Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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Mulberry Care and Growing Tips

Mulberry fruit on a plate

Mulberries are tough, low-maintenance fruit trees that adapt to many conditions.

  • Climate: Hardy from USDA zone 5 to 10.
  • Soil: Grow well in almost any soil; prefer good drainage.
  • Watering: Regular watering during dry spells; drought tolerant once etablished.
  • Growth: 3–5 feet per year, producing fruit early.
  • Pruning: Annual pruning controls size and improves branching.
  • Pot culture: Dwarf types thrive in containers, staying 6–7 feet tall. Use a large pot, water consistently, and prune lightly. Use Abundance potting mix for best results.
  • Fertilizer: For reliable production, fertilizer regularly. Apply Sunshine C-Cibus liquid booster with every watering, or Green Magic controlled release fertilizer every 5-6 months.

❓ Mulberry FAQ


How soon will a mulberry fruit?

One to two years, sometimes the very first season.

What climates are suitable?

USDA zones 5–10, from -20F winters to hot summers.

How tall do they get?

Standard trees 20–30 ft; dwarfs 6–10 ft in pots.

Do I need more than one tree?

No, they are self-pollinating.

What do they taste like?

Sweet and juicy, like a blend of blackberry and raspberry.

How long is the harvest?

Everbearing types ripen gradually from summer into fall.

Do birds eat them?

Yes, but trees are so productive there’s plenty to share.

Are they messy?

Dark-fruited varieties can stain; white mulberries do not.

Can I grow them in containers?

Yes, dwarf types (Dwarf Everbearing, Issai) fruit well in pots.

How long do they live?

Many live for decades; Illinois Everbearing can endure for generations.

What are the health benefits?

Mulberries are low-glycemic, support healthy blood sugar, improve heart health, and are rich in antioxidants.

Shop Mulberries

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Banned Jamaican fruit: why you never see fresh Akee in U.S. stores? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Akee (Blighia sapida)

⛔️ Banned Jamaican fruit: why you never see fresh Akee in U.S. stores?

Did you know that fresh Akee (Blighia sapida) is restricted for import into the U.S.?
That's the bad news.
The good news: you can grow your own Akee tree and enjoy this famous fruit right in your backyard!

The reason it's restricted is because unripe Akee (Ackee) contains toxins. Only when the pods split open naturally is the fruit safe to eat, after cooking" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" > (video). That’s why it's hard to import fresh – but easy to grow and handle at home once you know the trick.

Plenty of people love this fruit (it's actually a vegetable). It's the national fruit of Jamaica, and a must-have in the classic dish Akee and saltfish. Planting your own tree means you never have to miss out.

⛔️ Why grow Akee?
  • ✔️Fresh fruit that you simply can’t buy in U.S. stores.
  • ✔️You decide when it's ripe and safe, straight from the pod.
  • ✔️A taste of Jamaica in your own garden - both food and culture in one tree.


So don't wait for the fruit that never arrives at the port. Plant your own Akee tree and enjoy the harvest tomorrow!

🛒 Plant your own Akee (Achee) tree

📚 Learn more:
▫️New Christmas ornaments? Ackee monster fruit!
📱 How" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" > to cook perfect Akee

#Food_Forest

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What flowers do NOT attract bees? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Butterfly on a flower that doesn't attract bees

❌� What flowers do NOT attract bees?

Most tropical flowers bring in pollinators, and bees are usually first in line. But what if you’d rather avoid them? Maybe you’re allergic, or just don’t want bees buzzing around. Good news: some flowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, or even flies - but not bees.
  • 👉 Quick rules:

  • ✔️ Night-blooming + strong fragrance = moths or bats, not bees.
  • ✔️ Red tubular flowers with little scent = hummingbirds or butterflies, not bees.
  • ✔️ Rotten or fermented smell = flies, not bees.
  • ✔️ Carnivorous plants = trap insects, no bee nectar.


