a hedge | Low maintenance; moderate salt tolerance | |
| Geiger treeCordia sebestenaBoraginaceae Native | Clusters of bright orange trumpets most of the year | Coastal thicket and the Museum garden on Grand Turk | The showiest native flowering tree | |
| Sea grapeCoccoloba uviferaPolygonaceae Native | Spikes of small ivory flowers, then bunches of purple grapes | Every beach; clipped into hedges at the resorts | Takes heavy pruning; the leaves were once used as writing paper | |
| Buttonwood, silver and greenConocarpus erectusCombretaceae Native | Button-like greenish flower heads | Wetland edges; the silver form is the resorts' favourite hedge | Traditionally cut for charcoal | |
| Seven-year appleGenipa clusiifoliaRubiaceae Native | Waxy white, sweetly scented flowers | Coastal rock and scrub | Named for how long the fruit seems to take to ripen | |
| Bay cedarSuriana maritimaSurianaceae Native | Small yellow flowers among grey, aromatic leaves | Beach ridge and dune | Bonsai-like on exposed rock | |
| Black torchErithalis fruticosaRubiaceae Native | Sprays of small white stars, then shiny black berries | Coastal scrub | The resinous wood burns like a torch, hence the name | |
| Yellow alderTurnera ulmifoliaPassifloraceae Native | Five-petalled yellow flowers that open each morning and close by afternoon | Roadsides and disturbed ground | One of the wild blooms Visit TCI lists among the islands' exquisite natives | |
| Pitch apple, autograph treeClusia roseaClusiaceae Native | Waxy pink and white flowers the size of a saucer | Rocky coppice; planted at the resorts as a specimen | Its seeds sprout only in June, regardless of when they are planted | |
| Wild tamarindLysiloma latisiliquumFabaceae Native | White powder-puff flowers | Dry forest canopy on North and Middle Caicos | Prune with care; heavy cutting stuns it | |
| Bahama tabebuia, five fingersTabebuia bahamensisBignoniaceae Native | Pale pink to white trumpets on a bare-branched shrub in the dry season | Rocky scrub in the Caicos islands; shared with the Bahamas | A bush-tea plant in Bahamian tradition | |
| Silver thatch palmCoccothrinax argentataArecaceae Native | Cream flower sprays, then black fruit | Coppice on the Caicos islands; the fronds were the roofing and basket palm of the islands | The rarer buccaneer palm, Pseudophoenix sargentii, was planted in the Frenchman's Creek reserve and later stolen | |
| Woolly nipple cactusMammillaria nivosaCactaceae Native | Small yellow flowers in a ring on a white-woolly clump | Bare rock on the outer cays | Endangered under CITES; seed-grown in the DEMA nursery |
Sources: Visit TCI, Flora and Landscaping; Turks and Caicos National Museum, Plants and Animals; Fairchild virtual herbarium, Middle Caicos Darwin survey (2001); Times of the Islands (Manco, 2013); Sunshine Nursery TCI; Wildflower Skincare Lab product pages.
What the resorts, villas and roadsides are planted with. Almost none of it is native, all of it was chosen for sun, salt and drought, and a surprising amount of it is now harvested for skincare. Cultivar names are the ones the island nurseries actually stock.
| Flower | Origin and bloom | Grown as | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BougainvilleaBougainvillea glabra, B. spectabilisNyctaginaceae Garden Wildflower | South America. The colour is in papery bracts around a tiny white true flower; year-round, heaviest in the dry season | Walls, arches and hedges everywhere. Island cultivars: 'New River', 'Barbara Karst', 'Imperial White', 'Coral', 'Jamaican White'; also purple, peach and salmon | The hardiest flowering plant in TCI. The lab harvests bracts and flowers from its Grace Bay garden for the Bougainvillea Day Cream (Bronze, 2022), Gaia Green Facial Elixir, Bougainvillea After Sun Oleogel and the Bougainvillea and Lavender Face Polish; it cites pinitol, betacyanins and flavonoids | |
| Flamboyant, royal poinciana, flame treeDelonix regiaFabaceae Garden Wildflower | Madagascar, and naturalised across northern Australia. Scarlet-orange canopy in early summer, then long brown pods | Shade tree at resorts, schools and along Leeward Highway | The lab's most-used flower: Brightening 12 Hour Cream (Gold, Best Organic Anti-Ageing Product 2022), Immortelle Summer Serum (Gold, Best Daily Moisturiser 2024), Notre Fleur Evening Cream, Flamboyant Lifting Serum and Antioxidant Boost Serum, all from flowers picked in Grace Bay | |
| Siar tree, copperpod, yellow flamePeltophorum pterocarpumFabaceae Garden Wildflower | Tropical Asia and northern Australia. Upright spikes of crinkled yellow flowers, then copper-red flat pods | Shade and street tree | Siar Tree Flower Smooth and Firm won Gold for Best Anti-Wrinkle Product at the 2024 awards; the flowers are collected at Kokomo Botanical Resort | |
| HibiscusHibiscus rosa-sinensis; H. sabdariffa (sorrel)Malvaceae Garden Wildflower | Asia. Red, pink, yellow, orange or white; each flower lasts a day | Hedges and pots; 'Snow Queen' is the cultivar the nurseries recommend for TCI as it shrugs off aphids and mealybugs | The lab's Cotton and Hibiscus Cleanser (Gold, Best Vegan Cleanser 2026) uses Hibiscus sabdariffa, the sorrel hibiscus, grown in its Grace Bay and Long Bay gardens; the natural acids help lift dead skin | |
| Frangipani cultivarsPlumeria obtusa, P. rubra, P. albaApocynaceae Garden Wildflower | Caribbean and Central America. White, yellow, pink and 'Fiji Fire' red; 'Singapore dwarf' for pots | Every resort entrance | Rots if overwatered. The lab manufactures frangipani extract for other local businesses as well as for Notre Fleur | |
| Bridal bouquetPlumeria pudicaApocynaceae Garden | Panama and Venezuela. Silky white bouquets at the branch tips; no scent | A sun-loving staple of Provo gardens | Fast growing; give it an annual prune | |
| OleanderNerium oleanderApocynaceae Garden Caution | Mediterranean to Asia. White, red or pink all year | Screens 4 to 15 ft tall; the dwarf form is the most pest resistant | Survives drought and flooding alike. Every part is poisonous; never burn the prunings | |
| Ixora, jungle flameIxora coccineaRubiaceae Garden Wildflower | India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Dense heads of red, yellow or pink | Low and mid hedges; 'Maui', 'Dwarf', 'Super King' and 'Chinese' ixora | Low salt tolerance, wants acidic soil. Wildflower's Jungle Flame Illuminating Oil takes its name from the plant; the formula itself is built on arnica, saffron, bakuchi, coffee bean and green tea | |
| Ylang ylangCananga odorataAnnonaceae Garden Wildflower | South-east Asia. Drooping greenish-yellow petals with the famous perfume | A specimen tree in a few private gardens | The lab's Ana Karaya Hand Serum uses ylang ylang flowers grown in a private garden on Providenciales, manufactured into extract in-house | |
| GardeniaGardenia jasminoidesRubiaceae Garden Wildflower | East Asia. Creamy white, intensely scented | Sheltered courtyard beds | One of the extracts the lab produces locally; it appears in the Brightening 12 Hour Cream and Immortelle Summer Serum | |
| Allamanda, golden trumpetAllamanda catharticaApocynaceae Garden Wildflower Caution | Brazil. Large yellow trumpets most of the year | Fences and pergolas | Sap irritates skin; keep it off children and pets. The flowers, grown in the lab's Long Bay garden, are infused into the Allamanda and Neroli Massage Melt, first formulated for a resort spa | |
| Purple false eranthemumPseuderanthemum carruthersiiAcanthaceae Garden Wildflower | Pacific islands. Grown for its purple-bronze leaves; small white and purple flowers | Foliage hedges and borders | Traditionally the leaves were laid on the forehead for migraine. Leaves and flowers from the lab's Grace Bay garden go into Ana Cay Soothe and Calm | |
| Wild petunia, Mexican petuniaRuellia simplexAcanthaceae Garden Wildflower | Mexico and South America. Violet-blue trumpets that drop by evening, all year | Naturalised along ditches and in beds; spreads freely | Distilled from flowers grown in Long Bay and Grace Bay for the Ana Cay Complexion Serum, alongside cucumber from the Providenciales hydroponic farm | |
| Night-blooming jasmineCestrum nocturnumSolanaceae Garden | Caribbean and Central America. Greenish tubular flowers that open after dark with a heavy sweet scent | Beside verandas; plant it upwind of the south-east trades so the scent drifts through the house | Handles full sun once established | |
| Jasmine sambac and star jasmineJasminum sambac; Trachelospermum jasminoidesOleaceae; Apocynaceae Garden | Tropical and eastern Asia. White, sweetly scented, through the year | Sambac as a bush or vine; star jasmine as ground cover in part shade | Both have low salt tolerance; keep them back from the beach | |
| Crinum lilyCrinum asiaticumAmaryllidaceae Garden | Asia. Clusters of thin-petalled white umbrella flowers on a 3 to 4 ft plant | Specimen plant in resort beds | Surprisingly drought and sun resistant for its looks | |
| Garden lantanaLantana camaraVerbenaceae Garden | Tropical Americas. Red, yellow, white and purple heads, often two-tone | Low borders | Low salt tolerance. Not to be confused with the native wild sage above | |
| SaltbushBaccharis halimifoliaAsteraceae Garden | South-eastern United States coast. Small whitish-yellow flowers all year | A newer arrival, prized for very high salt tolerance right down to the sea | Uniform hedge or standalone specimen | |
| Desert roseAdenium obesumApocynaceae Garden Caution | Arabia and East Africa. Pink to red trumpets on a swollen grey trunk | Pots and rock gardens | Thrives on neglect; the sap is toxic | |
| Pride of Barbados, dwarf poincianaCaesalpinia pulcherrimaFabaceae Garden | Tropical Americas. Orange, red and yellow flowers with long red stamens | Roadside shrub and hedge | Flowers almost continuously in TCI conditions | |
| Cape plumbagoPlumbago auriculataPlumbaginaceae Garden | South Africa. Sky-blue phlox-like clusters | Sprawling borders and low fences | The "sky blue plumbago" of island wedding bouquets; a cousin of the national flower | |
| Madagascar periwinkleCatharanthus roseusApocynaceae Garden | Madagascar. Pink, white or magenta five-petalled flowers | Bedding plant that has jumped the fence onto roadsides and beach ridges | Naturalised across the islands |
Sources: Sunshine Nursery and Garden Center, Providenciales (cultivars, care); Landscaping by EA; Visit TCI, Wedding Flowers; Wildflower Skincare Lab product pages (origins of harvested flowers).
Look, do not touch. Three natives will hurt you. Manchineel, Hippomane mancinella, is a beach tree with small green apples; the sap blisters skin and rain dripping off the leaves does the same, so never shelter under one. Poisonwood, Metopium toxiferum, also called coral sumac, is the reason the bush is described as "poisonwood-itchy"; the black-blotched bark and resin cause a rash like poison ivy. Among the garden plants, oleander, allamanda and desert rose all carry toxic sap.
The invaders. Casuarina, the Australian pine, was brought in to hold sand and does the opposite: it smothers native dune plants and topples in hurricanes, taking the beach with it. Beach naupaka, Scaevola taccada, the glossy green mound on so many beaches, is a Pacific import that crowds out the native sea lavender and bay cedar. Neither belongs in this Atlas as a flower to admire.
Wildflower Skincare Lab is a 100 per cent natural skincare manufacturer and indie brand in Caicos Café Plaza, 295 Grace Bay Road, Providenciales, and the first and only EU certified skincare laboratory in the Turks and Caicos. It grows more than fifty flower varieties in private botanical gardens in Grace Bay and Long Bay, manufactures its own extracts in-house, tests them to EU standards for stability and purity, and combines them with rare actives from around the world. EU certification is the strictest cosmetic regime in the world, and it is what lets a small lab in Grace Bay sell into the UK and the European Union on the same footing as the big houses. Founded in May 2022 by Rosa Gargano, an award-winning formulation chemist with a master's in chemistry from the University of Greenwich, taken with the highest honours, and a PhD now under way at the same university, it is the first fully custom skincare facility in the Turks and Caicos: an open-concept, full-disclosure lab where visitors watch their products being made and can sit with a certified formulator to build one from scratch.
The programme is the reason this Atlas exists. The lab works directly with farmers, families, small enterprises and leading resorts across the islands, harvesting organic botanicals that residents grow themselves and turning them into skincare ingredients. Partners named on the lab's own pages include Wymara Resort, Ambergris Cay, The Shore Club and South Bank; the siar tree flowers come from Kokomo Botanical Resort, the cucumber distillate from the Providenciales hydroponic farm, and orchid petals and ylang ylang from private gardens on Provo. The Allamanda and Neroli Massage Melt was first formulated for a resort spa and approved by its massage therapists before it went on sale.
It runs the other way too. Have a hibiscus in your garden that you love? The lab will visit, harvest the flowers and formulate them into a personal product for you, under the same protocols as the main range. It is the only extract manufacturer in TCI supplying other local businesses, with frangipani, bougainvillea, wild orchid and gardenia extracts on the list, it offers private-label manufacturing, it has mentored aspiring local producers into safe, compliant commercial practice, and it trains young islanders in professional formulation. Packaging is recycled plastic, glass, bamboo and wheat straw.
The brand is now trademarked in the Turks and Caicos, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, ships worldwide, and is preparing a men's line.
2022: three awards, two months after opening. 2023: six. 2024: eight, and a place in the world's top three green skincare brands. 2026: three golds, announced today, 28 September, from more than 800 entries. All at the Global Green Beauty Awards in London, judged blind against the likes of Rituals, Molton Brown, REN, Baylis and Harding and Dr Organic.
8 gold 2 silver 5 bronze, four highly commended, and more. Full ledger below.
Sources: Global Green Beauty Awards winners' pages; SunTCI, 2022, October 2024 and September 2025; wildflowerskincarelab.com.
Every product the lab makes, with the island flower inside it and the medal it carries. Tap any card to go to the lab.
One way to put the flowers together, assembled from the usage notes on each product page. It is a suggestion from a cosmetics lab, not a prescription from a dermatologist; if you have a diagnosed skin condition, check with your doctor first. Swap the day cream for the Bougainvillea Day Cream if your skin is sensitive or acne-prone.
Every placing the lab has reported, with the island flower behind it. The Global Green Beauty Awards are judged on the product itself, tested by the panel, and on how its green and clean credentials fit the category.
| Year | Placing | Category | Product | Island flower |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Gold | Best Vegan Cleanser | Cotton and Hibiscus Cleanser | Wild cotton, sorrel hibiscus |
| 2026 | Gold | Best Natural Body Oil | Arnica Bloom | Arnica (imported) |
| 2026 | Gold | Best Cruelty Free Product | Sunscreen SPF 30 | |
| 2024 | Gold | Best Anti-Wrinkle Product | Siar Tree Flower Smooth and Firm | Siar tree (Kokomo) |
| 2024 | Gold | Best Daily Moisturiser | Immortelle Summer Serum | Flamboyant |
| 2024 | Silver | Best Evening Moisturiser | Notre Fleur Evening Cream | Frangipani, flamboyant |
| 2024 | Bronze | Best Green Skincare Brand (top three worldwide, 650+ entries) | Wildflower Skincare Lab | All of them |
| 2024 | Bronze | Best Organic Beauty Product | Gaia Green Facial Elixir | Bougainvillea |
| 2024 | Highly commended | Best Cleansing Oil | Minty Orchid Oleogel | Caicos orchid |
| 2024 | Highly commended | Brightening (after-sun tone) | Jungle Flame Illuminating Oil | |
| 2024 | Placing | One further placing in the eight-award haul | See the lab's award collection | |
| 2023 | Gold | Best Organic Serum | Antioxidant Boost Serum | Flamboyant |
| 2023 | Silver | Best Vegan Hand Product | Ana Karaya Hand Serum | Ylang ylang |
| 2023 | Bronze | Body care | Mad Scientist Scrub and Butter | |
| 2023 | Bronze | Massage product | Allamanda and Neroli Massage Melt | Allamanda |
| 2023 | Highly commended | Sun care | Sunscreen SPF 50 | |
| 2023 | Highly commended | Massage product | Frangipani Massage Balm | Frangipani |
| 2022 | Gold | Best Organic Anti-Ageing Product | Brightening 12 Hour Cream | Flamboyant |
| 2022 | Gold | Best Organic Moisturiser | Verdant Day Cream | Yellow elder |
| 2022 | Bronze | Best Organic Moisturiser | Bougainvillea Day Cream | Bougainvillea |
Sources: Global Green Beauty Awards 2026 winners' pages (Natural, Vegan); SunTCI, October 2024 (2023 and 2024 results) and 2022 launch coverage; category names for the 2023 bronze and highly commended placings are as described in press and are given by product type where the exact category title was not printed. The 2024 Jungle Flame category title is given by description as printed in press. One 2024 placing, and the award that took the count to 18 in 2025, are not in press and sit in the lab's own collection.
The lab's own ingredient lists (INCI) and product notes, matched to the flowers above. Prices are the lab's list prices in US dollars on 28 September 2026; several lines sell out between batches.
| Product | Local flower | Harvested from | Award | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brightening 12 Hour Cream 50ml | Flamboyant; gardenia and ylang ylang for scent | Private garden, Grace Bay | Gold 2022, Best Organic Anti-Ageing Product | $129 |
| Verdant Day Cream 50ml | Yellow elder | Grace Bay and Long Bay gardens | Gold 2022, Best Organic Moisturiser | $119 |
| Bougainvillea Day Cream | Bougainvillea bracts and flowers, with bakuchi and calendula | Private garden, Grace Bay | Bronze 2022, Best Organic Moisturiser | $119 |
| Siar Tree Flower Smooth and Firm | Siar tree (copperpod) flowers and buds, with saffron and coffee bean | Kokomo Botanical Resort | Gold 2024, Best Anti-Wrinkle Product | $129 |
| Immortelle Summer Serum | Flamboyant, with prickly pear, pineapple enzyme and gardenia | Private garden and a partner property, Grace Bay | Gold 2024, Best Daily Moisturiser | $99 |
| Notre Fleur Evening Cream 50ml | Flamboyant and frangipani, with iris and lavender | Frangipani from Long Bay; flamboyant from the family garden in Grace Bay | Silver 2024, Best Evening Moisturiser | $109 |
| Cotton and Hibiscus Cleanser | Wild cotton flower and sorrel hibiscus, with grapefruit and neroli | Grace Bay and Long Bay gardens | Gold 2026, Best Vegan Cleanser | $49 |
| Arnica Bloom | Arnica (a European mountain flower, not a local one) | Imported organic arnica | Gold 2026, Best Natural Body Oil | $59 |
| Sunscreen SPF 30 | Mineral sunscreen; see the product page for its botanicals | Made in the Grace Bay lab | Gold 2026, Best Cruelty Free Product | $42 |
| Flamboyant Lifting Serum | Flamboyant, with rose water, aloe and prickly pear; no essential oils | Private gardens, Turks and Caicos. Formerly the Flamboyant Orchid Serum, lab-only, until the orchid extract was withdrawn so it could ship worldwide | Award-winning collection | $129 |
| Antioxidant Boost Serum 50g / 30g | Flamboyant, with liposomal vitamin C and ferulic acid | Private garden, Grace Bay | Gold 2023, Best Organic Serum | $99 / $79 |
| Ana Karaya Hand Serum | Ylang ylang, with peptides and lactobacillus ferment | A private garden on Providenciales | Silver 2023, Best Vegan Hand Product | $99 |
| Jungle Flame Illuminating Oil | Named for ixora; formula is arnica, saffron, bakuchi, coffee bean, green tea, sea buckthorn | Imported botanicals | Highly commended 2024 | $79 |
| Allamanda and Neroli Massage Melt | Allamanda flower infusion, with baobab, dragon fruit and kakadu plum | Long Bay garden; first made for a resort spa | Bronze 2023 | $69 |
| Gaia Green Facial Elixir | Bougainvillea infusion in coconut, with passionfruit, acai and dragon fruit; 100 per cent oils | Private garden, Grace Bay | Bronze 2024, Best Organic Beauty Product | $89 |
| Bougainvillea After Sun Oleogel | Bougainvillea in coconut oil, with saffron, St John's wort and aloe | Private garden, Grace Bay | Award-winning (cited by the lab) | $59 |
| Minty Orchid Oleogel 50ml | Caicos orchid petals in olive oil, with soapbark, chamomile and blue tansy | Long Bay garden and a friend's plants; mature petals only | Highly commended 2024, Best Cleansing Oil; only source of Caicos orchid extract | $69 |
| Ana Cay Soothe and Calm | Purple false eranthemum leaves and flowers, with arnica and menthol | Private garden, Grace Bay | Ana Cay is Taino for Flower Island | $56 |
| Ana Cay Complexion Serum | Wild petunia distillate, with white willow bark and cucumber | Long Bay and Grace Bay gardens; cucumber from the Providenciales hydroponic farm | For acne-prone skin | $59 |
| Bougainvillea and Lavender Face Polish | Bougainvillea (per the product name) | Grace Bay | $56 |
Free. Reveals where every flower is harvested, the bloom calendar and the grower's notes, and adds you to the Atlas mailing list.
Source: wildflowerskincarelab.com product pages, ingredient lists and About page, read 28 September 2026. "Award-winning collection" means the product sits in the lab's Global Green Beauty Award Winners collection; the specific award is not stated on its page. All products are cosmetics; none is a medicine or a treatment for any condition.
Three taps. Tell the page your skin, what bothers you and when you will use it, and it hands you the product, the island flower inside it and where that flower was picked. Matching is taken from the lab's own product notes, not guesswork.
Pick one from each row and your matches appear here.
A note before you tap. Neither the lab nor the author of this Atlas is a doctor or dermatologist, and this tool does not diagnose anything. It sorts cosmetic products by the lab's own descriptions. If you have a skin condition, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are on medication, ask a doctor or dermatologist before starting anything new, and patch test every product.
Source: suitability, timing and skin notes as stated on each wildflowerskincarelab.com product page, 28 September 2026. Wildflower Skincare Lab is a cosmetics manufacturer, not a medical practice. Not medical advice; patch test first, as the lab advises on every label.
Rosa Gargano is the kind of scientist who sees a wildflower on a morning walk and wonders which antioxidant pathway it might unlock. She is an award-winning formulation chemist: a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Greenwich, taken with the highest honours, a Diploma in Organic Skincare Formulation from Formula Botanica in 2021, and now a PhD in chemistry back at Greenwich, in formulation science, on the island flowers she has been formulating with since 2022. Her own awards as a formulator sit alongside the lab's 21. She opened the lab in Grace Bay in May 2022 with a plain vision: educate, boost women's confidence, and make uncompromisingly ethical, top-tier skincare. Two months later the first three awards arrived from London.
She had spent twenty years making a life with her family in the islands and, in her words at the time, had been enamoured by the flowers growing naturally all around. The lab is her answer: the Turks and Caicos shown to the world one flower at a time, beyond the beaches. Every extract is made in-house to her own protocols and tested to EU standards for stability and purity, which is why the lab can publish a full INCI list on every product. She has since quietly formulated hero products for international brands you have heard of, runs formulation courses in her own lab, and keeps the trophies in a cabinet rather than on the wall. The doctorate closes the loop: the flowers that started as a passion are now her research subject, with a Turks and Caicos lab as the field station.
By 2025 she had turned the lab into a training ground as well as a manufacturer: mentoring aspiring local producers into safe, compliant commercial practice, teaching young islanders professional formulation and, as she put it, turning backyard blooms into real skills, income, and island pride. Her measure of success is not the medals. It is a woman's confidence restored, a beginner chemist's first stable emulsion, a tester coming back to the lab with a glow.
Makayla came to the bench from the treatment room. A licensed aesthetician first, she spent years reading skin up close, which is the part of formulation no textbook teaches: what irritates, what a sensitive complexion tolerates, how a product behaves on a real face in island heat. On top of that she holds more than 1,000 hours of advanced commercial formulation training, and as Lab Director she runs production day to day: batching, stability, quality control and the extra percentage of purity and performance the lab chases in every run. Sit-down custom formulation sessions with visitors are hers, so the person building your bespoke formula is the one who can also read your skin.
The first and only EU certified skincare laboratory in the Turks and Caicos. Tested solely on delighted humans, never on animals. All extracts made in-house and tested to EU standards. Fragrance only from plant extracts. An open-concept, full-disclosure laboratory that is fond of sharing its secrets.
Sources: wildflowerskincarelab.com About page; Formula Botanica graduate profile; SunTCI, 2022, October 2024 and September 2025; academic credentials as supplied by the lab.
"I have the Notre Fleur night cream, and I would highly recommend this product as part of your nighttime routine. These skin care products have changed the look and feel of my skin."
Kelly Werth
"Bought a day cream and body scrub for myself, and day creams for my family on recommendations from a local. Absolutely LOVE them, it looks like I'll be ordering my face cream from the T&C now!"
Melanie Althouse
"The after Sun care spray is phenomenal and really helps decrease that aftermath of itching and burning after a sunburn. My husband has sensitive skin and got sunburned on his shoulders. The next day, he immediately felt and noticed a difference."
Rosie W
Reviews as published on the lab's homepage.
The actives the lab pairs with its island flowers, in plain English, taken from its own product pages. This is what a full-disclosure lab looks like on paper.
Source: wildflowerskincarelab.com product descriptions and ingredient lists. The descriptions are the lab's cosmetic claims, not clinical findings, and nothing here is medical advice. Anyone with a skin condition should see a doctor or dermatologist rather than treat it with skincare.
Garden to Skin works because residents, resorts and families grow the flowers. These are the ones the lab harvests, what each wants in a Provo garden, and when the lab would want to pick it. Then tell the lab what you have and join the programme.
Not for the garden list: the Caicos orchid. It is protected; the lab uses only mature petals about to fall from plants it already tends. If you have wild shallots on your land, the right call is to leave them, or ask DEMA about a rescue if the lot is being cleared.
Tell the lab what you grow. Resorts, villas and family gardens on any island are welcome in Garden to Skin. Nothing is harvested without a visit and your say-so, and the source is credited on the product page, as Kokomo and the hydroponic farm are now.
Care notes marked Sunshine Nursery are from the nursery's published growing guide for TCI; those marked general guidance are standard horticulture for the islands' sun, salt and rainfall and should be checked with the lab before planting for harvest.
When to look. Gold is peak, teal is in flower, grey is possible in a good year. Native timings are from the islands' botanists; garden timings are from the Provo nurseries.
| Flower | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caicos orchid | ||||||||||||
| Tall Encyclia | ||||||||||||
| Rock Encyclia | ||||||||||||
| Inagua Encyclia | ||||||||||||
| Spring ladies' tresses | ||||||||||||
| Flamboyant | ||||||||||||
| Lignum vitae | ||||||||||||
| Yellow elder | ||||||||||||
| Bougainvillea | ||||||||||||
| Frangipani | ||||||||||||
| Siar tree | ||||||||||||
| Wild cotton | ||||||||||||
| Oleander, saltbush, ixora, hibiscus | ||||||||||||
| Sea grape (flower, then fruit) |
Register once, above, and the calendar and grower's notes open for good on this device.
Sources: orchid timings from Times of the Islands (Manco, 2013); yellow elder, bougainvillea, oleander, saltbush, ixora and hibiscus from Sunshine Nursery TCI; flamboyant, frangipani, siar tree, cotton and sea grape from general Caribbean horticultural timing for the islands' latitude and rainfall, and will be refined with the lab's harvest records.
Turks and Caicos heather, Limonium bahamense, a small leafless sea lavender of the salt flats with royal blue trumpets in papery white sepals. It grows on Middle Caicos, Ambergris Cay and Salt Cay, among others. The Turk's head cactus is the national plant and the Caicos pine the national tree.
No. It is South American, arrived with gardeners, and is now the hardiest flowering plant in the country. The same goes for flamboyant (Madagascar and Australia), hibiscus and ixora (Asia), oleander (Mediterranean) and most of the resort palette. Yellow elder, wild frangipani, wild cotton, lignum vitae, sea lavender and the orchids are the true locals.
Leave the orchids, cacti and anything on the endemic list alone: all orchids and cacti are CITES listed and DEMA rescues them from building sites. Garden flowers on your own property are yours. If you want them turned into something, Wildflower Skincare Lab harvests from private gardens under its Garden to Skin programme and uses only mature petals from protected species.
Most of the range. Flamboyant goes into the Brightening 12 Hour Cream, Immortelle Summer Serum, Notre Fleur, Flamboyant Lifting Serum and Antioxidant Boost. Yellow elder is the base of Verdant Day Cream. Bougainvillea is in the Bougainvillea Day Cream, Gaia Green Facial Elixir and After Sun Oleogel. Siar tree flowers from Kokomo make the Smooth and Firm. Wild cotton and sorrel hibiscus make the Cotton and Hibiscus Cleanser. Frangipani, Caicos orchid, ylang ylang, allamanda, purple false eranthemum and wild petunia each have a product of their own. The full map is in the ledger above.
Three golds at the 2026 Global Green Beauty Awards in London, announced 28 September from more than 800 entries: Best Natural Body Oil for Arnica Bloom, Best Vegan Cleanser for the Cotton and Hibiscus Cleanser, and Best Cruelty Free Product for the Sunscreen SPF 30. It follows three awards in 2022, six in 2023 and eight in 2024, when it was voted one of the top three green skincare brands in the world: 21 in all.
Caicos Café Plaza, 295 Grace Bay Road, Providenciales. It is the first and only EU certified skincare laboratory in the country, and an open-concept, full-disclosure lab: you can watch products being formulated and, by appointment, sit with a formulator to make a custom one. The range also ships worldwide from wildflowerskincarelab.com.
Start native: yellow elder, sea lavender, sea ox-eye, Bahama strongback, Jamaican caper, silver buttonwood, joewood and lignum vitae need little water once established. Then add the garden palette for colour, with an eye to salt tolerance: bougainvillea and oleander cope near the sea, ixora and jasmine do not. The Provo nurseries stock all of it.
No. Wildflower Skincare Lab is an EU certified cosmetics laboratory, not a clinic, and the people behind this page are a formulation chemist, an aesthetician and a property broker, not doctors or dermatologists. Find your flower and the routine sort cosmetic products by the lab's own descriptions. If you have eczema, rosacea, acne that is scarring, a reaction to a product, or any skin change that worries you, see a doctor or dermatologist. Patch test everything new, and if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or on medication, ask first.
Manchineel on the beaches (sap, fruit and rain dripping from the leaves all blister), poisonwood in the bush (a poison-ivy rash), and in the garden the sap of oleander, allamanda and desert rose. Casuarina and beach naupaka are not dangerous but are invasive and worth removing.
Christie's International Real Estate Turks & Caicos
+1 649 333 3332 drew@tcibrokers.com soldby-drew.com drewspropertyfinder.comCaicos Café Plaza, 295 Grace Bay Road, Providenciales
wildflowerskincarelab.com Contact the lab, Garden to Skin and private label Award-winning collection @wildflowerskincarelab