What blooms for you in December: Calliandra tweedii With Love
Calliandra tweedii "With Love" in a pot
Calliandra tweedii "With Love" plant in the ground
Calliandra tweedii "With Love" flowers
Calliandra tweedii "With Love" flower close up
💥 What blooms for you in December: Calliandra tweedii "With Love"
💥 December just started and so did Calliandra tweedii "With Love" - right by TopTropicals Bfarm office. This plant always knows how to kick off winter around here. First week of December… boom, the red tassels pop open, and then it keeps going all the way through winter and into spring.
💥 Calliandras are famous for being spectacular winter bloomers, but in our garden they seem to ignore the calendar and flower pretty much year-round. "With Love" grows as a many-stemmed dense shrub, kind of like a small fountain. Branches rise right from the ground, covered in tiny leaflets that gently fold at night or when you touch them.
💥 And the flowers - that’s the whole show! Fine, feathery, glowing-red tassels that look almost electric in the morning sun. The bush by the office is covered in them right now - bright scarlet puffs against fresh green foliage. Most calliandras lean more pink, but this one stays true red. It makes a fantastic hedge, a bold specimen shrub, and honestly a great bonsai because of the branching structure.
💥 If you want something cheerful, easy, and blooming exactly when most gardens look quiet, With Love delivers every single year.
🐈📸 Cat Masyanya, a friend of PeopleCats.Garden.
Masyanya lives in a snowy village by Vladimir city, Russia.
Her message to us: "You guys are lucky to live in the Tropics in Peace, and have TopTropicals by your side who can send you tropical plants! And here... some day the Spring will come, and the Happiness will overcome. Be grateful for what you got - Happy Holidays! Love and Peace" 💕 🕊️
Floridians, mark your calendar: December 13, 2025 - Holiday Plant Market!
🎉 Floridians, mark your calendar: December 13, 2025 - Holiday Plant Market!
🔴 Welcome to the Holiday Plant Market, proudly hosted by the #PeopleCats of TopTropicals.
King is on gate duty (checking every car, as usual). Paisley is rearranging plants for the tenth time this morning because he wants them perfect. Snitch is already relaxing in a chair, supervising with a cup of iced tea. Persephone is under the tables, greeting guests from the Underworld. Sushi and Loki are grooming - getting ready for the guided tours. Together they invite you to stroll the gardens, snack on a donut, enjoy holiday music, and pick out something tropical and beautiful to take home.
🔴 Why you should come
It is December in Florida - warm breeze, sunshine, and perfect planting weather. While the rest of the country is scraping frost off windshields, you're choosing which banana tree to take home. Come enjoy a colorful Saturday surrounded by plants, music, snacks, and friendly #PeopleCats. This is your holiday escape, your plant-hunting adventure, and your chance to bring home something amazing before the season ends.
🔴 What makes this event special
We bring out the biggest, rarest, most impressive plants we grew all summer. Trees with developed branches, vines ready to take off, fragrant blooms that stop people mid-walk. Everything looks better by December in Florida, and this is the day we put it all on display!
🔴 Holiday extras
- 30% OFF online prices - FREE plant with purchase - $5-10 specials - Mini donuts and holiday treats - Cold drinks, iced tea, citrus-infused water - Tropical Christmas music playing all day - Cat-guided tours from our PeopleCats (they know the garden better than we do) - Subject to Purrrson's schedule/availability - Exciting Raffle prizes - Fruit tasting table (subject to enough ripe fruit in the morning!)
📱 Event discounts and specials valid at both locations:
A fast, savory avocado toast with a subtle umami kick. Creamy ripe avocado is mashed with a small touch of miso, spread on warm toast, and finished with cracked black pepper. Simple, unexpected, and deeply satisfying.
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
1/4 teaspoon white or light miso paste
2 slices bread, toasted
Freshly crushed black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Scoop the avocado flesh into a bowl.
Add miso and mash until mostly smooth.
