Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

🌠 What's that fragrance in the dark?

• 💐 Brunfelsia? People often ask: what can you plant in a shady spot that blooms year-round and smells amazing? The answer is Brunfelsia, known as Lady of the Night.
• 💐 This Brazilian beauty is a compact, shade-loving shrub that thrives in low light and rewards you with creamy white flowers. As the sun sets, the blooms release a sweet, unforgettable perfume that lingers through the night. It’s like nature’s way of setting the mood for evening strolls.
• 💐 Brunfelsia is more than just fragrance. Its flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds, turning shaded corners into lively little stages. Low-maintenance, pollinator-friendly, and elegant, it’s the answer to your prayers: shade, flowers, and fragrance all in one plant.
• 💐 The most fragrant Brunfelsias are the creamy-white varieties, often called Lady of the Night.

Popular species include: B. americana, B. isola, B. nitida, B. lactea, B. manaca, B. densifolia, B. gigantea.

Do you already grow Brunfelsia? What kind do you have in your garden?

🛒 Experience Brunfelsia fragrance

📚 Learn more about Brunfelsias:

• ✦ Five best fragrant plants for summer plantings
• ✦ What is the most fragrant Brunfelsia?
• ✦ What happens when you cross Cream and Lavender?
• ✦ Lavender Marble Perfume
• ✦ What is the difference between Brunfelsia americana and nitida?
• ✦ Brunfelsia americana - Lady of the night
• ✦ Brunfelsias

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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🍴 Curry leaf rice: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 🟢Fry curry leaves (Murraya koenigii) with mustard seeds, garlic, and chilies
• 🟢Stir into steamed rice for a fragrant side dish 🍛

🍛 Curry Leaf Rice recipes

Ingredients

• 1 cup steamed rice
• 1 handful fresh curry leaves (Murraya koenigii)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3-4 dried red chilies
• 1 tbsp oil or ghee
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds until they pop.
2. Add garlic, chilies, and curry leaves. Fry until fragrant.
3. Stir in steamed rice and mix well.
4. Season with salt and serve hot as a fragrant side dish 🍲

🛒Grow your own Curry Leaf Tree for exotic recipes

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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Plant for birds: feast for wildlife and people from a tiny vine!

• Passiflora suberosa - Corkystem Passion Flower: did you know this Florida native passion vine is more than just a butterfly host? Birds love it too - they’ll happily snack on the little fruits and sing you thank-you songs all day long!
• And yes, the fruit is edible for people as well! The berries are small, but they make a fun and exotic treat.
• The plants has a tiny flower and a tiny fruit – both only about half an inch – but together they create a mighty native habitat.
• It's a triple win: butterflies, birds, and people can all enjoy something from this charming little plant. Plus, it’s the larval host for Gulf Fritillary, Zebra Longwing, and Julia butterflies, and its tiny greenish flowers provide nectar all year long. Fast-growing, easy, and full of life – a real gem for any Florida garden.
• This vine is delicate and compact, perfect for a medium trellis or climbing a small tree. Unlike the big, aggressive passion vines that can cover a whole fence, this one stays manageable.
• This Passion vine is not just charming and wildlife-friendly, it’s also tough as nails. Cold hardy and easy to grow, this native vine takes whatever Florida throws at it – heavy rains, long droughts and heat, poor sandy soils, even total neglect – and still thrives. A perfect choice if you want beauty, wildlife, and resilience all in one little plant.

🛒 Plant this small and tough vine with food and wildlife benefits

📚 Learn more:

• ✦ What is the sweetest Passionfruit?
• ✦ How big is Giant Granadilla?
• ✦ Does Red Passion flower produce edible fruit?
• ✦ The truth about Passion flower and Passion fruit
• ✦ Top 20 plants for a Butterfly Haven
• ✦ Top Eight irresistible vines for a hummingbird haven

#Food_Forest #Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants #How_to

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🍴 Peanut butter fruit smoothie: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 🔴Peanut butter fruit (Bunchosia argentia) makes delicious shake!
• 🔴Blend ripe peanut butter fruits with milk and honey.
• 🔴A creamy shake that tastes like dessert straight from the tree!

Peanut Butter Fruit Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 cup ripe peanut butter fruit (Bunchosia argentea), seeded
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1–2 tablespoons honey
• Ice cubes (optional)

Instructions

1. Remove seeds from ripe peanut butter fruits.
2. Blend fruits with milk and honey until smooth.
3. Add ice cubes if desired for a chilled version.
4. Serve immediately and enjoy a creamy shake that tastes like dessert straight from the tree!

🛒 Harvest Peanut Butter Fruit - the tree is fast fruiting!

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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🌷 Ten shrubs you need to have for winter colors

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 get them in the ground so your garden will be bursting with flowers once the cool season arrives. In our earlier video, we shared 8 best flowering trees that will bloom for you in Winter. Now, here are the shrubs that will complete your colorful winter garden.

• 🌷 1. Mansoa alliacea - Garlic Vine

Known for its garlicky scent, it also puts on clusters of lavender to purple flowers in cool weather. Reliable and eye-catching, often trained on fences or trellises. 👉plant it
• 🌷 2. Dombeya wallichii - Tropical Hydrangea

Large pink pompom clusters hang like lanterns from the branches. Sweetly fragrant and showy, it creates a hydrangea effect right in winter. 👉plant it
• 🌷 3. Brunfelsia pauciflora Compacta - Dwarf Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow

Small and manageable, it opens purple flowers that fade to lavender and then white, giving the look of three colors at once. A cheerful winter bloomer for pots or borders. 👉plant it
• 🌷 4. Clerodendrum minahassae - Fountain Clerodendrum

This shrub lives up to its name with cascades of long white flower sprays, blooming heavily in the cooler months and brightening shaded corners. 👉plant it
• 🌷 5. Tibouchina multiflora (grandifolia) - Glory bush, Quaresmeira

Covered in clusters of soft, fuzzy purple blooms, this shrub adds tropical flair during the cooler months. Its velvety leaves are ornamental year-round. 👉plant it
• 🌷 6. Holmskioldia sanguinea - Red Chinese hat

Cup-shaped bracts form red “hats” around small flowers. This shrub stands out with unique form and long-lasting blooms. 👉plant it
• 🌷 7. Barleria cristata - Philippine violet

A hardy shrub with masses of purple-violet blooms in the cool season. It flowers when many plants are quiet, adding dependable winter color. 👉plant it
• 🌷 8. Thunbergia erecta - King’s Mantle

A compact shrub with velvety purple blooms and bright yellow throats. It’s neat, easy to manage, and flowers generously in winter. 👉plant it
• 🌷 9. Eranthemum pulchellum - Blue Sage, Lead Flower

Few shrubs can match its electric-blue spikes of flowers in winter. Compact and low-care, it brings a rare color to the cool season garden. 👉plant it
• 🌷 10. Petrea volubilis (racemosa) - Queen’s wreath

A woody vine-shrub that bursts into cascading sprays of lavender stars. It flowers heavily in winter, resembling wisteria in the tropics. 👉plant it
🛒 Explore Winter bloomers

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️8 best flowering trees that will bloom for you in Winter
• ▫️9 best tropical shrubs that bloom all summer long or year around
• ▫️4 best low-growing perennials that bloom all summer

#Hedges_with_benefits #Discover

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🍴 Loquat salsa: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 
  🔴Dice Loquat fruit with tomato, onion, and jalapeno.
• 🔴Great spooned over grilled fish or eaten with chips.

Loquat Salsa Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh loquats, peeled, pitted, and diced
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno, finely diced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Peel and pit the loquats, then dice them into small cubes.
2. Dice tomatoes and onion, finely chop the jalapeno.
3. In a bowl, combine loquats, tomato, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro.
4. Add lime juice and salt to taste, stir gently to mix.
5. Chill for 15 minutes before serving.

Serving Suggestions

• Serve with tortilla chips.
• Spoon over grilled fish, chicken, or shrimp.
• Use as a topping for tacos or salads.

🛒Plant your Loquat tree

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Loquat

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🚚 How do we ship plants?

🚚 How do we ship plants?

📦 More pictures of packing plants for the previous videos:

• ▫️How do we ship plants? Part 1: prepare the plant
• ▫️How do we ship plants? Part 2: packing in the box
• ▫️How do we ship plants, Part 3: it's Christmas - unwrapping is fun?

📸 In the pictures:

• · James Coconuts managing Shipping Department at TopTropicals
• · Plants packed in boxes and ready to go
• · Plant packing conveyer
• · Mittens is a new Shipping hire

🛒 Shop plants online

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Shipping information page
• ▫️Planting instructions

#How_to

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🚚 How do we ship plants, Part 3: it's Christmas - unwrapping is fun?

• 📦 In the previous videos (Part 1: prepare the plant and Part 2: packing in the box), we showed you how we ship the plant to you.

You received the package - what is next?
• 📦 Every order comes with planting instructions. Read them first!

How to take care of your mail order plant (potted plant)

When your plant arrives, carefully remove it from the box and water it right away.

• ▫️Place it in bright light but out of direct sun for the first few days so it can recover from shipping.
• ▫️Keep the soil evenly moist, not soggy.
• ▫️After about a week, gradually introduce it to more sun or move it to its permanent spot.
• ▫️Read detailed instructions.

🌴 How to plant your mail order plant in the ground

• ▫️Don't put a new plant straight from the box into the ground!
• ▫️First, pot it up and let it recover and grow strong for a few weeks.
• ▫️Once it's well established, choose a sunny, well-drained spot outdoors.
• ▫️Dig a hole twice as wide as the pot, place the plant at the same depth, and backfill with good, rich soil.
• ▫️Water thoroughly to settle the roots and add mulch around the base, keeping it away from the stem.
• ▫️Keep watering regularly until the plant takes off.
• ▫️Read detailed instructions.

🎥 Part 3 shows you how to unpack a plant. Happy Gardening!

🛒 Shop plants online

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Shipping information page
• ▫️Planting instructions
• ▫️How do we ship plants? Part 1: prepare the plant
• ▫️How do we ship plants? Part 2: packing in the box

#How_to

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🍴 10-minute recipe Bo La Lot with a leaf you’ve never cooked before!

• 🌮 Forget boring tacos - this wrap will blow your mind! In Vietnam they call it Bo La Lot - beef wrapped in peppery Lalot leaves.
• 🌮 It started as grape leaf wraps in the Middle East, but in tropical Asia grapes don’t grow, so people swapped to Lalot. Way more flavor than grape leaves!
• 🌮 Grilled beef, garlic, onion, lemongrass - all can be tucked into these shiny green leaves. Smoky, juicy, and so good you’ll wonder why you didn't try it sooner! It's better than grape leaf wraps, because it has so much flavor!
• 🌮 Most large leaf pepper plants will work for this recipe - Vietnamese pepper Lalot (Piper sarmentosum), Betel Leaf (Piper betle), or even large leaves of the traditional Black Pepper plant (Piper nigrum).

🌯 BO LA LOT RECIPE

✔️ Ingredients

• · 1 pound ground beef or turkey
• · 2 tablespoons chopped lemongrass (optional)
• · 1 tbsp spice powder
• · 1 tbsp curry powder
• · 1 tbsp finely minced garlic
• · 1 tbsp oyster sauce or fish sauce (optional)
• · 1 tsp ground black pepper
• · 1 tbsp finely minced shallots
• · 1 tbsp soy sauce
• · 2 tsp sugar or honey
• · 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• · 1/2 tbsp salt
• · 10-15 fresh Lalot leaves

• 👉 Directions

• · Preheat the grill.
• · Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
• · Wrap about 2 tablespoons of the mixture into each betel leaf.
• · Spear 3 to 4 betel leaf wraps onto a skewer and grill until the meat is thoroughly cooked.
• · Be sure to eat immediately.

🛒 Grow Leaf Pappers for tasty, peppery recipes

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Lalot beef wraps: Quick-n-Fun exotic recipes
• ▫️Vietnamese Pepper - Lalot food wraps BBQ recipe
• ▫️How to grow your own Pepper plants. Five most valuable Pipers
• ▫️How to to get Pepper leaves large and green

📱 Growing" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" > Lalot Pepper

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Container_Garden #How_to

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🍴 Moringa omelet: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 🟡Whisk eggs with chopped Moringa leaves, garlic, and a dash of soy sauce.
• 🟡Pour into a hot pan with some cooking oil and cook for a minute or two until fluffy and golden.
• 🟡A green power-packed breakfast!

Moringa Omelet

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup fresh Moringa leaves (chopped)
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1 tomato (diced)
• 1 clove garlic (minced)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp oil or butter

Instructions

1. Beat the eggs in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a pan, sauté onion, garlic, and tomato until soft.
3. Add the chopped Moringa leaves and cook for 1 minute.
4. Pour in the beaten eggs and cook until set, flipping once.
5. Serve hot with rice or bread.

🛒 Plant Moringa tree and harvest superfood year around

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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