Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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Add a little Sunshine
to keep your plants looking their best

By Ed Jones, the Booster Guy

Mango leaves before and after Sunshine Boosters application

...Just like people, a little sunshine goes a long way in keeping them happy. It is usually easier to keep a plant healthy than it is to fix it when it is not well. Proper plant nutrition is often times the issue. The good news is that it is easy to keep your plants looking good by following proper nutrition practices...
...Feeding your plants with micronutrients that they just don't get in regular fertilizers can prevent deficiencies. Let's get started on a regular program of using foliar sprays to help keep your plants looking their best...
We recommend using three products in combination - the Complete SUNSHINE Microelement Supplement Kit that consists of:

- Sunshine Superfood
- Sunshine Epi
- Sunshine Power-Si

How often do I need to treat my plants?

We are recommending a foliar spray once per week to maintain optimal health conditions. This is based on recent studies done in Ukraine by the scientist who invented Sunshine Boosters products...
Continue reading to see an easy treatment schedule that will provide your plants with:
- Increased photosynthetic activity
- Increased insect and disease resistance
- Reduced mineral toxicity
- Improvement of nutrient imbalance
- Enhanced drought and frost tolerance
- Enhanced plant growth

Read more about these wonderful products and what they do >>

Sunshine Plant Supplement Kit

Sunshine Boosters are developed in Ukraine and manufactured in the USA. We support Ukraine fight for freedom. All profits from these fertilizers will be donated to support our Team in Ukraine.

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What is Akee fruit?

One of the most bizarre looking, yet useful...

Akee fruit on the branch with leaves

Email from our Florida customer:

I got an Akee tree from you last year for my tropical fruit garden collection and honestly didn't know much about what it was. This year it started growing real fast and branched out. In spring it was flowering like crazy and now I have about 20 bright coral fruit hanging off the tree that look like Christmas decorations. They are extremely showy and can be seen from far away, I have neighbors stopping by asking what kind of tree it is. I finally did more research on it and found a recipe how to cook the fruit. Only a few had ripened and opened so far, but I already had a chance to try the meal. Cooked the arils and fried in a pan with some butter. What a delicious surprise! To my taste, it is like a mix of potatoes and eggs. Just through in some bacon and it will make a complete breakfast! One of the coolest fruit I've tasted. Just wanted to share this with you.

About Akee (Blighia sapida)

This showy fruit, a close relative of Lychee, Longan, and Rambutan, is a National fruit of Jamaica. It is indeed very exciting one, and what is also important, the tree is easy in cultivation, fast growing and can be maintained compact. I it is not bugsy or picky about soil/water conditions, and is relatively cold tolerant for being a tropical tree. You can find delicious akee meals only in Jamaican restaurants. But no need to search for it - grow your own tree, it can't be easier. It will start fruiting for you the next season, you don't have to wait long. Sometimes it fruits twice a year! However, remember, the fruit is used as a vegetable, and is not eaten raw. It must be picked after the fruit has opened naturally so the flesh is fully exposed to light. When the fruit has "yawned", discard the seeds (or better plant them to grow more trees - to share with your friends!). The arils, while still fresh and firm, are best parboiled in salted water or milk and then lightly fried in butter. Then they are really delicious!
Read more about this tree...

Akee tree

Akee fruit

Akee fruit with pulp and seeds on a plate

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Project Ian

A letter from a gardener:
"We just want our paradise back!"

