Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

🍒 Health benefits of a simple plant: Coral bean

• 
  Don't let the tough, thorny branches fool you - this native plant has a long history of traditional use. While the seeds are poisonous, the young leaves and flowers have been safely cooked and eaten in small amounts by various cultures.
• 
  Traditionally, Erythrina herbacea - Coral Bean has been used in folk remedies for calming the nerves, easing muscle pain, and even promoting better sleep.
• 
  Modern science hasn’t fully explored these uses yet, but the plant contains alkaloids that may have sedative and muscle-relaxing properties. It's a reminder that even rugged native plants can carry powerful natural potential.
• 
  As a bonus, Erythrina herbacea is also beautiful and beneficial in the garden, drawing in hummingbirds and butterflies with its vibrant pink flowers - hummingbirds can't resist this wild bloomer! It grows well in poor soil and dry conditions - low effort, high reward!

🛒 Plant once, enjoy for years

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Butterfly_plants #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Florigon mango: smooth, early, and always reliable.
Mango Rainbow🌈

• 🟡 Florigon is one of those mangoes that keeps showing up early - and never disappoints!
• 🟡It's creamy and mild, with a buttery texture and just a hint of spice. Sweet, but not too sweet - perfect for eating fresh or even over a scoop of ice cream.
• 🟡The tree is compact, reliable, and disease resistant, making it a favorite for backyard growers.
• 🟡Early fruit, no fiber, and smooth as silk - Florigon is an easy win in your garden.

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Tebow Mango - smooth, sweet, and melting.
Mango Rainbow🌈

• 🟡 Mango Tebow is Kent x Edward hybrid, an excellent late season variety. It is a Florida-born favorite named after Tim Tebow.
• 🟡 Fiber-free, smooth orange flesh with a sweet, tropical pineapple-coconut twist. It's juicy, fragrant, and just melts in your mouth.
• 🟡 A compact, heavy-bearing tree - perfect for home growers.

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Van Dyke: the mango that glows and flows.
Mango Rainbow🌈

• 🟠 Van Dyke is a Florida classic mango that’s loved all over the world - and once you try it, you’ll know why!
• 🟠 The trees are strong, spreading, and loaded with beautiful fruit.
• 🟠 Walking through the grove, this one really pops - bright yellow skin with a red blush, like it’s lit from within.
• 🟠 I pick it, slice it open... and wow! No fiber, just rich, juicy flesh with a sweet, spicy twist. It’s dense, meaty, and bursting with tropical flavor. This mango isn’t just pretty - it's pure magic!

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Mango tasting table with Chiane and Ashley

📱

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

How to cut a Mango without making a mess: Mango Rainbow tasting table

Mango harvest is exploding! Today we had another epic mango tasting table at Top Tropicals - and wow, do we have some favorites to share. From creamy classics to crisp green delights, here's what stood out and why we can't stop talking about them!

🌈 Today on the Mango tasting table:

• 🟠 P22 - Ultra-sweet with a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Completely fiberless and silky smooth like mango cream.
• 🟠 Sweet Tart - Bright orange flesh with bold sweet-tart flavor, floral aroma, and a juicy, creamy texture. Tangy when green, syrupy sweet when ripe.
• 🟠 Van Dyke - Rich and juicy with dense, meaty flesh and a tropical spice twist. Fiberless and bursting with sweet aroma and high juice content.
• 🟠 Pim Seng Mun - Crisp and tart when green, with a bright apple-like snap. When fully ripe, it has an amazingly smooth, melting, and silky texture - a true Thai favorite for eating both ways.
• 🟠 Florigon - Creamy and mild with a buttery texture and hint of spice. Sweet but balanced - delicious on its own or over ice cream.

🛒 Discover Mango varieties - hundreds!

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🌷 Curcuma: one plant, two powers - color and spice!

• 🌷 Curcuma, also called Siam Tulip or Turmeric, brings bold tropical blooms and practical benefits to your garden.
• 🌷 The bright pink, white, yellow, or purple flowers rise above lush foliage and last up to two weeks in a vase.
• 🌷 It's easy to grow in pots or beds - just keep the soil moist and give it filtered light.
• 🌷 Best of all, the roots are the source of turmeric, the golden spice used in cooking and natural wellness. Beautiful above, useful below!

🛒 Plant Curcuma for cut flowers and herbal use

📚 Learn more :
▫️ Curcuma - the tropical tulip with a secret spice twist

#Food_Forest #Container_Garden

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🐰 Who’s stealing my fruit?! How to protect mango fruit from critters.

• It's Mango season! But somehow, the mangoes are disappearing. Looks familiar? Squirrels, bunnies, birds, rats, raccoons… They all love the fruit. But sharing? Not so much. You’re lucky to get their leftovers!
• Here’s what we do to protect our mangoes and avocados - and it works! We use fruit protection bags. They are made of a strong mesh netting with easy drawstrings - keep out bugs, birds, and every other freeloading critter! Just slip it over the fruit and tighten both ends. They’re inexpensive, about 15 cents each, worth every penny! 💰

🐁🐿 Save your fruit - and maybe even have some left to share!

🛒 Don't own a mango tree yet? Plant one now to enjoy fruit tomorrow!

📚 Learn more:
How to protect fruit in your garden from greedy competitors
Penelope, the Squirrel Cat

#How_to #Food_Forest #Mango_Rainbow #Mango

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🍅 Why everyone's falling for the Hog Plum - the tropical fruit tree that does it all!

• ♦️The Hog Plum tree (Spondias purpurea), that you saw blooming in March, set the fruit by May and now in July - it's finally ripening at TopTropicals garden, and wow, what a crop!
• ♦️Also known as Jocote, Spanish Plum, or Purple Mombin, this fast-growing tropical tree is a superstar in the garden. It explodes with bright flowers right on bare branches in spring, then follows up with juicy, plum-like fruits that smell amazing and taste even better.
• ♦️The fruits are super versatile - eat them fresh, cook them down with sugar, pickle them green, or even make a spread like apple butter. You can even cook the young leaves for a tangy side dish.
• ♦️It grows fast, fruits early, and does great in all kinds of soil. Want a living fence that feeds you? This is it.
• ♦️And it's not just tasty - Hog Plum is packed with vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants. It’s refreshing, great for digestion, and may even help with blood pressure and blood sugar.
• ♦️ If mango is king, Hog Plum is definitely next in line!

🛒 Sweet fruit, right this way!

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️ Hog Plum health benefits
• ▫️ This is how the flowers of a Hog Plum look like
• ▫️ The Hog Plum tree fruit
• ▫️ What fruit tree is full of fruit year around

#Food_Forest

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🍊What is better - Lychee or Longan?

• 🟠 What is more productive than a lychee tree and just as delicious? The Longan tree - Euphoria longana.
• 🟠 This fast-growing beauty is a breeze to care for and starts fruiting early. Longan produces clusters of sweet, juicy fruit with crisp skin and fragrant white flesh that tastes a lot like lychee - some even say better!
• 🟠 It's tougher too: more wind-resistant, less fussy about soil and water, and fruits more regularly than its famous cousin. You can keep it compact with pruning or grow it in a container.
• 🟠 If you want a tropical fruit tree thats reliable, prolific, and packed with flavor, Longan is the one to grow!

🛒 Add a Longan tree to my garden!

📚 Learn more:
The most prolific and as good as Lychee

#Food_Forest

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals