Garden Blog - Top Tropicals
Which dog would you take home: golden, black or chocolate?
Sunshine (golden), Draco(chocolate) and Lila (black) Labrador dogs
"Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later." - Mary Bly
🐈📸 Sunshine (golden), Draco(chocolate) and Lila (black) Labrador dogs at Top Tropicals Bfarm and PeopleCats.Garden.
#PeopleCats
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
Watch this before cooking with black pepper!
Black pepper (Piper nigrum)
Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is famous for its berries, but the leaves are edible too, and in some regions they’re used just like betel leaves or bay leaves. Here are a few ways you can use them:
- Cooking wrap: Fresh leaves can be used to wrap fish, meat, or rice before steaming or grilling, similar to banana or betel leaves. They add a mild peppery aroma.
- Flavoring curries and soups: Whole leaves can be simmered in curries, broths, or stews to infuse a gentle peppery note, then removed before serving (like bay leaves).
- Herbal teas: Fresh or dried leaves can be steeped with ginger, turmeric, or lemongrass to make a warming tea traditionally used for digestion and colds.
- Chutneys and pastes: In South India, young pepper leaves are ground with coconut, tamarind, and chilies to make a tangy chutney.
- Medicinal uses: Folk remedies use the leaves for coughs, sore throats, and as a poultice for muscle aches.
🍛 Black pepper leaf chutney
- ♨️Lightly saute 6-8 pepper leaves in a little oil.
- ♨️Blend with 1/2 cup grated coconut, 2 green chilies, tamarind, salt, and cumin.
- ♨️Optional: top with a quick tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves.
- ♨️Serve with rice or dosa.
☕️ Pepper leaf tea - when you feel under the weather
- Boil 2-3 leaves with a cup of water.
- Add a slice of ginger and a pinch of turmeric (optional).
- Simmer 5 minutes, strain, and sweeten with honey.
Both recipes give a warm, peppery aroma without being too spicy. Pepper leaves are milder than the berries, so you’ll get aroma more than heat.
🛒 Grow your own Black Pepper plant - spice and vegetable!
📚 Learn more:
- ▫️ What is Pepper Made From? Black, white, green, and red...
- ▫️How to grow your own Pepper plants. Five most valuable 'Pipers'
#Food_Forest #Recipes
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
Date:
Ground Orchid FAQ – Your Questions
Answered
Why should I buy them?
Because they give you more bloom for less effort. They flower on and off almost all year, they’re tough, and they come in colors you can actually plan a garden around.
Will they survive winter in my area?
In frost-free zones, yes, they come back bigger every year. If you’re farther north, just keep them in pots and bring them inside for the cold months.
Do they really bloom in shade?
They do. We’ve got a clump under a big oak and it still puts on a show. Not as heavy as full sun, but enough to brighten the spot.
How big do they get?
Depends which one. Spathoglottis stays neat, about knee-high. Nun Orchid shoots up tall spikes that can hit 4 ft. So you can go small or dramatic.
Are they hard to care for like other orchids?
Not at all. Forget the bark mix and misting bottles. Just plant them in soil, keep the water steady, and feed once in a while. That’s it.
Can I grow them in pots?
Absolutely. They do great in containers. Makes it easy if you’ve only got a patio or you want to move them in for winter. Use well-drained soilless mix like Abundance Potting Mix.
Do they attract pollinators?
Yep. Bees love them, butterflies too, and every so often a hummingbird will check them out.
What is the best fertilizer?
For extra blooms, we use Sunshine Orchidasm – Orchid TotalFeed Booster. Works like a charm!
Date:
🌸 Meet the Most Colorful Ground Orchids
Ground Orchids – Spathoglottis, Phaius, Arundina, Epidendrum
- Chinese Nun Ground Orchid (Phaius tankervilleae)
- Yokohama Ground orchid Kate (Bletilla striata x formosana)
- Tropical Punch, Sorbet Ground Orchid (Spathoglottis plicata)
- Bamboo Orchid (Arundina graminifolia)
