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Index > Garden Blog

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How to Grow Your Own Cinnamon Tree Spice and Health Right by the Kitchen

Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum aromaticum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum), young leaves

Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum aromaticum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum), young leaves

Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum aromaticum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum), flowers

Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum aromaticum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum), flowers

Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum aromaticum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum)

Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum aromaticum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum)

Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum aromaticum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum), balk and leaves

Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum aromaticum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum), balk and leaves

🏺 How to Grow Your Own Cinnamon Tree – Spice and Health Right by the Kitchen
  • 🌿 The Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum aromaticum or zeylanicum), is an easy, fast-growing tropical plant that thrives in pots, making it perfect for patios, balconies, or even sunny indoor spaces.
  • 🌿 It naturally grows compact and bushy, so it's great for container gardeners - even those outside the tropics.
  • 🌿 You don't need to wait years for fruit - because cinnamon is the bark and the leaves!
  • 🌿 Once your tree is established, you can begin gently harvesting bark and fragrant leaves. Both parts of the plant are bursting with that signature warm aroma. Use the bark as a spice in baking, curries, or mulled drinks, and steep the leaves in teas or add them to savory dishes.
  • 🌿 Cinnamon has been treasured for over 4,000 years. Ancient Egyptians used it in rituals, and Roman emperors burned it at funerals to show wealth - it was once worth more than gold. Its value helped drive global trade and exploration.
  • 🌿 Today, cinnamon is celebrated not just for its flavor, but also its health benefits. It may help lower blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and fight bacteria and fungi. It's even linked to improved memory and brain function! The tree's powerful scent comes from cinnamaldehyde, a natural compound with medicinal properties.
  • 🌿 Two main types of cinnamon:

🟤 Cassia Cinnamon – stronger, spicier, and most common in supermarkets
🟤 Ceylon Cinnamon – milder and sweeter, often called "true cinnamon"

🌿 In short: With a cinnamon tree near your kitchen, you’re not just growing a plant - you're growing a spice, a medicine, a piece of world history, and a daily source of joy!

🛒Start growing yours today - fresh, homegrown cinnamon is truly the spice of life!

📚 Lean more from previous posts:

#Food_Forest #How_to #Remedies

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How to tell the difference between Jasmine Sambac Varieties

How to tell the difference between Jasmine Sambac Varieties

  • 💮 Jasminum Sambac is hands down the most fragrant jasmine in existence - and the most popular among tropical gardeners and plant collectors.

  • 💮 Native to India, it's the source of jasmine perfume oil and the signature ingredient in jasmine tea.

  • 💮 This plant comes in several varieties, each with unique flower size, shape, and growth habit - ranging from compact shrubs to vigorous bushes and climbing vines. It takes both sun and shade and makes a perfect container plant and indoor plant favorite.

  • 💮 All varieties of Sambac are equally fragrant. To get more flowers, just use Sunshine Pikake plant booster and enjoy the perfume all day long!

  • 💮 At Top Tropicals, we grow every known variety of Jasminum sambac in cultivation:


Arabian Nights - compact slow growing shrub with small delicate flowers

Belle of India - compact vine with long elegant petals, shade lover

Grand Duke of Tuscany - the most popular, vigorous bush with carnation-like flowers

Grand Duke Supreme - bigger, more vigorous version of Grand Duke with larger flowers

Gundu Malli - new hybrid between Arabian Nights and Grand Duke

Little Duke - more compact version of the Grand Duke

Maid of Orleans - vigorous full sun climber, great for hedges and fences

Mali Chat - very delicate, rare variety, with miniature 3-tier flowers, not easy to establish, shade lover

Mysore Mulli - vigorous vining shrub for sunny or semi-shade locations

🛒 Smell the Difference – Shop Sambac varieties

Learn more:
📚 Jasminum Sambac Absolute Flower - book download

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits #How_to #Discover

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Date:

How to tell the difference between Jasmine Sambac Varieties

Jasminum Sambac varieties

How to tell the difference between Jasmine Sambac Varieties
  • 💮 Jasminum Sambac is hands down the most fragrant jasmine in existence - and the most popular among tropical gardeners and plant collectors.
  • 💮 Native to India, it's the source of jasmine perfume oil and the signature ingredient in jasmine tea.
  • 💮 This plant comes in several varieties, each with unique flower size, shape, and growth habit - ranging from compact shrubs to vigorous bushes and climbing vines. It takes both sun and shade and makes a perfect container plant and indoor plant favorite.
  • 💮 All varieties of Sambac are equally fragrant. To get more flowers, just use Sunshine Pikake plant booster and enjoy the perfume all day long!
  • 💮 At Top Tropicals, we grow every known variety of Jasminum sambac in cultivation:


Arabian Nights - compact slow growing shrub with small delicate flowers

Belle of India - compact vine with long elegant petals, shade lover

Grand Duke of Tuscany - the most popular, vigorous bush with carnation-like flowers

Grand Duke Supreme - bigger, more vigorous version of Grand Duke with larger flowers

Gundu Malli - new hybrid between Arabian Nights and Grand Duke

Little Duke - more compact version of the Grand Duke

Maid of Orleans - vigorous full sun climber, great for hedges and fences

Mali Chat - very delicate, rare variety, with miniature 3-tier flowers, not easy to establish, shade lover

Mysore Mulli - vigorous vining shrub for sunny or semi-shade locations

🛒 Smell the Difference – Shop Sambac varieties

Learn more:
📚 Jasminum Sambac Absolute Flower - book download

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits #How_to #Discover

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

How to Plant a Tree - A Fun Guide

How to Plant a Tree - A Fun Guide
🌳 How to Plant a Tree - A Fun Guide
  1. Dig a Big Hole

  2. Start by digging a hole 2-3 times the size of the pot. Make sure it's deep enough to give your tree's roots room to grow. Remove any sandy dirt or rocks—replace them with rich, nutrient-packed soil to help your tree establish.

    2️⃣ Place the Tree Just Right
    Gently remove your tree from the pot and place it in the hole. The base of the tree (where the roots meet the trunk) should sit slightly above ground level (2-3"). Avoid covering the trunk with soil to allow for proper air circulation and to promote a healthy tree.

    3️⃣ Mound the Soil
    Add nutrient-rich soil around the roots, then toss in a handful of granulated fertilizer. With the leftover soil, build a little mound around the tree to form a "bagel" shape. This will help water stay around the roots and give your tree a strong start.

    4️⃣ Add Mulch and Water
    Spread mulch around the tree, but leave a small gap around the trunk. Water generously to settle the soil and give your tree a refreshing drink. Water by hand daily for the first couple of weeks or until you see new growth. After that, you can rely on sprinklers.

    ⭐️ With these simple steps, your tree will be off to a great start!

    🛒 Go plant shopping to excersize your green thumb and make our planet better

    📚Learn more:
    How to plant a tree: care of mail-order plants and detailed planting instructions (PDF)

    #How_to #Trees #Discover

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Pre-hurricane season tips: how to protect your trees from winds

Spathodea campanulata - African Tulip Tree

Spathodea campanulata - African Tulip Tree

Tabebuia caraiba - Yellow trumpet tree crooked with wind

Tabebuia caraiba - Yellow trumpet tree crooked with wind

🌪 Pre-hurricane season tips: how to protect your trees from winds

Some trees like mango have deep roots and handle wind well. Others - like our favorites Spathodea campanulata - African Tulip Tree or Tabebuia caraiba - Yellow trumpet tree (in the photos) - need extra care. You've likely seen crooked Tabebuias in South Florida or lost a bushy Tulip Tree to strong winds. Their wide crowns act like sails in a storm.

💨 To help your trees withstand wind damage:
  • ✅ Stake young trees with strong support - use a tripod-style setup (three bamboo sticks or boards secured around the tree for balance from all sides)
  • ✅ Check and adjust supports every 6 months
  • ✅ Trim long or rubbing branches - they break first
  • ✅ Add extra support if a storm is coming (larger trees benefit from sturdy tripod-style bracing with boards)
  • ✅ Lighten bushy growth, less sail = more survival

💡 Some remove all leaves from plumeria before a hurricane - it works!
💡 We pruned our Tulip Tree and Ceiba - and they withstood Hurricane Milton while others fell
  • ✅ If a tree falls, stand it up ASAP and support it. Trim broken branches - they’ll remind you what needed pruning before, not after!
  • ✅ Trees protected young, grow strong for life.


🛒 Grab your beautiful Tulip Tree and Tabebuia Tree today - support them early for strength and beauty later!

📚Learn more:
Everyone loves these tulips growing on a tree

#How_to #Trees #Discover

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What is the best plant for a carefree flower border

Dietes - African Iris

🔤 What is the best plant for a carefree flower border
  • 🪷 How to add effortless elegance in your garden?

  • Dietes - African Iris - is a stunning, exotic beauty with delicate pale yellow flowers and bold maroon markings. It blooms in cycles throughout the warm months, giving your garden a fresh, elegant look time and time again. With its graceful, clumping sword-like foliage, it adds texture year-round. Plus, it thrives on neglect!
  • 🪷 What makes African Iris a must-have?

Tough, drought-tolerant, flood-tolerant, and cold-tolerant, African Iris is perfect for virtually any type of landscape. It handles heat, sun, and even partial shade like a champ, and it's perfect for xeriscaping, borders, or mass plantings.

🛒 Get African Iris for a low-maintenance, always-blooming showstopper

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #How_to #Discover

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How to have fruit year around: Everbearing Mulberry

Everbearing Mulberry

😎 How to have fruit year around: Everbearing Mulberry
  • 🍇Mulberry is very cold hardy and can grow in wide range of climate zones, from USDA 5 to 10. Everyone knows this sweet, tasty, juicy fruit.
  • 🍇The fast growing tree or bush will produce right away, you will see fruit the next year after planting, or even the same season!
  • 🍇Mulberry trees take poor soils and grow well in almost any conditions once established.


📚 Mulberries from previous posts:
What are the best Mulberry varieties
Top 10 fast-fruiting trees: #7. Mulberry
How Mulberry fruit helps with diabetes

📱 High quality video in next post ⤵️

🛍 Shop Mulberry varieties

#Food_Forest #How_to

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Date:

How to grow Bird of Paradise

Strelitzia reginae - Bird of Paradise

🦩 How to grow Bird of Paradise
  • ⭐️ Strelitzia reginae - Bird of Paradise (more photos in earlier post) - is incredibly easy to grow, especially in warm climates!
  • ⭐️ This tough, low-maintenance tropical thrives in full sun to partial shade, needs well-draining soil, and can handle drought once established.
  • ⭐️ It's resilient, long-lived, and nearly indestructible - perfect for beginners!
  • ⭐️ To keep it happy, just give it regular watering during growth and occasional fertilizer for best blooms.
  • ⭐️ It loves warm temperatures (zones 9-11), but in cooler areas, grow it in a pot and bring it inside during winter.
  • ⭐️ With minimal care, you'll get stunning, bird-like orange and blue flowers that bloom year after year. A showstopper, a survivor, and a statement plant all in one!


🛍 Plant Bird of Paradise

#How_to #Container_Garden

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Date:

How to to make leaves green

Piper sarmentosum - Vietnamese Pepper, Lalo

🔥 How to to make leaves green

📸 In the photo - Piper sarmentosum - Vietnamese Pepper, Lalot.
on the left: plants have been fertilized by adding Sunshine Boosters (Sunshine Robusta) with every watering,
on the right: without fertilizer.

🥗 Lalot that we mentioned earlier, is eaten raw in salads or cooked with other greens or dishes, or wrap meats and cook in oven or on stove or grill. It is used medicinally in India and SE Asia.

📱 Learn more about Sunshine Boosters from the video in the next post ⤵️

🛍 Get Sunshine Boosters to make your plants green

#Fertilizers #How_to

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What are the most beautiful desert roses

Desert roses - Adeniums, collage of varieties

Desert roses - Adeniums, collage of varieties

🌸 What are the most beautiful desert roses
  • 🌸 Check out Top Tropicals selection of Desert roses - Adeniums, while we still have the most interesting varieties.
  • 🌸 If the weather is still cold in your area, we can hold shipping of your order weather-permitting. Don't miss the varieties you always wanted! They are selling fast, first come first serve.


📚 About Adeniums:

🛍 Shop Adenium colors and hybrids

#Container_Garden #How_to #Shade_Garden

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