Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date:

Climbing 10 feet for Vanilla Beans! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Climbing 10 feet for Vanilla Beans!

Vanilla Bean Orchid - Vanilla planifolia

⭐️ Climbing 10 feet… for Vanilla Beans!
  • ⚡️ One of our Vanilla Bean Orchids at TopTropicals has big ambitions - it's already climbed 10 feet up a pine tree! We’re waiting (impatiently!) for those elegant yellow-green flowers, which will hopefully turn into vanilla beans.
  • ⚡️ Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia) is the plant behind that sweet, comforting vanilla flavor we all love. It starts off like any potted orchid, but soon sends out aerial roots and becomes a climber, wrapping itself around trees or trellises. In its natural habitat, it grows high into forest canopies, but in the garden it will happily scale any sturdy support you give it.
  • ⚡️ Once established, it flowers and sets the long green pods we call vanilla beans. Growing your own is a lesson in patience - from flower to dried bean can take month - but nothing beats harvesting your own vanilla for the kitchen.


📚 Learn more:

📱How to produce your own vanilla: secrets of hand-pollination.

🛒 Climb toward your own beans

#Shade_Garden #Container_garden #Food_Forest

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

The sun will rise. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

The sun will rise

Mr B the cat

Mr B the cat

🔥 The sun will rise

"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise." - Victor Hugo

🐈📸 Mr B the cat at sunset at Top Tropicals PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats #Quotes

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Homegrown coffee - the journey begins. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Homegrown coffee - the journey begins

Coffee tree - Coffea arabica

☕️ Homegrown coffee - the journey begins!

Coffee trees (Coffea arabica) that you saw blooming at Top Tropicals in May with fragrant, gardenia-like flowers, now in August - they are loaded with fruit! We will update on them once they turn red and ripe...

🛒 Start your own coffee harvest

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

🌸 Orchid Tree - Bauhinia: Winter Blooms & Year-Round Beauty

Collage showing Bauhinia blakeana with magenta flowers, Bauhinia variegata var. candida with white blooms, and Bauhinia monandra with pink speckled flowers; all suitable for gardens, with some varieties adapted to container growing if trimmed.
Bauhinia blakeana, Bauhinia variegata var. candida, and Bauhinia monandra – Orchid Trees in Bloom

Sometimes a plant stops you midwalk. Flowers so bright they almost glow, leaves shaped like butterflies — that’s a Bauhinia, the Orchid Tree. These fast growers bring color when many gardens are quiet, with some blooming in the heart of winter.

🌟 Why Grow Bauhinia?

  • Exotic blooms in colors from white to deep magenta
  • Distinctive leaves — nature’s own butterfly design
  • Many varieties flower in the cooler season
  • Fast growth, easy shaping, more blooms after pruning
  • Varieties for large yards, small gardens, and sunny patios
  • Tolerant of heat, drought, and poor soils

Bauhinia Care Tips

🌞 Outdoor

Full sun for best flowering, well-draining soil, deep watering once established. Light pruning after bloom keeps shape and encourages more flowers. Protect young plants from frost. During the growing season (Spring - Fall), apply a balanced fertilizer - like top-dress slow release fertilizer or controlled-release Green Magic. Liquid fertilizer Sunshine Boosters Megaflor can be used year around - to promote vigorous growth and abundant blooms.

🏡 Indoor / Patio

Bright sun (south window or outdoors in warm months), large pot with drainage, even moisture during growth, and a bloom-booster feed in season. Feed regularly with a balanced fertilizer controlled-release Green Magic. Liquid fertilizer Sunshine Boosters Megaflor can be used year around - to promote vigorous growth and abundant blooms. Bring indoors before frost.

🍂 Seasonal Note – Bauhinias are Deciduous

Bauhinias drop their leaves in winter — even in warm climates. This is normal and part of their rest cycle. Bare branches in the cool season will leaf out again in spring, often just as flowers begin.

📝 Quick choice guide

Shop Bauhinas

Watch videos about flowering trees

Date:

Lilys guide to the good life. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Lilys guide to the good life

Cat Lily (Lilimon)

🌳 Lily’s guide to the good life

Lily (aka Lilimon) has officially settled into Bfarm life - and she's living it up!

She's claimed a fluffy blanket as her spot, where she purrs away while kneading it like she's making bread.

When she's not in her cozy corner, she's off exploring the indoor jungle, getting into shenanigans with the other #PeopleCats, or joining in on Catnip Parties and rolling around like the happiest cat in the world!

Life is definitely treating Lily well.

🐈📸 Cat Lily has a happy life at Top Tropicals PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

The bizarre bloom you cant stop staring at. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

The bizarre bloom you cant stop staring at

Stapelia gigantea - Zulu Giant, Carrion Plant

⭐️ The bizarre bloom you cant stop staring at
  • ⭐️If there were an award for the strangest flower, the Starfish Flower - Stapelia gigantea - would be a top contender. Also known as the Zulu Giant or Carrion Plant, it produces massive blooms, sometimes 12 inches across, that look exactly like starfish. The pale ochre-yellow petals are lined with fine maroon stripes, giving the flowers a texture and color you can't ignore.
  • ⭐️ And then there's the smell!🐱

    • Its nickname Carrion Plant comes from its uncanny scent of rotting meat. While that might not sound appealing, it's a brilliant strategy for attracting its pollinators - flies - who can't resist investigating! Just like Amorphophallus - Corpse flower! 🐱
  • ⭐️The plant itself is a stunner even without flowers, with chunky, 4-angled succulent stems that sprawl sideways. In the ground, it can spread up to 24 inches wide, and in a pot, it makes a fantastic conversation piece. Despite its cactus-like appearance, it's actually a member of the Milkweed family. When it sets seed, each pod bursts to release silky parachutes that float away just like milkweed.
  • ⭐️It's bizarre, beautiful, and guaranteed to get people talking!


🛒 Add the Zulu giant to your garden

📚 Learn more:
The most bizarre flower

🎥 More video:

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

A chance to be better. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

A chance to be better

Marco the cat

Marco the cat

🐈🐈🐈 A chance to be better

"Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better." - Albert Einstein

🐈📸 Marco the cat is working on self-improvement at Top Tropicals PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats #Quotes

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Six guava varieties that will keep you picking year-round. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Six guava varieties that will keep you picking year-round

Tropical Guava - Psidium guajava

🍉 Six guava varieties that will keep you picking year-round
  • 🍉 Everyone loves guava! Sweet, fragrant, and packed with flavor. At TopTropicals, we have a whole guava forest, with varieties for every space and taste: Tropical Guava - Psidium guajava.
  • 🍉 Why we love Guava?

💋Fast-growing and sun-loving
  • 💋Thrives with plenty of water but handle short droughts
  • 💋Starts producing right away - no years of waiting
  • 💋Abundant fruit harvests
  • 💋Perfect for containers or small gardens

  • 🍉 What are the best Guava varieties? Our favorites are:

💋Dwarf Guava - stays under 6 feet but produces full-sized fruit.
  • 💋Honeymoon Variegated - leaves and fruit have variegated patterns, turning golden when ripe.
  • 💋Barbie Pink - pear-shaped yellow fruit with thick pink flesh, low in pectin, perfect for fresh eating or juice. Larger than Ruby Supreme and cold-hardy for a tropical fruit.
  • 💋Hong Kong (Hawaiian) - large, round fruit with smooth pink skin, sweet flavor, and few seeds. Very productive, with a spreading growth habit.
  • 💋Kilo White - huge fruit (up to 1 kilo = 2 lbs) with soft white flesh and few seeds. Great container plant, fruits even when small.
  • 💋Tikal - compact tree with yellow-skinned, pink-fleshed fruit. Fruits year-round and starts young. Great for beginners.

  • 🍉 Health boost in every bite:

    • Guava is one of the richest sources of vitamin C – even more than oranges. It’s loaded with antioxidants, fiber, potassium, and lycopene, which support immunity, heart health, and digestion.
  • 🍉 Whether you’ve got space for a tree in the yard or just a container on the patio, a guava will reward you with beauty, fragrance, and sweet fruit in no time.


🛒 Pick your guava variety

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest #Guava #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

Does your house fit you? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Does your house fit you?

⬆️ Does your house fit you?

"My house fits me! Or I fit the house?.."

🐈📸 Matilda loves her cat tree at PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
< Previous pageNext page >Most recent entryBlog table of contents