Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 6 Jul 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

How productive is Tamarind

⚡️ How productive is Tamarind - for previous post 👆

Tamarind tree (Tamarindus indica) can live for over 200 years and produce both edible fruit and valuable timber.

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 19 Apr 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

New Complete Guide to Avocado Varieties

New Complete Guide to Avocado Varieties. How to choose the right type of Avocado.
How many varieties of Avocado are there in cultivation? Did you know that there are hundreds of them? You probably thought there were only 2 kinds - black and green?

You may not realize is that this basic (but practical!) classification doesn't encompass all the wonderful qualities avocados have to offer.

There are numerous hybrids in cultivation, and once you plant your first tree and taste the REAL fruit (not from the grocery store), you'll be eager to explore other varieties. It's a guarantee! While it's true that avocado fruit can vary in "butter" content, most superior varieties are equally delicious.

This Avocado Variety Guide helps to choose the right variety for you. With its interactive tool, you can sort cultivars by fruit shape and quality, cold hardiness, origin, crop season, flower type A or B, tree habit and more.

🛒 Shop Avocado Varieties

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts #How_to

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 6 Jul 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

Did you know that Tamarind has not only tasty fruit but also pretty flowers?

Tamarind tree (Tamarindus indica) - flowers

🌻 Did you know that Tamarind has not only tasty fruit but also pretty flowers?

⚠️ Tamarind Tree that we mentioned earlier is in full bloom now. The flowers are so pretty!

📚 Learn more: Tamarind Chutney Recipe

🛒Grow your own Tamarind Tree

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 4 Jul 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

What fruit tree will produce right away?

Strawberry tree, or Cotton Candy - Muntingia calabura, fruit

Strawberry tree, or Cotton Candy - Muntingia calabura, fruit on a plate

Strawberry tree, or Cotton Candy - Muntingia calabura branch

🍓 What fruit tree will produce right away? Strawberry Tree!

🍒 Want a fruit tree that will produce for you right away? That's the one. Strawberry tree, or Cotton Candy - Muntingia calabura. So, why Strawberry and why Cotton Candy?
🍒 Pretty white flowers with 4-5 petals look exactly like flowers of a Strawberry plant - hence the name.
🍒 The fruit as so sweet and tasty, have no acid whatsoever - this is why it is also called Cotton Candy!
🍒 This is probably the most profuse and rewarding fruiting tree! From spring to fall, you will harvest 2 crops a day once the plant is established.
🍒 Easy to grow, fast growing tree of a medium size 20 ft tall, and graceful umbrella-like shape. Drought tolerant, once established. Requires almost no care, however, it is sensitive to freeze. But if you live outside of Tropics - it grows well and fruits non-stop in containers!

🛒 Get a Strawberry Tree

#Edible_Forest #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 3 Jul 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

Why is it called Shaving Brush?

Shaving Brush Tree - Pseudobombax ellipticum, pink flower

Shaving Brush Tree - Pseudobombax ellipticum, white flower

⚡️ #Fun_Facts

Shaving Brush Tree Pseudobombax ellipticum has fluffy, pink or white flowers resembling a shaving brush, hence its name.

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 29 Jun 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

How to get big shade tree in one season with an ice cream on it? Its real!

Ice Cream Bean Inga

Ice Cream Bean Inga fruit

Ice Cream Bean Inga tree

🍧 How to get big shade tree in one season with an ice cream on it? It's real!

🍦 Ice Cream Bean Inga is the ultimate fast-growing, shade-providing fruit tree with an irresistible twist! It not only transforms your yard into a cool, inviting oasis in record time but also produces fruit that kids (and adults!) can't get enough of!
🍦 Picture this: pods up to a foot long, bursting with sweet, creamy pulp that tastes exactly like ice cream!
🍦 Craving instant shade? Perfect for those sunny spots where you need shade, the Ice Cream Bean Inga rapidly unfurls its lush, umbrella-like canopy, creating a natural, leafy retreat in just one season!
🍦 With its delectable treats and speedy growth, this extraordinary tree is sure to be the highlight of your garden - where shade and sweetness meet!

🛒 Get shade with ice cream benefit

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts #Nature_Wonders #How_to

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 28 Jun 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

Fruit of Money and Love

Theobroma cacao - Chocolate Tree, Cacao Tree

❤️💰 Fruit of Money and Love

Theobroma cacao, commonly known as the Chocolate Tree or Cacao Tree, is very exciting plant and a superfood as we mentioned earlier.

💥 Theobroma means "food of the gods" in Greek. "Theo" means god, and "broma" means food.
💥 The Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs were among the first to cultivate cacao, using it to make a bitter beverage called xocoatl. It was often spiced with chili peppers and used in various rituals and ceremonies.
💥 Currency: in ancient Mesoamerican cultures, cacao beans were so valuable that they were used as a form of currency. For example, 100 beans could buy a slave or a turkey.
💥 The Aztecs believed that cacao had stimulating properties and used it as an aphrodisiac. Emperor Montezuma was said to consume a large amount of cacao before visiting his harem. We can't deny that chocolate's mood-enhancing properties, combined with cultural and psychological factors, contribute to its romantic allure! ❤️
💥 A cacao pod contains 20 to 50 beans, each surrounded by a sweet, mucilaginous pulp. The pods grow directly on the trunk and larger branches of the tree, a feature known as cauliflory.
💥 After harvesting, cacao beans are fermented for several days, a critical step that develops the flavor precursors needed for chocolate production.
💥 The Cacao tree thrives in the humid, tropical regions around the equator. It can be grown as an exciting house plant.
💥 Health benefits: cacao beans are rich in antioxidants, magnesium, iron, and other minerals. They also contain flavonoids, associated with heart health benefits.
💥 There are three main varieties of cacao beans: Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario. Criollo is considered the highest quality but is less common due to its susceptibility to disease. Forastero is the most widely grown, known for its hardiness. Trinitario is a hybrid of the two.
💥 It takes about 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate. The beans undergo roasting, grinding, and mixing with sugar and other ingredients to produce the final chocolate product.

📚Learn more: Plants of Love - Aphrodisiacs of the plant world

🛒 Grow your own Chocolate Tree

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 28 Jun 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

Researchers discover what a perfume from Ancient Rome was made of: Patchouli!

Pogostemon cablin - Patchouli

Researchers discover what a perfume from Ancient Rome was made of: Patchouli!

⚡️ A research team at the University of Cordoba has identified the composition of a Roman perfume more than 2,000 years old thanks to the discovery of a small vessel of ointment in Carmona, Spain.
⚡️ The mausoleum held the remains of six individuals in six urns, one of which was made of glass and contained the remains of a woman who died between 30 and 40 years of age. Her cloth bag held a rock crystal flask sealed with a stone and bitumen and three amber beads...
⚡️The well-preserved material inside the flask was examined with X-ray diffraction, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry. The study determined that the scent was derived from Pogostemon cablin, a plant from India used to produce the scent Patchouli.
⚡️Patchouli only grows in the tropical climates of southern and southeastern Asia. This means it would have been imported into Roman territory and sold in products crafted for wealthy patrons who craved access to exotic ingredients.
⚡️ The high quality of the flask holding the scent suggests that it was a valuable product.

⚠️ Get your own valuable Patchouli Plant and always have the heavenly smell with you!

🛒 Plant your own Patchouli

#Perfume_Plants #Remedies #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 27 Jun 2024 Top Tropicals Telegram channel & chat

Why cannon balls grow on a tree with mollusk open mouth

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree with fruit

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flower

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree fruit

Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree flower

🔮 Why cannon balls grow on a tree with mollusk open mouth.

🐙 Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree - is a rare tree from South America with a bizarre fruit and flowers, that can be seen only in tropical botanic gardens.
🐙 It is a very tall tree with large, elliptical leaves
🐙 The pinkish-red flowers, strongly scented at night, grow directly from the trunk near the base of the crown, and not on the branches. They look like exotic mollusks! They have a complex structure with numerous stamens that resemble sea anemones or other marine life. The flower is often described as looking like an open mouth or a sea creature.
🐙 The tree blooms year round. Flowers are followed by large, globular fruit, up to 8 inches in diameter, resembling cannonballs, hence the name "Cannonball Tree." They remain on the tree for many months. On older trees there may be dozens of fruits and flower clusters at the same time!
🐙 When the ripe fruits fall from the tree, they can make a loud, cannonball-like noise upon hitting the ground due to their size and weight.