Spread evenly on warm toast.
Finish with crushed black pepper and serve immediately.
Smokey: Guava for fiber, banana for power. Pick wisely.
Sunshine: I pick whatever requires zero effort.
Smokey: So... guava in a hammock. Perfect.
🍉🍌 What's for breakfast? Guava versus Banana
Some mornings you want something light. Some mornings you want something that hits like a tiny energy bomb. That’s why people always compare guava and banana. Both are everywhere, easy to eat, and trusted since forever - from Ayurveda scrolls to modern nutrition charts.
But they’re not the same kind of morning fruit. Let’s walk through them like we’re in the kitchen deciding what to slice first.
🍉 Guava - the fiber champion
Guava looks innocent, but it’s one of the most nutrient-dense fruits.
Per 100 g: 68 calories, 5.4 g fiber, over 200 mg vitamin C, a little protein, and solid potassium.
Fiber does most of the work. It smooths digestion, keeps you full, and steadies blood sugar. Vitamin C boosts immunity, and antioxidants reduce inflammation. Studies suggest guava lowers LDL and triglycerides. Not bad for a tennis-ball-size fruit.
🍌 Banana - the quick energy classic
Bananas are the opposite personality: soft, sweet, ready in seconds.
Per 100 g: 89 calories, 22 g carbs, good potassium, and a little vitamin B6.
Bananas give fast energy without upsetting the stomach. Athletes eat them before workouts because carbs, sugars, and potassium wake up your muscles. Vitamin B6 helps mood and brain function, which is why a banana on a groggy morning works wonders.
They also pack antioxidants, polyphenols, and heart-protective compounds. Even the peel has nutrients (though not exactly breakfast-friendly).
· Banana: antioxidants, fiber, vitamins C and E, carotenoids, flavonoids, and heart-protective compounds.
🔮 What Ayurveda says
· Guava calms Pitta and Kapha - great for acidity or sluggish digestion.
· Bananas balance Vata - grounding and nourishing - but can raise Kapha at night. Morning banana = good. Night banana = maybe skip.
🏆 Guava or banana - which one wins?
Both win, just in different ways:
🍉 Pick guava for:
· light, high-fiber start
· better digestion
· steady energy
· low calories
· weight control
🍌 Pick banana for:
· instant energy
· easy digestion
· pre-workout boost
· quick carbs
· soft, comforting fruit
🍉 Slow mornings love guava.
🍌 Busy mornings belong to banana.
For home growers
If you live in a warm climate, both fruits are incredibly rewarding to grow.
🍉 Why grow guava?
· Fruits in 1-2 years.
· Compact for small yards or containers.
· Super productive when mature.
· Needs only sun, warmth, and pruning.
· Homegrown flavor is sweeter and more aromatic.
🍌 Why grow banana?
· Grows fast and looks lush.
· One mat can feed a whole household.
· Dwarf varieties fit small gardens.
· Homegrown bananas taste richer and creamier.
· When a bunch ripens, breakfast is handled for a week.
Growing your own fruit means you’re never out of a healthy breakfast. Something is always ripening, always ready to pick, and always sweeter than anything you buy.
🌸 Golden Rain tree, Koelreuteria paniculata, is one of those plants you can drive past a hundred times without realizing you’re looking at a seasonal firework show. In early summer it loads itself with long, bright yellow flower clusters that drip from every branch. Then, just when you think the show is over, the tree shifts into its second act: paper-thin pink seed lanterns that cover the canopy through fall.
🌸 It’s surprisingly tough for such a delicate-looking tree. Cold hardy, drought tolerant, and fast growing, it fits easily into Florida and other warm climates where people want a shade tree that also puts on a real spectacle. The foliage stays elegant and airy, and the lantern pods look good long after the flowers fade.
🌸 If you’re into trees that change looks through the seasons and don’t need pampering, Golden Rain tree is one of the most rewarding additions you can plant.