PeopleCats Botanical Garden

"...My name is Ian, and I am a 21 y/o Natural Resource Management student at South Dakota State University. In 2006, my family found a small barrier island lush with foliage and virtually untouched by the modern world, and we fell in love. Little Gasparilla Island became a piece of our family and now after 16 years, we still spend months out of each year enjoying the island's natural beauty.
Enter Hurricane Ian.
With the eye of the hurricane traveling directly over the island, many homes and materialistic items were destroyed, but more importantly, the once beautiful "jungle" is now more comparable to a barren desert.
This is where I was hoping to get some help... to restore the beauty of Little Gasparilla. After almost 3 weeks, neither the county nor FEMA has made it out to survey our island. And it is almost as if we feel forgotten. After fending for ourselves for clean-up, I am ready to get to work on landscaping. Plants are my passion and it pains me each day to wake up and see that 90% of our Australian and Norfolk Island Pines are completely gone, along with most foliage and palms.
We just want our paradise back, and many of us will work for it by any means necessary..."

We replied to Ian who suffered from Ian... We are willing to help his beautiful island, as well as everyone who is looking for help restoring our Florida beauty. Check out our deals and re-leaf discounts we send in our Newsletters. Remember to attend our Garden Festival on Nov 19, with some big discounts as well as free plants for after-Ian re-leaf!

We will make Florida beautiful again.
We will call it Project Ian!

PeopleCats Garden and pond

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This Fall Special:
Avocados and Champakas in large containers

Save $25 cat in a shower

The clean-up and restoration after Hurricane Ian continues for many of us across Florida and the Southeast. Some people In SW Florida lost their homes, and almost every home owner lost a tree or even the whole garden. TopTropicals is here to help. We started introducing special Re-Leaf offers to help local gardeners replace broken trees. When it's time to restore your garden, we have 15-25 gallon Avocado trees in many varieties and oversized Magnolia Champaca trees available for pick up at our Fort Myers Garden Center or B-Farm in Sebring.

These trees are 6-8 feet tall (some larger) and ready to bear fruit!

Please call or visit our Garden Center to select your own tree.

Delivery and installation available

Limited time offer!

Avocado trees in 15 gal pots

Magnolia (Michelia) champaca - Joy Perfume Tree, Champaka, 15 gal pot

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Re-Leaf discount extended!

The prettiest plants of the month

Aphelandra sinclairiana - Panama Queen

Aphelandra sinclairiana - Panama Queen

We thank everyone who made a purchase in the past few days, you made a big difference! We continue clearing debris and rebuilding our greenhouses. Thanks to your support, we will be able to get our plants ready for winter! This is what we are doing this month:

rebuilding woodframes for greenhouses
installing new shade cloth and plastic
cutting fallen trees
getting new equipment that suffered from flood
adding rock in the nursery to be ready for the Fall Festival

You help us - we help you!
Ask for more RE-LEAF specials when you visit our Garden Center!

Hurricane Ian re-leaf discount extended

For 10% off your entire order, use this code:

IANRELEAF

Use this code on top of our fantastic deals and make it a super deal:
As low as $5 sale of selected items
Secret Garden - 50% off

Min order $100. Exp. 10-08-22.

Hedychium flavum x coccineum Dr. Moy - Variegated Hardy Ginger Lily

Hedychium flavum x coccineum Dr. Moy - Variegated Hardy Ginger Lily

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Fall Festival rescheduled:
now November 19th

Fall Festival Event

Due to hurricane Ian aftermath in SW Florida, many gardeners aren't able to attend our Garden Event that was originally scheduled for this coming Saturday Oct 8. So we decided to reschedule it for November 19, 2022 so everyone can come. Please update your calendars!

We have spent weeks planning this special event and the show will go on, as soon as everybody gets back on their feet. Stay strong and come back, we will help you to restore your gardens!

NEW: Festival RE-LEAF special

FREE plant for every guest - no purchase necessary!

Throughout years of living in Florida with its sometimes harsh weather - hurricanes, flood, freeze, drought - we have lost plants too, and we feel your pain now! To help everyone to restore their gardens after hurricane Ian, we are offering a FREE plant program. Yes, it's absolutely free, and no purchase required. This promotion will be run during our Fall Festival and every guest will receive a free gift plant!

Philemon Cat with Fall Festival on the Monitor

Outlook.com - Office 365 - Google

PeopleCats in the Garden