- Snow Angel, Coconut Cloud Ground Orchid (Spathoglottis alba)
- Orange Reed Ground Orchid (Epidendrum radicans Sunrise)
- Lemon Kiss, Sorbet Ground Orchid (Spathoglottis chrysanta)
- Pink Reed Ground Orchid, Violet Queen (Epidendrum radicans Fuchsia)
- Lavender Reed Ground Orchid (Epidendrum elongatum x radicans)
- Red Raspberry Reed Ground Orchid (Epidendrum radicans Red Glow)
Orchids have a mystique that sets them apart — elegant, exotic, almost unreal in their perfection. But let’s be honest, not everyone has luck with the fancy ones that cling to trees or need greenhouse tricks.
Ground orchids are different. They grow in regular garden soil, bloom in sun or shade, and come in all sorts of shapes and colors. They’re the orchids you don’t have to fuss over.
Nun Orchid (Phaius tankervilleae) – Ever wonder why it’s called the Nun Orchid? The flowers really do look like the white veil and brown habit nuns used to wear. The plants send up spikes 3–4 ft tall with 10–20 fragrant blooms that open one after another for weeks. I like them best tucked under trees where they just keep spreading year after year.
Spathoglottis – The nonstop bloomer – If you want flowers that just don’t quit, this one’s it. Spathoglottis clumps up and throws spikes of purple, pink, or yellow that last for weeks, then keep coming back through the summer. In warm spots they’ll bloom almost year-round. Honestly, it’s one of the easiest orchids you’ll ever grow.
💲 Special Offer – 20% off Ground Orchids!
Get 20% OFF ground orchids with code
ORCHID2025
Min order $100. Excluding S/H, valid online only, cannot be combined with other offers.
Hurry, offer expires September 17, 2025!
Who do you think is winning?
Cats Bob and Cash playing
"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." - Mike Tyson
🐈📸 Cats Bob and Cash always have a plan at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden
#PeopleCats #Quotes
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
What flowers do NOT attract bees?
Butterfly on a flower that doesn't 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.
- ▫️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.
- ▫️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.
- ▫️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.
- ▫️Nepenthes (Pitcher Plant) - uses pitchers of liquid to lure and digest insects.
2. Hummingbird and butterfly flowers
Bees don’t see red well. Tubular reds, oranges, and yellows usually go to birds and butterflies.
3. 🐱 Fly-pollinated oddballs
Some flowers smell bad to us but irresistible to flies.
4. 🌸 Specialized orchids
Not all orchids rely on bees. Many use moths, butterflies, or beetles instead.
5. 🕷 Bonus: carnivorous curiosities
Carnivorous plants don’t offer nectar. They trap insects instead, so bees stay away.
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
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
Mulberry yogurt swirl: quick n fun exotic recipes

Mulberry yogurt swirl
- 🔵Layer fresh mulberries with plain yogurt and a drizzle of honey.
- 🔵The berries bleed into the yogurt, creating a natural tie-dye effect.
🛒 Discover Mulberry varieties
#Food_Forest #Recipes
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
An intelligent man

Mr B the cat planning his evening at TopTropicals
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend his time with his fools.” - Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
🐈📸 Mr B the cat planning his evening at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden
#PeopleCats #Quotes
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
Five small tropical trees that bloom for you all summer

Bauhinia madagascariensis, Brugmansia, Caesalpinia, Hamelia, Plumeria pudica
📸 Pictures for the previous post:
- ▫️Bauhinia madagascariensis - Red Butterfly Orchid Tree
- ▫️Brugmansia - Angel Trumpet
- ▫️Caesalpinia - Pride of Barbados, Dwarf Poinciana, Bird of Paradise
- ▫️Hamelia - Fire Bush
- ▫️Plumeria pudica - Bridal Bouquet
🛒 Check out tropical flowering trees
#Trees #Discover
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals