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.
Tibouchina granulosa - Glory Tree or Purple Spray Tree
💜 Why every garden has this one Purple Spray Tree
🟪 Tibouchina granulosa - Glory Tree or Purple Spray Tree - is the one you'll see in every Florida garden!
🟪 If you love purple flowers, this one's a no-brainer. From late summer through winter, it's covered in velvety purple blooms that form giant flower sprays. The whole tree lights up with color, and it's impossible to ignore!
🟪 In Highlands County, Florida (where Top Tropicals farm is), you'll see this tree in garden after garden - and everyone says the same thing: You've gotta have one!
🟪 It's tropical, eye-catching, and makes any landscape feel lush and vibrant. A true gem for southern gardens.
The truth about bananas is - Bananas are everyone's favorite snack. Sweet, nutritious, and loaded with potassium. They're great for muscle cramps, post-workout recovery, and quick energy. But did you know you can grow your own bananas, even in a small backyard or container?
🟡Beautiful and tropical-looking with their big, tropical leaves and showy, exotic flowers
🍌Dwarf varieties fit in tight spaces, and rare types like Red Bananas or the creamy Banana Ice Cream bring flavors you’ll never find at the grocery store. Plus, your own bananas are organic, fresh, and way tastier.
🍌 Start your banana patch today - and enjoy your own homegrown fruit all year long!
🍈 Join us at Top Tropicals as we explore one of the largest fruits on Earth - the mighty Jackfruit.
From golden, juicy bulbs bursting with tropical sweetness to edible seeds
and the soft “rag” with hints of bubblegum, pineapple, and custard, this giant fruit has more surprises than expected.
✔️Learn how to cut and clean a jackfruit
✔️See which parts are edible (you might be surprised!)
🌺 Back to School and Back to Planting – Cats in the Garden
Back to School, Back
to Planting – Why August Works for Tropicals
Planting Season Isn't Over Yet
August is still a good month for planting tropicals in warm climates.
The soil stays warm enough to push root growth, and late-summer weather gives plants time to settle in before winter. In drier areas, regular watering will keep them moving along just fine.
Tropicals in warm climates aren't usually harmed by cooler Winter weather, but as days get shorter, growth may slow down. This is why
planting in late Summer-Fall lets roots grow during this last warm stretch, so the plant enters winter already established.
By spring, those roots are ready to drive new shoots, flowers, and
fruit. There's no lost time to transplant shock - plants can get straight to
blooming and fruiting earlier in the season.
August Planting
FAQ
How can heat be prevented from harming new tropicals?
Water in the morning so plants start the day hydrated. Warm soil is good for root growth, but don't let it dry out.
How should new plants be protected from strong sun?
For the first couple of weeks, use a shade cloth or even a white bed sheet to soften midday sun and prevent leaf scorch.
What fertilizer works best for planting in summer heat?
Controlled-release types are best. We use professional grade Green Magic. You may pair it with Sunshine Boosters for steady, gentle feeding through the warm months.
Lily spent three happy years at our Ft Myers Garden Center, living the good life... until one day her siblings, brother Loki (aka Charlie Jr) and sister Sushi, decided to form a "no Lily allowed" club and started picking on her. Can you believe it? Sweet, gentle Lily - bullied!
But Lily’s no pushover. She packed her paws, waved her tail goodbye, and set off for our TopTropicals Bfarm in Sebring. And guess what? She's already mingling with the other #PeopleCats and making new friends. Now she’s settling in, and proving that fresh starts can come with purrs and sunshine.
Stay tuned - this story is just getting interesting!
🐈📸 Cat Lilimon at her new home at Top Tropicals Bfarm.
🌿 Ever seen an Anthurium with leaves longer than you are tall? Anthurium vittariifolium - Long Leaf Anthurium - is a true rainforest treasure from South America. Its strap-like leaves can reach an incredible 6 feet in length but stay only about 2 inches wide, creating elegant green ribbons that drape down like a waterfall.
🌿 Grow it in a hanging basket and you’ll get a cascading curtain of foliage that instantly turns any space into a jungle hideaway.
🌿 As if the leaves weren’t enough, this rare beauty produces clusters of bright pink berries that pop against the deep green leaves, adding an unexpected splash of color!
🌿 It's rare, it's dramatic, and it's the kind of plant that makes people stop and ask, “What on earth is THAT?”