Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

👀 Stare for 15 seconds without blinking to watch her tail wet! (or not)

"Some test the water with a toe; others just send the intern." - Dave Barry

🐈📸 Cat Niki testing the waters at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden

#PeopleCats #Quotes

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🐟 When the Goldfish blooms...

• 🐡 If you’ve never seen a Columnea Melissa - Flying Goldfish Plant in full bloom, get ready for a surprise. Columnea Melissa is one of those houseplants that looks almost too whimsical to be real. Its bright orange flowers pop out along long, velvety stems, and every single one looks like a tiny goldfish with wings. When the plant starts cascading, it really does look like a whole school of flying fish drifting through the air.
• 🐡 This plant comes from tropical cloud forests, so it loves humidity, gentle light, and steady moisture. An airy mix, a hanging basket, and a bright window are all it really asks for. Cooler winter temps are fine, just keep watering on the light side.
• 🐡 Give it a kitchen or bathroom windowsill and it will reward you with nonstop color. It’s one of those plants that visitors always point at and say… okay, what is THAT?

🛒 Add showy Flying Goldfish Plant to your collection

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️The most colorful houseplant
• ▫️This goldfish lives in a pot and Why is it called Gold Fish Plant
• ▫️Six colorful plants for your indoor garden

#Container_Garden

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🍴 Feijoa coconut loaf: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 🔴Mix Feijoa pulp into a coconut quick-bread batter.
• 🔴Bakes into a fragrant tropical treat.

🛒 Plant exotic fragrant Feijoa - Pineapple Guava

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Pineapple Guava: fragrant fruit, beautiful blooms, and real health benefits
• ▫️Why is it called Pineapple Guava? It tastes just like strawberries! Feijoa Superfood.

#Food_Forest #Recipes

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🐣 When eggs hit luxury status, you know times are tough

"An egg today is better than a hen tomorrow." - Benjamin Franklin

🐈📸 Cat James Coconuts, who owns the kitchen, says that at these prices, he is guarding them like gold at PeopleCats.Garden

#PeopleCats #Quotes

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🍒 5 fruits that help manage gout (high uric acid)

💥 High uric acid, hyperuricemia, also called gout, causes painful swelling in joints and can affect kidney health over time. Medicine helps, but so does what you grow and eat. Some fruits can naturally flush out excess uric acid and reduce inflammation. Here are five easy fruit trees and plants that can help:

🍋 Citrus
Citrus trees are great to grow in pots or sunny yards. Lemons and oranges are rich in vitamin C, which helps kidneys remove uric acid and keeps the body’s pH balanced. A glass of lemon water in the morning or a fresh orange during the day can help. Studies in Science Direct show lemon juice lowers uric acid levels in the blood.

Berries (mulberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries)
Berries are packed with antioxidants that fight inflammation and support kidney health. Mulberry trees are perennial trees and bushes that produce berries year after year. They grow well in both temperate and warm areas, and are an easy choice for all backyard gardeners. Mulberry high water content helps flush out toxins. Research from the National Institute of Health shows berries rich in polyphenols can lower uric acid naturally.

🍒 Cherries
Cherries are one of the best fruits for gout. They’re rich in anthocyanins, compounds that reduce inflammation and uric acid levels. National Institute of Health studies have found regular cherry intake helps lower gout attacks. Dwarf cherry trees can grow in large pots if space is limited.

🍌 Bananas
Bananas are rich in potassium, which helps the kidneys remove uric acid more efficiently, according to PubMed central. They’re also low in purines, the compounds that form uric acid. Dwarf banana varieties grow well in containers and add a tropical look while supporting healthy digestion and uric acid balance.

🍍Pineapple
Pineapple contains bromelain, a natural enzyme that eases swelling and pain caused by gout. It’s also refreshing and supports kidney function. Studies by global health science group show pineapple juice can help reduce inflammation and uric acid. It’s easy to grow in a pot or sunny garden bed.

These fruits won’t replace medicine, but they can support your body’s natural detox system. Grow them, eat them fresh, and enjoy both their flavor and health benefits.

🛒 Explore Fruit trees and grow your own natural remedies

📚 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
• ▫️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.
• ▫️Top 10 fruiting plants you'll ever need for your health benefits

#Food_Forest #Mango #Remedies #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

⬆️ Right side up

"Sometimes you have to turn the world upside down to see it right side up." - Molly Friedenfeld

🐈📸 Cat Wesley is a wise purrson at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden

#PeopleCats #Quotes

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

👹 This giant red stared right back at me

• 🌺 Disocactus ackermanni, also called the Red Orchid Cactus, or Jungle Cactus - is one of those plants that surprises you even when you already know it well. It grows like a tropical fern, with flat, leaflike stems that hang and drape from a basket. Most of the year it looks calm and green. Then, without much warning, it opens a single huge, bright red flower that can reach up to 6 inches wide. The color is intense, almost glowing, and the bloom only lasts a short time, which makes it even more special.
• 🌺 Despite being a cactus, it behaves nothing like a desert plant. This species is native to the tropical forests of Mexico, where it grows as an epiphyte in trees. It prefers shade or filtered light, and it enjoys regular watering. No spines, no trouble, just a very unusual growth habit and a spectacular bloom.
• 🌺 The plant usually flowers from spring through summer, sometimes offering more than one flush. When it does, it always steals attention, and it is one of those plants visitors immediately point at and ask about. This makes it a favorite among collectors of epiphytic cacti and unusual hanging plants.
• 🌺 If you grow it in a hanging basket and give it bright shade, humidity, and consistent moisture, it rewards you with one of the most striking red flowers you will ever see!

🛒 Add Red Orchid Cactus to your collection

📚 Learn more:
Red Orchid Cactus puts out the biggest bloom show
More epiphytic jungle cacti:
Epiphyllum oxypetalum - Queen of the Night
Pseudorhipsalis (Wittia) amazonica - Blue Flame
Epiphyllum guatemalense Monstrosa - Orchid Cactus, Curly Locks

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🍴 Hog plum chutney: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 🔴Simmer Hog Plums with chilies, ginger, and sugar.
• 🔴Sweet, sour, and fiery - perfect with curries.

🛒 Plant a Hog Plum and always have juicy fruit: you can freeze it too!

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️ Why everyone's falling for the Hog Plum
• ▫️ Hog Plum health benefits
• ▫️ This is how the flowers of a Hog Plum look like
• ▫️ The Hog Plum tree fruit
• ▫️ What fruit tree is full of fruit year around

#Food_Forest #Recipes

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🐣 This cat has sophisticated eyes!

"The real luxury is time - time to think, time to create, time to simply be." - Coco Chanel

🐈📸 Cat Cash and his luxury life at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden

#PeopleCats #Quotes

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Pram Kai Mai: a sweeter twist on Nam Doc Mai with a story - Mango Rainbow🌈

• 🟡Why mango collectors chase after Pram Kai Mai?

Pram Kai Mai is like Nam Doc Mai’s cooler cousin - with even better flavor. This Thai mango can be eaten green when it’s sweet and crispy, or fully ripe when it turns golden and silky. No fiber, just smooth, juicy flesh and a tropical aroma that hits you as soon as you slice it. It’s semi-dwarf, great for pots, and some trees even fruit more than once a year. Rare, compact, and loaded with flavor - this one’s a collector’s dream.
• 🟡Pram Kai Mai is a Thai dessert mango known for its gentle sweetness and smooth, almost fiberless flesh. The name appears in several spellings - Pram Kai Mai, Pram Kai Mea, Pram Kai Mia, Prom Ki Mia, and even Brahm Kai Meu - all referring to the same variety.
• 🟡If we break down the original Thai name พร้ามกายเมีย (Brahm/Pram/Prom Kai Mea/Mai/Mia) literally: Brahm / Pram / Prom relates to "noble, elevated, precious".

กาย - Kai means body
เมีย - Mia means wife
But no one in Thailand interprets this name word-for-word.
In mango names, this construction works as a cultural compliment, a gentle metaphor. The meaning is closer to:
"A mango so good you would save it for the one you love most."
or "A fruit worthy of a beloved wife".
Similar to how in other languages we may call something "royal", "special", or "meant for someone dear", this name is simply expressing admiration.

And the fruit truly matches that feeling. It is fragrant and sweet, with soft tender flesh. It can be enjoyed while still crisp and green, when its flavor is clean and refreshing, or fully ripe, when it becomes rich and smooth, almost melting on the tongue.

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Learn more: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals