Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

🕺 Updates from Mittens

• 
  🐾 Hi everyone, it’s me - Mittens! I’m all grown up now (well, almost). I still go to work with my Mom Chiane - every single day. I help pack your plants, inspect boxes, and sometimes take important naps on the shipping table. I haven’t missed a single day of work!
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  🐾 Everyone says I’m part of the team now, not just a trainee. I think they’re right - after all, who else leaves magic paw prints on your boxes?
• 
  🐾 If you stop by our Garden Center in Ft Myers, come say hi to me, King, Snitch, and my other friends. We’re the #PeopleCats, and we work hard to make sure your plants travel happy and safe to their new homes!

🐈📸 Chiane and Mittens getting ready for work at TopTropicals / PeopleCats.Garden

#PeopleCats

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🏆 The secret Brain Food growing in my backyard (and it tastes like green peas!)

• 🌿 Katuk, or Tropical Asparagus (Sauropus androgynus), is one of the most underrated edible plants you can grow. This leafy tropical shrub is a superfood in disguise. It grows fast, looks lush, and its tender young shoots taste just like green peas.
• 🌿 Native to Southeast Asia, Katuk is a kitchen staple in places like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand. The leaves and shoots are used in soups, stews, and stir-fries with egg or seafood. It’s not only delicious but also incredibly nutritious - rich in nutrients linked to improved memory and reduced cognitive aging: folate, lutein, and especially vitamin K, which is rare in plants.
• 🌿 Katuk thrives in sun or partial shade, needs little care, and grows into a dense, bushy plant that gives you edible greens all year round. If you want something that feeds both your garden and your health, this one’s a winner!

🛒 Add Katuk Superfood to your Food Forest

Lean more:
🍴 Katuk egg stir-fry: Quick-n-Fun exotic recipes
✔️ Discover the health benefits of Katuk: a Superfood for your mind and body
📚 Tropical Asparagus, Katuk: Grow your own food
📱 How to cook with Katuk

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Discover

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💄 Do you have Shampoo Ginger in your garden?

💄Pine Cone Ginger (Zingiber Zerumbet), is called Shampoo Ginger due to its unique, milky substance found in the cones. If you squeeze these bright red cones, a fragrant, milky liquid seeps out - traditionally used in Asia and Hawaii as a natural shampoo. Even today, you’ll find it in commercial shampoos.

🛒 Grow your own Natural Shampoo Ginger

📚 Learn more:

• 🟡 Free natural shampoo: squeeze it and see what comes out!
• 🟡 What Ginger makes a natural shampoo?
• 🟡5 most spectacular Ginger species

#Shade_Garden #Container_Garden #Remedies #Fun_Facts

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🐱 You won't believe who was trapped inside!

"What matters most is how well you walk through the fire!" - Charles Bukowski

🐈📸 Cash-n-Bob Cat Circus at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Cashews: more magnesium than almonds!

• 🌰 Cashews might be the real nutty winner when it comes to magnesium. One ounce provides about 83 mg, or roughly 20% of your daily need, slightly topping almonds at 76 mg, according to Verywell Health.
• 🌰 Magnesium plays a key role in your body’s daily operations - it helps your heart, muscles, and bones function properly, keeps blood pressure steady, and supports your energy and metabolism. Yet many people still fall short of getting enough.
• 🌰 Along with magnesium, cashews are packed with protein, healthy fats, copper, zinc, and iron - all nutrients your body depends on.

🏆 More magnesium-rich fruit:

Avocado
Avocados are famous for their healthy fats, but they’re also surprisingly high in magnesium - about 58 mg per medium fruit. That’s one of the highest amounts among fruits. Their creamy texture and fiber content make them especially gentle on the stomach, helping digestion and easing constipation. Regularly adding avocado to meals can support gut health, muscle function, and overall mineral balance in a naturally delicious way.

🍍 Pineapple
Best known for its enzyme bromelain, pineapple also provides a helpful 20 mg of magnesium per cup. While not the top source, it offers a rare combination of fiber, enzymes, and minerals that benefit the digestive system. Bromelain helps reduce inflammation in the gut, and magnesium keeps digestive muscles relaxed. Together, they make pineapple a light, refreshing choice for better digestion and a balanced system.

✅ How to get more magnesium:

• • Eat a mix of magnesium-rich foods every day - your body only absorbs about half of what you consume.
• • Try pairing magnesium-rich sources. Add Cashews, Avocados, Bananas, Pineapple, or Spinach to your meals and snacks.
• • Remember, caffeine, age, and certain medications can reduce absorption, so balance your diet and check with your doctor if needed.
• • A handful of cashews can go a long way - for your heart, your energy, and your bones.

🛒 Explore your future food forest: fruit and edibles

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Grow your own brain food: avocado and cacao
• ▫️Plant a fruit tree - and breathe easier: fruit might be the surprising key to healthier lungs
• ▫️Tropical fruit health benefits guide - what fruit and edibles can help with health issues and vitamin deficiencies, Part 1 and Part 2.
• ▫️Five best fruit trees to plant in Summer
• ▫️10 best fruit trees to grow in Florida and Southern landscapes
• ▫️Top 10 fruiting plants you'll ever need for your health benefits

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Discover

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😳 The earth laughs in flowers

"The earth laughs in flowers." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

🐈📸 Cats Bob at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden.

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Why gardeners are swapping white Butterfly Ginger for this yellow giant

Hedychium flavum x coronarium, Yellow Butterfly Ginger, Nardo Ginger Lily - this variety grow fast and much bigger and vigorous than classic White Butterfly Ginger. More flowers - more fragrance!

What makes it especially nice:

• If you love fragrance in your garden, this plant delivers - the scent from the flower spikes can be wonderfully strong in warm evenings.
• The yellow-toned flowers are a subtle variation on the classic white butterfly ginger, so you get the same delightful form and perfume but with a twist of color.
• Bold foliage gives a tropical look - great for adding height, texture and a sense of lushness.
• Because it grows somewhat larger and more vigorous, it can create a dramatic feature rather than just a filler plant. Make sure you have enough room, especially if planted near other plants.
• Because the flowers last only a day each (in the white butterfly ginger, each flower lasts about one day) according to one source, you’ll see new blooms and old blooms in succession rather than long-lasting individual flowers.
• This yellow-butterfly ginger hybrid ticks all the boxes of a showy, fragrant, tropical-style plant with personality. Give it the space, moisture and good soil it craves, and you’ll be rewarded with lush leaves and clusters of softly yellow, scented blooms that draw in attention - and sniffers - all summer long!

🛒 Plant Perfumed Butterfly Ginger

📚Learn more:

• ▫️Rare Butterfly Gingers
• ▫️The most fragrant ginger

#Shade_Garden #Perfume_Plants

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🌺 Winter flowering trees and shrubs - all you need for winter color in your garden.

Many snowbirds ask what to plant when they’re here just for the season. The answer is simple: go for trees and shrubs that bloom in winter. Fall is the perfect time to plant them, so your garden bursts with flowers once the cool season arrives.

📱 We put everything in one place for you!
Check out this single YouTube Post with all our favorite winter-blooming trees and shrubs - your shortcut to a colorful garden this season:
http://youtube.com/post/UgkxRWCHqNDqrRIIwK_BAeWjfi3spnZK0EbA?si=LbNv_RhkKGkc0rxv
Save it for later and share it with your garden friends.

🌸 Videos on Winter flowering trees and shrubs:

• ▫️ Eight best winter blooming trees
• ▫️ Ten shrubs you need to have for winter colors

👉 See more...

🛒 Want to grow your own winter color garden?

• 👉 Find all these flowering trees and shrubs here


#Discover #Trees #Hedges_with_benefits

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🎀 Cherish those with whom you can be yourself 🍕

"...Cherish those with whom you can be yourself -
without masks, without pretense, without the need for words.
Those beside whom your soul breathes freely,
where silence is not empty, but full of quiet understanding.

Guard such people carefully -
they do not come by chance.
They are gifts of fate, gentle reminders of what is true.
There are few of them in this world, only a handful,
but they are the ones who light your journey
and keep your heart alive..."

🐈📸 Cat Shura aka Lil S*t found her soulmate at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden.

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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🍒 Tropical fruits that help you sleep better

🌱 Looking for a natural way to fall asleep faster? Skip the pills and head for the fruit bowl. Some tropical fruits are surprisingly rich in melatonin, the hormone that tells your body it's bedtime. According to a study referenced by New York City Nutrition, eating melatonin-rich fruits about an hour before bedtime can naturally support better sleep quality.

😴 Melatonin naturally rises at night, helping you feel sleepy and cooling your body temperature. But things like blue light from phones, jet lag, or late-night stress can throw it off. That’s where certain fruits can help - they either contain melatonin or boost your body’s ability to make it.

🍒 Cherries
Both sweet and tart cherries are sleep boosters. Tart cherry juice is especially effective because it’s concentrated - studies show it can raise melatonin levels and increase total sleep time. Just go easy on added sugar. Try pairing the juice with almonds or cheese to keep your blood sugar steady before bed.

🍍Pineapple
In one study, people who ate pineapple had a big jump in melatonin levels just two hours later. It’s also loaded with vitamin C and enzymes that aid digestion, making it a nice evening snack. Have it with a bit of protein, like yogurt or nuts, to avoid a sugar spike.

🍌 Banana
Bananas don’t contain much melatonin on their own, but they help your body make it. They’re full of tryptophan and magnesium, both of which support serotonin and melatonin production. A banana before bed can calm muscles and nerves - no wonder it’s a favorite natural sleep aid.

✅ Bottom line
A small fruit snack in the evening - cherries, pineapple, or banana - can help your body settle into sleep mode naturally. Eat it about an hour before bed, keep screens dim, and let nature do the rest.

🛒 Grow your own fruit and sleep better

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Plant a fruit tree - and breathe easier: fruit might be the surprising key to healthier lungs
• ▫️11 tropical fruits to eat instead of taking a fiber supplement
• ▫️Tropical fruit health benefits guide - what fruit and edibles can help with health issues and vitamin deficiencies, Part 1 and Part 2.
• ▫️Five best fruit trees to plant in Summer
• ▫️10 best fruit trees to grow in Florida and Southern landscapes
• ▫️Top 10 fruiting plants you'll ever need for your health benefits

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals