Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date:

The bloom that broke all the rules: Black Sheep Adenium. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

🐑 The bloom that broke all the rules: Black Sheep Adenium

Photos of Black Sheep adenium for the previous post 👆

🛒 Shop adeniums

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Adenium

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The legendary Black Sheep of the family. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Black Sheep Adenium

Black Sheep Adenium

🖤 The legendary Black Sheep of the family
  • 🐑 Not your average desert rose, Black Sheep Adenium shows up to the garden party dressed in midnight velvet!
  • 🐑 Its petals are so dark they almost swallow the light, with a smoldering red glow at the center that dares you to look closer.
  • 🐑 Mysterious? Yes. Dramatic? Absolutely. This flower doesn’t blend in - it steals the show!
  • 🐑 The perfect plant for those who like their beauty bold, broody, and a little rebellious. You'll want to whisper secrets to it under moonlight. It's not just a plant. It's a statement! See photos of actual Black Sheep Adenium in next post 👇


🛒 Own the drama. Grow the legend: Black Adeniums

❗️Black colored adeniums start as reddish color buds, flower opens as red-black and darkens as matures.
📚 More black and dark-flowered adeniums

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Fun_Facts #Adenium

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Wesley's opportunity. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Wesley the Cat

Wesley the Cat

🐈🐈🐈 Wesley's opportunity

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." - Albert Einstein

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats #Quotes

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How to make chocolate dumplings in mango sauce: exotic recipe. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

chocolate dumplings in mango sauce

chocolate dumplings in mango sauce

How to make chocolate dumplings in mango sauce: exotic recipe

Ready to sneak this onto your dessert menu under a name like "Tropics Lost in Vienna"?

Ingredients
  • 🔸 For the dough:

• 200 g (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
  • • 1 egg
  • • 3 tbsp water
  • • Pinch of salt

  • 🔸 For the filling:

• 70 g (2.5 oz) dark chocolate
  • • 3 tbsp heavy cream
  • • 1 tsp cocoa powder (optional)
  • • 1 tsp sugar (if chocolate is too bitter)


🔸 For the mango sauce:
  • • 1 ripe mango (or 150 g mango puree)
  • • 100 ml (just under ½ cup) heavy cream
  • • 1-2 tsp honey
  • • 1 tsp lime or lemon juice
  • • Pinch of salt


🔪 Instructions
  • ➡Make the dough: Mix flour, egg, water, and salt into a soft dough. Knead, wrap, and rest for 30 minutes.
  • ➡Prepare the filling: Melt chocolate with cream over a water bath. Stir in sugar and cocoa if using. Let cool until thick.
  • ➡Shape the dumplings: Roll out dough, cut into circles, fill with chocolate, and seal. Freeze for 10 minutes to firm up.
  • ➡Cook: Boil in lightly salted water. Once they float, cook 2–3 minutes more. Lift out gently.
  • ➡Make the mango sauce: Blend mango, then stir in cream, honey, citrus juice, and salt. Warm gently without boiling.
  • ➡Serve: Arrange dumplings, spoon over sauce, and garnish with mint or lime zest if desired.


🛒 Plant your own Mango Tree and always have mango supply

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Mango

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Botanical bedhead: curly, crazy, and full of surprises. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks, leaves

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks, leaves

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks, fruit

Epiphyllum guatemalense - Curly Locks, fruit

Botanical bedhead: curly, crazy, and full of surprises
  • This wild-looking jungle cactus doesn't grow straight - it spirals, twirls, and twists! Meet Epiphyllum guatemalense Monstrosa - Orchid Cactus, or Curly Locks.
  • A natural mutation of Epiphyllum guatemalense, Curly Locks creates a tangled cascade of curly stems that look like botanical noodles!
  • Perfect for hanging baskets, it blooms fragrant, orchid-like flowers at night and produces juicy, edible pink fruit.
  • It's self-pollinating and thrives in bright, indirect light. Let it get root-bound to encourage blooms, and water moderately.
  • A must-have oddity for cactus lovers and collectors!


🛒 Get the curly cactus now

📚 More about exotic epiphytic cacti:
Disocactus ackermanni - Red Orchid Cactus
Epiphyllum oxypetalum - Queen of the Night
Pseudorhipsalis (Wittia) amazonica - Blue Flame

#Fun_Facts #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

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Another Musk from Africa that came before Elon: the true Healer from Zulu. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - leaves

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - leaves

🚀 Another Musk from Africa that came before Elon: the true Healer from Zulu.
  • 🚀 This African Musk has less hype and more goodness: it won't buy Twitter but it might cure your cough!
  • 🚀 Musk Bush (Iboza riparia) - also called Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush, is a highly aromatic shrub with a long tradition of healing use in African herbal medicine. Its soft, velvety leaves release a sweet ginger-like scent when crushed and are packed with medicinal value.
  • 🚀 Medicinal uses

  • 💚 Respiratory relief: The Zulu people traditionally use Iboza as an inhalant for coughs, chest congestion, and even malaria. Crushed leaves are often inhaled or made into a steam bath to clear the lungs.
  • 💚 Natural relaxant: Often used alongside Psychotria viridis for calming effects, this plant is prized for its gentle sedative properties.
  • 💚 Headache and digestive aid: Inhaling the fragrance can ease headaches, and teas or infusions are used to soothe stomach aches.

  • 🚀 Plant facts

  • 💚 Growth: Fast-growing (up to 3 ft/year), up to 6 ft tall, with a full, bushy habit.
  • 💚 Leaves: Bright green, heart-shaped, covered in sticky aromatic hairs.
  • 💚 Flowers: showy mist-like white to lilac spikes hang in beautiful, fragrant dense clusters.
  • 💚 Fragrance: Leaves are scented like ginger with a musky twist - especially fragrant after light pruning.


🚀 Growing tips
  • 💚 Best in full sun or partial shade
  • 💚 Likes rich, well-drained soil and regular summer water, drought tolerant once established.
  • 💚 Prune hard after flowering to keep it compact and boost future blooms.
  • 💚 Grows well in pots in cold climates.


🛒 Order Musk Bush - natural remedy for body and mind

#Food_Forest #Remedies

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Mr B knows: the world was here first. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Mr B the Cat sleeping in a box

Mr B the Cat sleeping in a box

⬆️ Mr B knows: the world was here first

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." - Mark Twain

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats #Quotes

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A flavor bomb of sugar and citrus, syrupy when ripe - Mango Sweet Tart. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Mango Sweet Tart - tree with fruit on it

🌈 A flavor bomb of sugar and citrus, syrupy when ripe - Mango Sweet Tart

Sweet Tart is a Florida-grown mango prized for its rich, sweet-tart flavor and silky, fiberless flesh. Created by breeder Gary Zill, it's known for its dense orange pulp, excellent sugar-acid balance, and juicy texture. The fruit is oval, heavy for its size, and sometimes develops harmless speckles on the skin. Great fresh, underripe or ripe. Tangy when underripe, syrupy when ripe and perfect for containers thanks to its upright growth and high productivity. A standout variety that lives up to its name!

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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What is the most colorful houseplant: Chartreuse Vine of Gold. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Philodendron Golden Goddess

🌟 What is the most colorful houseplant: Chartreuse Vine of Gold
  • 🌟 A golden plant? Yes, really! Philodendron Golden Goddess isn't just a name - this beauty shines with true golden-chartreuse leaves that glow like sunshine.
  • 🌟 It's not lime, not salad-green, not even neon... it's pure, leafy gold! Bright golden-yellow foliage that grabs attention.
  • 🌟 Discovered in Indonesia, this stunning rare climbing philodendron is a collector's dream.
  • 🌟 Easy to grow and adapts well indoors or out (Zone 9-11). Loves bright, indirect light (no harsh sun). Grows more striking with age - leaves get bigger and bolder over time.
  • 🌟 Whether you let it climb or trail, this plant becomes a showstopper with minimal effort. The Golden Goddess truly lives up to her name - she's radiant, regal, and ridiculously easy to love.


🛒 Bring home this golden treasure!

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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Riki's educational television. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Riki the Cat is watching TV hockey

Riki the Cat is watching TV hockey

😶 Riki's educational television

"I find television very educational. Every time someone turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats #Quotes

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