Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Chief
Shipping Department Supervisor
Chief is one of the oldest PeopleCats at TopTropicals. And of course the
most experienced one. So he is in charge of the Shipping Department.
Chief likes to chill out in front of the nursery gate together with Marco, Lil S*t and Dobi Duck.
Chief doesn't like car rides to his vet and when it happens, he is very
loud. The sound he makes is "Oy-yo-yo-yooooy!!!"
Chief likes milk. He has a white spot on his black face - from drinking
so much milk! No matter how much milk we buy for him, there never seems to
be enough. Chief even has a refrigerator for his milk. If you come to visit
Chief at TopTropicals Garden Center, you may bring him a small bottle of fresh
milk!
Thank you for your purrrrrrchase for Chief!
Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: James Coconuts
Winning a Lucky Ticket for a Croissant
Many of you have already met James Coconuts who has been in charge of
our Customer Service Team for a long time. After many years of hard work,
Coconuts is now finally retired in a comfortable home but still does some
consulting for Anna Banana and other office team members. So you will hear from him
again in our Blog, helping with planting, and organizing holiday events.
Originally, Coconuts came from the Middle-of-Nowhere (what a surprise).
Tenants from our old property in Punta Gorda left him behind when they moved
out... So Coconuts lived in woods for a month and, considering being deaf
(but not dumb!) from birth, living in the wild was quite a challenge for him.
When he saw our car, he jumped right into the open trunk and never regretted
that decision. We left us no choice but to take him into our big CatFamily. He
had starved so much that he ate a whole croissant... as we had nothing else
to offer at the moment... Since then, Coconuts went through lots of troubles
including a minor stroke, being run over by a truck, lost in woods again for
a month, and surviving a wild animal fight followed by a life-threatening
abscess. Finally, he decided to stay away from trouble and happily landed on his
couch with Margaritas and Nachos, getting chubby, singing his favorite opera
songs, and writing poetry.
Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Wesley (Vasiliy)
Vasiliy is Russian Blue. Everybody calls him Wesley. Wesley is Marco's twin brother. They both were found as little kittens in a box
that someone dropped off... right, under TopTropicals car.
Marco is long hair, and Wes is short hair, so Wes doesn't get a haircut
like his bro.
Although Wes is much bigger and fatter, he is not as brave as skinny Marco
who fearlessly spends his days at the front gate. Wes is afraid of Thunder,
Rain, and a Doorbell. So he is mostly hiding behind the scene... unless food
is on the table!
Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Lil-S*
You know how it is, cats are like potato chips, they can't be just one.
And they come to you, they adopt you. They always pick the right people.
Every one of them has a story of their appearance.
Lil-S* came from a car engine. One cold winter morning of 2013 when we
were about to start a car... lil "meow" squeaked as a warning... Thank God
the engine wasn't started. She was hiding from cold under the hood right on the
engine, probably still catching some warmth from it... She was 4" size
kitten that fit in a palm of your hand... And she always has been a handful!
That's why we named her Little Sh*t.
Lil-S* likes to hang out with Marco in front of TopTropicals gate, greeting the customers.
Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Marco
Cat of the Day: Marco
When you visit TopTropicals
Garden Center, the first Purrrrson that greets you will probably be Marco.
He likes to chill out right at the parking lot under the shady oak!
Marco is a long-hair Russian Blue, and it is too hot for him in Florida.
So he gets a fashionable Lion Cut every couple of months!
PeopleCats of TopTropicals: Shipping
Department cat - Lady Bug
We have been getting many messages from customers saying they really
love the postings of our Cats and Dobi Duck... and they want more updates. So we
decided to open this new section for the animal fans.
As you well know, TopTropicals is not just a plant Nursery. Like most of
the gardeners and all Cool Plant People, we love our pets and we have many
of them here, enjoying the Garden. Our cats and the Duck are members of
TopTropicals Team. They help customers, participate in packing plants, and of
course keep the nursery mice-free. As employees of the marketing department, they
get their paychecks, free lunches, and other company benefits like full
healthcare coverage and stuff... They are taken care of by TopTropicals Shipping
Crew every day: whether its a meal or taking a medicine, it's all scheduled in
our daily task list!
This First Issue of PeopleCats Fan Club is dedicated to our Shipping
Department cat - Lady Bug. Originally she came to our nursery 3 years ago in a
box with her other 3 baby brother-sisters and they just opened their eyes.
Someone dropped the box with the litter at our gate... guessing this is the Good
Place! When Lady Bug grew up, she became a Shipping Department Supervisor,
helping Chief the Cat to manage plant shipments.
Lady Bug went missing a few days ago and all our team is crying for her.
We are praying she is OK. We miss you, Lady Bug! Please come back and bug us
again!
As a friendly reminder to our local walk-in customers: you are welcome
to visit TopTropicals ZOO, just please do not feed or pick up the animals!
Some of them are of old age, have special needs or special diet. All our pets
are friendly, however, we ask you to please do NOT pet them. They work hard all
day long and may have their own rules and emotions.
Q: I have a bunch of Ladybugs in my garden, I wonder if they
eating my plants? Do I need to get rid of them?
A: Ladybug (Harmonia axyridis) is, in fact, one of the
best insects you can find in your garden, it is a natural predator that takes
care of many bad bugs, including aphids. Keep them happy and bring them to your
garden. Ladybugs actually are cultivated as natural pest control, and you
can even buy them for your yard, instead of chemicals!
Ladybug larvae eating aphids:
The wonderful insects that dine only on landscape pests and don't harm
good bugs or plants are called 'beneficials', and ladybugs definitely fall
into this category, but not the way many people think. It's the ladybug's larvae
that are voracious predators of soft-bodied problem insects, especially
aphids.
Photo below:
One of our PeopleCats, "Innocent" Ladybug (a.k.a. Bug)
is wondering who else she can bug next...
January kaleidoscope: Top Tropicals plants... and cats
Plants in Winter
Q: My plants Mango and Sapodilla (I got from Top Tropicals) got cold frost recently up to the roots recently in a cold wave in NJ. The leaves are dry. The plant was kept in a green house. But the heater was off for a night. During that time the in the pot got frozen. Will the plants survive? Will they come back during spring?
A: Unfortunately, the chances are slim. It is hard to determine now if they will survive. Those plants can take a very short cold. They might survive when the root system was not frozen solid. To ensure your plants cold protection in the future, this is what we recommend:
Use temperature alarm. Nowadays they're very cheap, they can send a message to your email or cell phone.
Heaters like any other piece of machinery may fail. Redundancy is the keyword. Instead of one large heater use two of smaller capacity. If one fails, then second one will prevent catastrophic failure
Insulation. Extra layer of insulation helps greatly.
If you leave for vacation, then plan ahead. Have somebody to watch over your greenhouse. Move plants or at least the most sensitive ones inside of your house if possible.
Meet Top Tropicals Team. Part 1 - PeopleCats!
Did you know that here at Top Tropicals we care not only about plants, but also animals? Most of our PeopleCats and PeopleDogs either came to us from nowhere in hope of survival, or have been rescued. TopTropicals is proud to support all of our People. A portion of every dollar you spend on a plant purchase goes to our Cat Community maintenance, food and other needs of these Little People. We will keep you updated with more pictures and videos on our PeopleCats (that also includes one dog Bob). They all are members of our Team, helping us to grow plants for you, pack them and send to you from our Shipping Department. Visit our Facebook, YouTube Channel and LIKE all of our People!
Stay updated with TopTropicals Videos by subscribing to our channel at YouTube.com/TopTropicals and get our latest video news of what's fruiting and blooming!
