Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the day: Anders from the King's Palace

We receive many letters from customers who enjoy our Cat of the Day column, including those who want to share their cat stories with us! Today's guest in PeopleCat studio -

Cat Anders. Anders lives in Stockholm. He is a manager of a Garden Center located in one of the King's properties - Palace Ulriksdal. He has so many beautiful flowers in stock! Lots of orchids, camellias, and showy colorful annuals.
Anders' favorite spot is to sit by the cash register where he can closely monitor every payment transaction. Sometimes he takes a walk around the premises to take care of security issues and to stay on top of his inventory control. During lunch time Anders visit Flower Cafe nearby, to make sure visitors' dogs behave properly... Yes, dogs and cats are welcomed in!

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Plant of the Month: Golden Dewdrop - Duranta erecta

Stevie's Pick: what's in bloom?

Duranta - Golden Dewdrop - is simply stunning with cascading flowers in abundance. Either it has lavender, blue, or solid white flowers, it is a sight to behold. The popular name Golden Dewdrop is inspired by the clusters of bright orange-yellow berries that follow the flowers, in such quantities that they often cause the slender branches to droop gracefully.
Duranta erecta blooms off and on all year and can be pruned to size as a bush or a standard tree. If let go, it can grow up to 20 feet tall and wide.
Durantas are excellent butterfly and hummingbird attractors. They will complement your tropical garden or a stand alone in your Southern landscape. Great for providing a color contrast in the landscape, they are especially well-suited as a bright-colored background or screening.
White Golden Dewdrop has pure white flowers that appear in loose clusters, and both berries and blossoms are often seen on a plant. This evergreen fast growing shrub spreads and arches to 10 feet tall and wide and is great for live hedges and covering fences and corners.
Variegated variety, also called Variegated Sky Flower, is grown for its summer flowers, and very showy leaves that are dark green with bright white variegation and creamy-yellow margins around the one inch long serrated leaves.. In the summer, cascading clusters of blue tubular flowers appear followed by wonderfully contrasting orange-yellow berries.
In mild climates, Durantas can be in flower nearly year round with flowers and fruit appearing at the same time. It does best in full sun with frequent deep watering and is pretty hardy, to about 20-25F. It is a good choice for espaliers, as a small tree or large bush; all forms benefit from frequent selective pruning. Prune back in late-winter to encourage a more compact shape and strong flush of fresh spring foliage. Requires moderate watering in a well-drained soil.

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the day: Google the Cat says Happy Fathers Day!

Google the Cat is joining Fathers Day celebration as a Founding Father of TopTropicals (along with Jim the Founder). Google just turned 13 years old - pretty senior age for a cat, and although he is still full of energy (and Brainpower), he spends most of his day managing the business, setting the goals, and knowing everything. This is Because, and this is Why - he is the Google!

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The easiest to grow Gardenia

Gardenia (Kailarsenia) vietnamensis

by Onika Amell, tropical plant expert

One of the easiest and hardiest Gardenias in our collection is the Vietnamese Gardenia. This plant is much easier to grow than many other Gardenias. It can handle overly moist soils much better, is quite drought tolerant once established and has a high resistance to the typical Gardenia woes. It is hands down also the most cold hardy Gardenia in our collection!

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the day: Ditta - the Botanical Cat

Ditta lives in Botanical Garden of Riga, Latvia. Our columnist Alex Butova has been writing about that garden a lot and posted numerous plant photos in our Catalog; now it is time to introduce its PeopleCats!
Ditta is the Boss of Riga Botanical Garden. She owns the security room and watches her premises. Ditta is in charge of all events and exhibits of the Garden, and her favorite spot is the Rose Garden.

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Philodendron Burle Marx

by Onika Amell, tropical plant expert

Are you looking for an exceptional ground cover that is incredibly easy to grow? Burle Marx is a low growing variety of Philodendron. This plant works exceptionally well in mass plantings as they develop runners which creates that beautiful tropical feel and look so many gardeners desire. You can also create wonderful borders with this Philodendron. Plant them in your favorite container and watch them cascade beautifully over time. Give them a tree and they will climb. This plant is almost prehistoric looking with jungle-green, shiny, leathery, elongated heart shaped leaves on reddish stems...

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PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the day: Midnight - Prince from Bombay

...Prince Midnight was adopted at 6 weeks from a large family of Bombay cats from a nearby neighbor. At the time we didn't realized they were Bombays, just that the entire group were pure black with gold eyes. It was later that we realized he had all the traits of a Bombay including not a speck of white, the gold eyes and the facial characteristics, and even an obscure trait known to them: a tendency toward stuffy nose, which has always come and gone, sounding like a mild snore, even when awake. He is going on 17...

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Make your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us! Every little bit helps. Thank you and God bless you and your pets!

Plant of the Month: Tecomaria capensis Apricot

Stevie's Pick: what's in bloom?

Summer is in full bloom and everyone is wanting dirt under there nails after being quarantined for two months! Enjoy warm tropical breezes with Apricot flowers of this showy African Tecomaria in your garden.
Tecomas and Tecomarias make a wonderful splash of color in any garden, and apricot is no exception. Tecomaria Apricot has pretty unusual color of flowers, ranging from bright apricot color to light-salmon. Ever blooming in warmer climates, it can grow 3-4 feet high and a whopping 4-5 feet wide. In addition to its beautiful flowers, this plant has many medicinal benefits. An easy fast growing addition to any landscape, it is a great hummingbird and butterfly attractor. It is pretty cold hardy and can tolerate light frost which is a great benefit for gardeners living in subtropical climates with cooler winters.

PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the day: Jim, Happy 16th Birthday!

A few days ago Jim celebrated his 16th birthday. He is our oldest Purrrson.
We are extending this opportunity to wish him to stay Happy, in Good Health and Full Body - the way he always has been! And you know what is his secret of healthy and wealthy life?

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Make your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us! Every little bit helps. Thank you and God bless you and your pets!

How to prevent mango fruit drop

Q: My mature mango tree is fully grown 15 yrs old and each year it fully blooms, sometimes twice. Shortly thereafter, all the baby mangos and flowers fall off providing no mangos for the season. I have tried fertilizing, spraying the tree for fungus or other insects, to no avail. I give up, any suggestions?

A: Dropping fruit in pretty common issue with mango trees. There may be several reasons, or a combination of reasons.
1. Fungal disease (anthracnose), and/or powdery mildew. To avoid fungal disease problems, spray your tree when it just begins to form the flower spikes. Treat foliage with Copper fungicide. There is also another one, very effective for anthracnose: Thiophanate methyl.
2. Inadequate nutrition. Feed your tree with a combination of granulated fertilizer Mango-Food, liquid booster SUNSHINE Mango Tango and micro-elements Sunshine Honey and Sunshine Superfood
Check out pictures of our mango tree problems that were fixed within a month by using Sunshine Boosters.
3. Too much rain or heavy dew during blooming and fruit set (see 1 - use preventive treatment for fungus)
4. Cold. Sometimes the cause of premature fruit drop is from the cold weather during bloom and fruit set. Usually the most affected varieties are the early bloomers including Glenn, Haden. The cold damages the developing embryo in the seed. The fruit starts to develop but because of ethylene gas given off by the damaged embryo, the fruit is triggered to drop before maturity. To see if cold temperature was the cause for your fruit dropping, cut open the fallen fruit. Even if there is a small speck of brown in the seed, that’s enough damage to stop fruit development.
To learn more how to care for your mango, please read this publication.