1. Night-blooming, fragrant - moth and bat flowers

Bees forage by day, so many night-fragrant flowers skip them.
  • ▫️Brugmansia - Angel’s Trumpet - big, hanging blooms, moth and bat pollinated.
  • ▫️Cestrum nocturnum - Night-blooming Jasmine - powerful night scent, moths only.
  • ▫️Hylocereus Dragon Fruit - huge cactus flowers, bats and moths.
  • ▫️Brunfelsia - Lady of the Night - sweet fragrance at dusk, no bee interest.


    • 2. Hummingbird and butterfly flowers

    Bees don’t see red well. Tubular reds, oranges, and yellows usually go to birds and butterflies.
  • ▫️Hibiscus - hummingbirds and butterflies visit, bees less so.
  • ▫️Heliconis and Gingers - designed for hummingbird beaks, bold tubes are for birds, not bees.
  • ▫️More good picks: Ruellia, Sanchezia, Aeschynanthus, Aphelandra, Anisacanthus, Cuphea, Fuchsia, Iochroma, Justicia, Lonicera, Hamelia, Russelia, Odontonema, Tecomaria, Bougainvillea.


    • 3. 🐱 Fly-pollinated oddballs

    Some flowers smell bad to us but irresistible to flies.
  • ▫️Amorphophallus (Voodoo Lily) - rotting meat scent.
  • ▫️Tacca (Bat Head Lily) - spooky black flowers, fly-pollinated.
  • ▫️Stapelia (Carrion Flower) - also fly-pollinated.
  • ▫️Aristolochia (Pelican Flower) - giant, bizarre fly-traps.


    • 4. 🌸 Specialized orchids

    Not all orchids rely on bees. Many use moths, butterflies, or beetles instead.
  • ▫️Vanilla orchid - its natural bee pollinator is absent in most regions, so no bee appeal elsewhere.
  • ▫️Brassavola nodosa and others - open at night for moths, not bees.


    • 5. 🕷 Bonus: carnivorous curiosities

    Carnivorous plants don’t offer nectar. They trap insects instead, so bees stay away.
  • ▫️Nepenthes (Pitcher Plant) - uses pitchers of liquid to lure and digest insects.


These flowers keep the beauty, fragrance, and wildlife appeal - but without making your garden a bee hotspot.

🛒 Explore butterfly attractors

#Butterfly_Plants #How_to #Discover

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Carambola sparkle salad: quick and fun exotic. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Carambola sparkle salad

Carambola sparkle salad

🍴 Carambola sparkle salad: quick and fun exotic recipes
  • 🟡Slice starfruit into star shapes and toss with cucumber, mint, and a splash of lime.
  • 🟡A crunchy, refreshing mix that looks as good as it tastes.


🛒 Explore Carambola varieties

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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Why gardeners say this is the best Mulberry ever. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry - Morus alba x rubra

💗 Why gardeners say this is the best Mulberry ever
  • 🍇 Illinois Everbearing Mulberry (Morus alba x rubra) is a recent discovery we’re excited to share. It may be the best variety we’ve grown, and if you only plant one mulberry, this should be the one.
  • 🍇 Very hardy and adaptable. Illinois everbearing is a cross between the white and red mulberry, and it seems to have inherited the best qualities of both. It is suitable for USDA zones from 5 to 10! It survives -20F and even colder, yet it also thrives in heat and poor soils. That wide adaptability makes it one of the most dependable fruiting mulberries for many regions.
  • 🍇 Quick shade, quick fruit, long season. The tree grows fast, about 3 to 5 feet a year, turning into a 20 to 30 ft shade tree in just a few years. It has a long, everbearing harvest season and early start: some people have even had fruit the first year after planting. The berries are about an inch and a half long, shaped like stretched out blackberries. They ripen steadily through summer, not all at once, which is why it is called everbearing. That means you can walk out and pick handfuls from July right into September.
  • 🍇Delicious and abundant. The flavor is what really sets it apart. Sweet, juicy, with a little tang, many gardeners say it is the best tasting mulberry they have had. You can eat them fresh, dry them, or cook them down for jam. Birds love them too, so you may end up sharing. But there will be enough for all: it produces abundant yields of 15 to 25 pounds per tree by year two or three.
  • 🍇 Easy to grow. It is a low maintenance tree, generally free of pests and diseases. Once established it is easygoing.
  • 🍇 Universal and long-lived. Plant it for the fruit, plant it for the shade, or plant it for the wildlife it draws in. Its foliage is also attractive, with deeply carved, oak-like leaves that add ornamental value to the tree. Illinois everbearing is not just a productive tree, it becomes part of the rhythm of your summer garden. While most mulberries live a few decades, some Illinois Everbearing trees may endure much longer with good care.


🛒 Pick your Mulberry tree

📚 Learn more:

📱 Dwarf" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" > Everbearing Mulberry

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us Happy Labor Day!

Two cats celebrating Labor Day with a backyard BBQ in a fruit garden, tuxedo cat grilling, orange cat smiling with an American flag.

Labor Day cats Smokey & Sunny enjoy BBQ in fruit garden

Labor Day is a good reminder that gardening is work, but it is the kind of work that gives back. Digging, hauling, trimming, watering — it all counts as labor, and it all makes life better. Take a little time this weekend to enjoy what has already grown, even if the next project is waiting right around the corner.

Celebrate the holiday with blooms and savings — 15% off orders $100+ this Labor Day, excluding S&H. Expires Exp. 09-03-2025

LABORDAY25

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Moringa vs spinach: which one wins for nutrition? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Moringa oleifera, Horseradish tree

🌳 Moringa vs spinach: which one wins for nutrition?
  • ✔️Moringa is sometimes called the Tree of Life, and for good reason. Almost every part is edible - leaves, pods, seeds, even the flowers. It isn't just a tree, it's like a whole pantry and medicine cabinet rolled into one.
  • ✔️ The leaves pack vitamins, minerals, and protein.
  • ✔️ The pods look like drumsticks and end up in curries.
  • ✔️ Even the seeds are handy - pressed for oil or used to clean water.
  • ✔️ And here's the bonus: it grows fast, covers itself in fragrant white flowers, and looks beautiful right in your garden.
  • ✔️ A tree that feeds you, heals you, and makes the yard smell good.


🛒 Want more energy? Grow Tree of Life - Moringa - at home

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Discover #Trees

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Helicopter flower Madhavi - the Spring Herald that clings to a Mango Tree. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower close up

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower close up

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, seeds

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, seeds

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flowers on the bush

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flowers on the bush

🚁 Helicopter flower Madhavi - the Spring Herald that clings to a Mango Tree
  • 🍥 Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower: during TopTropicals plant trip to Thailand, this was one of the first discoveries that caught our attention. We were suddenly stopped by an incredible, sweet perfume drifting through the air. Following the scent, we found its source - a dense, vigorous vine covered in unusual, eye-catching flowers.
  • 🍥 Helicopter Flower? The name comes from its funny three-winged seed pods that spin like little helicopters. But the real show happens when it blooms. Clusters of pink-white-and-yellow flowers appear in profusion, with frilly petals and a fruity perfume that can stop you in your tracks. Best of all, it flowers in winter and early spring, just when most other plants are quiet, so it fills the air with fragrance at a time you need it most.
  • 🍥 Hiptage is easy-going and adaptable. It can be trimmed as a shrub, trained into a small tree, or let go as a climber, but be ready to give it space and strong support if you let it vine. It's fast-growing, tolerant of different soils, and happy in either sun or part shade. You can even keep it in a container and trim it into a rounded bush. It's pretty cold hardy too - can take some light frost.
  • 🍥 In India, the Helicopter Flower is called Madhavi - the Spring Herald, and often paired with mango trees in stories and gardens - the sturdy mango holding up this vigorous fragrant vine, symbolizing love, devotion, and the union of strength with beauty. Planting the two together makes for a striking, symbolic pair!
  • 🍥 For gardeners, it's the rare combination of beauty, fragrance, adaptability, and a good story to tell. A plant that not only perfumes your garden but also brings a touch of legend to it.
  • 🍥 Used medicinally in India.


🛒 Bring Perfume Spring Herald to your garden

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

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🍒 Tropical Cherries – Eugenias

Two cats enjoy Grumichama fruit indoors — a tuxedo cat picks berries from a potted tree while an orange fluffy cat smiles, sitting by tea cups and plates of fruit.

Tropical Tea Time with Grumichama

Eugenias have earned a spot in many Southern gardens because they’re easy, dependable, and surprisingly versatile. These small trees and shrubs grow well in the ground or in containers, and they don’t waste time before setting fruit.

15% Off Eugenias – Limited Time

Use code EUGENIA15 at checkout.
Excluding S/H. Offer expires 08/28/2025

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Eugenia aggregata Fruit plant, Cherry of the Rio Grande
4148 Eugenia aggregata Fruit plant, Cherry of the Rio Grande
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Eugenia brasiliensis fruit tree - Grumichama
1079 Eugenia brasiliensis fruit tree - Grumichama
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Eugenia luschnathiana Fruit plant, Pitomba
1080 Eugenia luschnathiana Fruit plant, Pitomba
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Eugenia uniflora Fruit plant, Black Surinam Cherry Lolita
6063 Eugenia uniflora Fruit plant, Black Surinam Cherry Lolita
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What Makes Eugenia Cherries Stand Out

  • Start producing fruit in just a couple of years
  • Compact size — easy to keep 6–12 ft tall, smaller in pots
  • Low-care — tolerant of most soils and resistant to common pests
  • Strong in hot weather, yet can handle a light frost down to the mid-20s °F
  • Plenty of fruit for people and birds alike

Close-up of Grumichama tree branches with clusters of small white flowers among glossy green leaves. Grumichama Tree in Bloom – Eugenia brasiliensis

Growing & Care

Outdoors

  • Best in USDA Zones 9–11
  • Sun or partial shade; more sun usually means sweeter fruit
  • Plant in well-drained soil; avoid heavy, wet spots
  • Withstands summer heat and humidity, and can take a light freeze

Container / Indoor

  • Do well in 5–10 gallon pots on patios or balconies
  • Need bright light indoors — a sunny window or grow lights
  • Can flower and fruit in containers if kept warm and well lit
  • In cooler zones, bring plants indoors for winter and back out in spring

General Care

  • Water: Keep soil evenly moist; drought-tolerant once established but best yields with regular watering
  • Soil: Use good potting mix - LINK TO SOIL
  • Fertilizer: Balanced slow-release LINKL TO FERTILIZER Sunshine Boosters
  • Pruning: Light trimming keeps plants bushy and productive
  • Pollination: Self-fertile; one plant will fruit on its own

Read Garden Blog about Tropical Cherries

Shop Tropical Cherries

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The mystery of the White Bat Lily - the plant with wings and whiskers. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

White Bat Head Lily (Tacca nivea)

👻 The mystery of the White Bat Lily - the plant with wings and whiskers
  • Here's a cool shot of the White Bat Head Lily (Tacca nivea) - its dramatic white bracts that flare like wings and those wild, trailing whiskers are impossible to ignore. And it is in full bloom again at Top Tropicals - in the middle of August.
  • This plant that pulls off gothic elegance with two crisp, wing‑like white bracts hovering over a cluster of deep maroon‑black "bat‑face" flowers, complete with long, draping whiskers. Beneath it all lie crinkled, olive‑green leaves that only add to its moody charm.
  • This tropical understory native thrives in humid, shaded spaces - whether that's a greenhouse or a mossy, misty corner indoors. It's an evergreen perennial, endlessly intriguing. When it does bloom, the dark little flowers eventually yield heavy berries - just one more twist in its curious tale.
  • Looking to grow one? You'll need:

✔️High humidity, indirect light, and good air circulation
  • ✔️Rich, orchid‑style soil (think adding bark, peat, perlite to your potting mix)
  • ✔️Consistently moist - but not waterlogged - conditions
  • ✔️And to be patient: flowering often requires a couple of leaves before it even sets stems

  • It's not just a plant - it's a conversation starter, a living gothic sculpture that grows. Maybe a bit finicky? Sure. Totally worth it? Absolutely!


🛒 Add White Bat Head Lily to your collection

Tacca colors: Black, White, Green:
Tacca nivea - White Tacca - the rarest and the most wanted
Tacca chantrieri - Black Tacca
Tacca leontopetaloides - Green Tacca

📚 Learn more:
▫️Spooky Bat Head Devil Flower

#Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden
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