5 most rewarding tropical fruit trees

Top Tropicals @ Garden America Radio Show

...The most popular garden radio show Garden America is featuring Top Tropicals topic "5 most practical and rewarding fruit trees for subtropical areas".

1) Jackfruit Orange Crush (Artocarpus heterophyllus)
...We recently obtained this variety and it is hands down the best Jackfruit we ever tasted. It is crunchy, sweet, aromatic, with bright orange pulp...

2) Dwarf Guava Hawaiian Rainbow (Psidium nana)
- A very small version of the favorite aromatic Guava.
- Grows only up to 5-6 ft tall with a short trunk and branching, bushy habit.

3) Yellow Pitaya, Dragon Fruit (Selenicereus megalanthus)
- This particular species of Dragon fruit is the sweetest and has great flavor unlike most pitayas
- doesn't mind regular water and rains but is also drought-tolerant

4) Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)
- Can be kept as a very compact tree, and fruits in a pot.
- Flowers and fruits right away. The plants are covered with flowers now and setting fruit.
- Very cold hardy to upper 20's, drought tolerant, fast growing

5) Macadamia Nut (Macadamia integrifolia x tetraphylla)
- The most delicious and popular sweet nuts that are usually so expensive, can be produced in your garden!
- Cold hardy, fast growing, and very productive.

Listen to Facebook-Live Show (recording):

Happy New Year 2022:
Year of Tiger!

Year of Tiger starts: February 1, 2022

by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

According to Chinese astrology, 2022 will be the Year of the Blue Water Tiger. In the following story we will unveil the secrets of Tiger's personality, what drives him, what are Tiger's favorite colors and of course - what are his favorite plants that will make him happy, kind, and cooperative...
...As the Tiger Year starts, per our readers suggestions, we will continue everyone's favorite column Astrology of Plants and will be updating you on your Zodiac Lucky Plants every month! Look out for our upcoming publications for the first two Zodiac signs of this year and their lucky plants...

CONTINUE READING >>

Don't miss this one:
PodCast Premiere!

Episode 1
How to Protect Tropical plants in Winter: Q & A

Featuring Horticulturist Mark Hooten

...We are introducing our new Series: Top Tropicals Podcast. Growing tropicals and pushing the limits. Watch the first episode:

How to Protect Tropical plants in Winter

...Who doesn't like tropical beauty? Everyone wants tropical plants. But not everyone lives in a warm climate. Is it possible to grow tropicals outside of Tropics?
Top Tropicals horticulturist Mark Hooten, who is well known to many gardeners as the Garden Doc with his Saturday Plant Clinic, is answering gardeners' questions about how to prepare and protect tropical plants during winter...

Premiere scheduled:
Thursday, January 27, 8:00 AM

More about cold hardiness and cold protection:

Cold hardy tropical fruit trees
Growing Stephanotis and cold protection
Cold protection of tropical container plants
Plumeria cold protection
Ghost Cold Protection
Seven rules of cold protection for tropicals
Improving cold hardiness before winter: fertilizer and micro-elements
3D garden ideas and winter cold protection
Cold protection - winter action for your plant collection
About Cold Protection

New Video:
The Hong Kong Orchid Tree

Bauhinia blakeana

"...Edging the golf course of the club was a glorious sweep of glowing purple. Even before I was near enough to identify the trees, the rich, heady perfume which filled the air told me they were Bauhinias. The sight left me breathless and it was then I realized how difficult was the attempt I was making to describe in mere words the trees I know better how to paint..." (D. Cowen, "Flowering trees and shrubs of India")

Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree, is the most beautiful of all orchid trees, and the most wanted one. It has the largest flowers, brightly colored. Winter bloomer. These trees start flowering in very small size, when only 2-3 ft tall!
Certainly seeing flowering Bauhinia blakeana is one of the best things a plant collector will love about winter. It truly is the most beautiful orchid tree!

Read more: Bauhinias: Orchid trees with Butterfly flowers
Spectacular Hong Kong Orchid Tree - Eye Candy and "Clever Leaf"

WATCH NEW VIDEO >>

Stay updated with TopTropicals Videos by subscribing to our channel at YouTube.com/TopTropicals and get our latest video news of what is fruiting and blooming!

Easy Sunday Morning Deals: The biggest fruit in the world

Saving on your favorite plants is Easy.
Easy like Sunday Morning...

It's time for our favorite day and another Easy stroll through Top Tropicals Garden with savings of

up to 50% and MORE!

The biggest fruit in the world...

Do you want something exceptional for your plant collection? It can be affordable: on Easy Sunday!

Jackfruit great features:
- easy to grow, likes to be watered
- relatively cold-hardy, established trees can take light frost
- can be maintained in a pot, as you can trim the tree at 6-7 ft, since the fruit is born at the base of the trunk
- starts producing within just a couple of years from planting.

Jackfruit Orange Crush

- The best variety we ever tasted -

Jackfruit Orange Crush has a dark orange, extra crunchy flesh, with a nice clean green skin, and low latex. Typically weighs about 20 lbs. We recently obtained this variety and it is hands down the best Jackfruit we ever tasted. It is crunchy, sweet, aromatic, with bright orange pulp.

Jackfruit Super Thai

- The most popular variety -

Super Thai Jackfruit is crispy, sweet, fruit is very large, over 35-50 lb on average. Thai favorite!

Both Jackfruits are large 3 gal size plants, regularly $72.95,
on Easy Sunday sale for only $43.77 each!

Combine the two and get 2 FREE plants!

Showy ornamental Ardisia elliptica - FREE!

Spectacular flowering, easy Kalanchoe daigremontiana - Mother of Thousands - FREE!

(Regularly priced at $17.95 each)

2 Jackfruit + 2 plants Collection price: Reg. $172.95 - Sale: $87.95

Remember, the Easy Sunday Deal expires on Monday January 24th.

Ficus pumila:
you won't believe these leaves and fruit!..

by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

...If you visited tropical and subtropical countries, you probably have seen this curious plant covering fences and walls and even whole buildings, looking like an ivy... But if you looked closer, you might have noticed something unbelievable about this plant... Do these small tiny leaves, and these large glossy leaves, and these fig-like fruit too... do they all belong to the same plant?!.. No way!..

CONTINUE READING >>

Avocado Q & A

Sensation: Avocado 2.5 y.o seedling just bloomed!

Ed's Avocado seedling blooming at age 2.5 years old... Go figure!

Q: Can I plant a seed from a store bought avocado and expect it to bear fruit?

A: Avocados grown from seed do not always come true, meaning being the same as the avocado that produced the seed being planted. Also, avocados grown from seed will take upwards of 8 years to flower and bear fruit unless grown by Ed Jones and his witchcraft. Ed Jones, the Avocado Guy... Yes, he is also the Mango Guy, and the Booster Guy... We don't know how he does it. He grows the most beautiful fruit trees, many of them from seed and they all seem to flower within two years! (See his blogs about his Star Fruit, Olive trees, and video about Shaping Mango Trees). All we know for sure, he uses Sunshine Boosters for all his plant experiments.
As far as Avocado , we recommend a grafted variety, where a scion, or branch tip, of a known cultivar is grafted to good rootstock. These trees will usually flower right away and bear good amount of fruit within a couple of years of being planted in the ground.
It's a good chance now to get a good grafted Avocado on our special Happy Value Sale while supply lasts, for only $59.95.

Happy Value Avocados

Limited 2 trees per customer. Limited time offer, while supply lasts.

Photo above: TopTropicals Avocados 2022

Easy Sunday Morning Deals: Dwarf Guava Hawaiian Rainbow

Saving on your favorite plants is Easy.
Easy like Sunday Morning...

..."A ' ohe loa i ka hana a ke aloha.
Distance is ignored by love..."
- Toni Polancy -

It's time for our favorite day and another Easy stroll through Top Tropicals Garden with savings of

50% and MORE!

Put a little Aloha in your garden....
Two Exotics from Paradise

It may be cold where you are, so take a trip with us to the Hawaiian Islands. Tropical breezes, soothing ocean waves and an unbeatable selection of tropical plant treasures...
This week we bring the Aloha to you. A guava that will bring a taste of the Islands and a spectacular variety of Majestic Taro.

Dwarf Guava Hawaiian Rainbow

- Ready to fruit this year! -

This is a very small version of the favorite aromatic Guava - Hawaiian Rainbow Nana. It grows only up to 5-6 ft tall, perfect for limited space. It can be grown in a pot and fruits heavily almost year around. The flesh is sweet, aromatic, and varies from white to yellow to pink.

Colocasia Diamond Head

- Large Developed plants! -

Diamond Head is a spectacular variety of Taro is named after the volcanic cone on the Hawaiian island of Oahu - both the cone and plant are black and lustrous! Mature plants form a well-behaved clump and reach 3 to 4 feet tall, with leaves up to 2 feet wide! A must for black plant fanatics. Grows more compact that other Colocasias and no two leaves are the same!

Colocasia Diamond Head, regularly $42.95,
is on Easy Sunday sale for only $21.48

Dwarf Guava Hawaiian Rainbow, regularly $52.95,
is on Easy Sunday Sale for only $26.48.

Combine the two for maximum Aloha and save even more:

only $42.95 for both - one plant comes FREE!

Remember, the Easy Sunday Deal expires on Monday January 17th.

Strobilanthes, Chinese Rain Bell
- a source of Blue, Green, and Purple...

by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

...Spectacular, elegant, fountain-like small shrub, featuring thin arching branches covered with pink bell flowers from Fall throughout Winter and Spring. And yet is has a rich history of use: extensive medicinal properties as well as a source of the famous dye Assam Indigo. The leaves and stems contain indican, used in production of the classic Blue Indigo Dye. A dark Blue dye is obtained from the twigs. It is combined with Turmeric (Curcuma longa) to make Green, and with Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) to make Purple...
...Cold hardy, compact, yet fast growing and easy, it makes a wonderful container specimen even for beginners...

CONTINUE READING >>

Happy Value Avocados

Avocado Lula

Variety Lula is renowned for its ability to endure harsh winters, and for its exceptionally long harvesting period. More frost resistant than most, successful in Central and South Florida where it is a formerly the leading commercial cultivar. An exceptional choice for homeowners around Orlando and Central Florida. The fruit is pear-shaped, sometimes with a neck, medium-large, the skin almost smooth. Flesh is pale to greenish-yellow. The Oil content 12-16%. Seed is large, tight. Production season is medium-late (November-December). The tree grows tall, bears early and heavily. This variety was originated from seed from a parent tree planted in 1915 by Mrs. Lula Cellon at Miami, Florida.

Avocado Marcus Pumpkin

Very rare and hard to find variety! Marcus Pumpkin Avocado - Green, Large, and Round. It is so unique in its shape: it has a pumpkin shaped fruit 30-40 oz, fruiting time October through November. Very good creamy flavor. It is hard to eat the whole one at once because of its size!

Limited 2 trees per customer. Limited time offer, while supply lasts.

Photo above: TopTropicals Avocados 2022