Meet People of TopTropicals. Pea Cock of the Day: the Orchid Guard

Recently we started to reveal the secret about who works behind the scenes on TopTropicals project; you have already met our editors and their assistants: Marina with Tilda, and Alex with Sonya. Today's story is about a Magic Peacock who works in orchid greenhouse of Eleanor Wilks - our photographer and tropical plant journalist in New Zealand and Australia. The watermark EleNZ you see on pictures of Australian flora - is Eleanor's!
Today Eleanor is sharing with us pictures of this amazing bird that helps her around her Orchidarium.
This young Pea Cock showed up one day in her backyard from nowhere and set up his living quarters in a tree. She asked around: no one was missing a peacock... so she took the Pea in and now he is in charge of her orchid collection. After a day of a hard work, Pea comes home to the back porch, waiting for Eleanor to sing him a good-night lullaby. Pea won't go to sleep until everyone in the house is ready for bed and the lights turned off. What a responsible house guard!

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Weasley the Immigrant

Weasley came from the neighborhood cat community (our neighbor takes care of at least a dozen of cats). Whether TopTropicals dry food tastes better than neighbor's, or simply he is such an enthusiast of tropical gardening, he hangs out with us all the time.
When you see him in our Garden Center drinking milk or chilling right on the walkway with other PeopleCats, don't get him confused with other two ginger cats we have: Barcy and Snitch... as well as the Russian Blue cat with a similar name Wesley...
Although Weasley currently has a status of a legal immigrant, he feels pretty confident around our greenhouses and will be happy to give you a tour. He is still a volunteer here but has already applied for a permanent residence and a full time position, so his food needs are being added to our cat payroll.
When visiting TopTropicals nursery, feel free to add your donation to a Cat Jar located in our office by customer's computer. We appreciate everybody's help - every penny goes to PeopleCat's needs.

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Sonya, the Co-Author

In our previous newsletter, you met our editor/photographer tandem - Tilda & Marina. Today we introduce our columnist assistant - Sonya. For the past decade, this True Norwegian Forest Cat has been a great helper and inspirational co-author for Alexandra, TopTropicals website writer and social media blogger.

Alex has been with TopTropicals since Day One (2003). In 2011, she got Sonya, a 3-month old kitten that someone kicked out: at that young age she already had quite a temper of a real Wild Cat. No one wanted to adopt her and Sonya was doomed to suffer a street life... So Alex invited her in the house... and it took her many months to teach Sonya some good manners! And Sonya turned into a beautiful and affectionate Purrrson as well as became the Boss in the house (what a surprise, duh) and Alexandra's dearest life companion. Sonya also discovered her talent in writing plant stories for TopTropicals, sitting on Alex's shoulder and whispering into her ear while she is typing Sonya's horticultural tips. And when Alex stares at monitors for more than 5 hours, Sonya lays on her keyboard saying: "Now get up and get some stretch lady! Let's go re-pot some plants for a change!"

We will be following up on Sonya's creative work, and you will hear from her again soon...

Check out Video: Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals and more Cat of the Day stories.

Meet People of TopTropicals. Dog of the Day: Tilda, the Assistant Editor

On January 31, 2020 TopTropicals will celebrate its official 17th birthday. While it is recognized as the World's Leading Authority on Tropical Plants, very few people know who actually stands behind the scene of our famous hand-crafted Plant Catalog with nearly 5,000 plants and 50,000 original plant photos...

Today's column is about Assistant Editor of Top Tropicals Plant Encyclopedia - Tilda. Tilda is the right hand (the right paw!) of our around-the-clock photographer, botanist, and the plant ID world known expert - Marina Rybka. Everyone knows that there is no such plant in the world that TopTropicals can not identify... we get plant ID requests from around the globe, and we always have answers for you. Do you know who is responsible for that priceless knowledge? Whose mouse touched every one of those 50,000 images and put proper names to them? Ask Tilda. She witnessed every shot!

Now that we finally decided to reveal the secrets of TopTropicals creation and history, we should continue this blog by introducing to you the rest of TopTropicals mysterious brains... Stay with us and you will find out soon!

Check out Video: Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals and more Cat of the Day stories.

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Tricky Lil S**t still rules the place!

Everyone knows Lil S**t because she is the first Purrrson you see when visiting our Garden Center, along with Marco. They are our official Greeters.
She not only hangs out at the gate, but also runs our Shipping Department along with Chief. Lil S**t has her purrrrsonal extra plates at the gate: she insisted to have them so she can demonstrate to everyone how empty they always are... that means the poor Lil Thing is always hungry, duh. Well if you preferrrr to believe her, you may bring some treats for her... and watch her eating them and bugging the next visitor 5 minutes later...
We don't mind her Lil tricks, because it seems like no matter how much she eats, she sure keeps her Lil figure slim without any diet! Maybe some day she can share her secret with us!

Check out Video: Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals and more Cat of the Day stories.

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Independent Paisley

Paisley is an independent cat that prefers to spend her time alone. She is Snitch's sister, both of them came to us two years ago from our co-worker Cindy (Purry's Mom). Even though Paisley is the smallest of Kristi's inside PeopleCats, she will make sure no food is wasted and finishes the other cats' food after they leave their bowls. She enjoys catching lizards when she gets outside time on the porch. Her excellent hunting skills would make her a great outdoor cat, but we are afraid she will become bird prey due to her small size.

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Field Grown Marco

Marco loves growing plants and be involved in different projects outside. He is good at finding spots either on top, or inside some inappropriate objects. Yet simple boxes, that most cats find super comfy, do not interest him. Is has to be a plant container, saucer, or even a charcoal grill full of ash... He can sit in some weird places for hours like on top of a fence pole, or lay in the middle of a busy walking traffic while everybody have to step over or walk around him... We have quite a collection of Marco's special places and will be sharing with you!

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Meet People of TopTropicals. Duck of the Day: Dobi says Good-Bye!

Our Duck Dobi finally decided to join her whistling duck community and said good bye to us...

Everyone who visited Top Tropicals Garden Center met Dobi - the all-time greeter! She has been raised by Kristi from a little fluffy duckling and ruled TopTropicals Cat Community and Plant Nursery for almost 2 years! Now that she finally feels strong and confident, she said she feels good about getting her Duck Freedom. She promised to come back in Spring, like all ducks do - they come to their Home Pond where they have been raised.

Bon Voyage Dobi, enjoy your duck friends, and we will be waiting for you!

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Klaksa - the Mini Cat

Klaksa is a miniature 6 lb cat that lives together with Jim and Google. You can see all three of them wishing you Merry Christmas at the top of this Newsletter. Klaksa is the tiniest Purrson and yet she is the most energetic one. It is almost impossible to take a picture of her because she never stops moving for a second!
Klaksa came in 2016 as a little kitten, but she never grew up since! She saw Google and Jim and said she could be a good addition to this "Man in Black" team. So she stayed.
Klaksa likes to attach/cling to someone. The boys can't avoid her company even if they wanted too! But who can say no to woman's attention?

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Google the Cat. The Brain.

Google is the second oldest cat of TopTropicals, after Jim. Google lives in the same house with Jim where they both help us to develop new features for our website.
Google is the most intelligent cat on Planet Earth. Originally we got him from an animal shelter after his first adoption failed: someone returned him back to the shelter... It was hard to believe because he was so cute... but soon enough, we realized why someone was spooked away... Google is TOO smart! When he looks at you and rolls his eyes, you instantly have a feeling that he can literally see through you, and read your mind... It didn't scare us, of course. On opposite, Google became very helpful with writing database codes, engineering difficult construction tasks, and other comprehensive projects that require a brilliant intellect. Since 2007, Google has been a personal assistant of one of the TopTropicals owners, and their minds are worth each other. Google never leaves his desk until he makes sure every complicated task is completed.
Google loves little children (for conversations), shrimp (for snacks) and hi-tech projects (for fun).

Check out Video: Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals and more Cat of the Day stories.