🏆 Tropical Fruit Tree Contest: enter to win the Jaboticaba Tree!

Post a picture of your own container grown tropical fruit tree and win this Jaboticaba!

🫐 Jaboticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora) is one of the most popular native fruit of Brazil and is used to produce their famous Jaboticaba Vine. Grape-like purple fruit with a thick skin and delicious melting pulp somewhat resembling Northern Black Currant in flavor. They grow right on the trunk! The tree is very slow growing, so large specimens are very expensive and hard to find.

💰$69.95 Value + FREE shipping 🚚
yes, delivered to your door absolutely FREE! Large, developed plant.

❗️ How to become a winner? It's very simple!
Post a picture of your own tropical fruit tree grown in CONTAINER in comments to this post and start receiving likes and hearts!
The entry that receives more likes (hearts, thumbs up, etc.) will be the winner!

👨�‍👧 Invite your friends and family to vote: to put their likes and hearts and support your work!

📋 RULES AND TERMS:

1. Must be our Channel Subscriber (click JOIN 👇)
2. Only 1 post per participant. The post should contain 1-3 pictures and a plant name.
3. A plant must be:

a) tropical fruit tree grown in a container. No temperate apples and no in-ground trees at this time.
b) must be a perennial tree or a shrub (annual garden veggies will have their chance in our future contests)
c) your own plant, not in a nursery or botanical garden
d) fruit on the plant is a plus (more likes), but not a must.
4. Delivery - USA addresses only. To receive the prize, the winner will be requested to provide shipping info.
5. Unclaimed prizes will be canceled after 2 weeks.
6. Deadline - July 1, 2024 at 3 pm, then we will count the hearts and pick the winner.
7. No purchase necessary to enter or win (see full rules PDF)

‼️ We need at least 20 participants to select the winner.

🏅 Good luck!

Post your entries in comments to this post👇

#Win #Food_Forest

🏵 JOIN TopTropicals and win!

❤️💰 Fruit of Money and Love

🫘 Theobroma cacao, commonly known as the Chocolate Tree or Cacao Tree, is very exciting plant and a superfood as we mentioned earlier.

• 
  💥 Theobroma means "food of the gods" in Greek. "Theo" means god, and "broma" means food.
• 
  💥 The Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs were among the first to cultivate cacao, using it to make a bitter beverage called xocoatl. It was often spiced with chili peppers and used in various rituals and ceremonies.
• 
  💥 Currency: in ancient Mesoamerican cultures, cacao beans were so valuable that they were used as a form of currency. For example, 100 beans could buy a slave or a turkey.
• 
  💥 The Aztecs believed that cacao had stimulating properties and used it as an aphrodisiac. Emperor Montezuma was said to consume a large amount of cacao before visiting his harem. We can't deny that chocolate's mood-enhancing properties, combined with cultural and psychological factors, contribute to its romantic allure! ❤️
• 
  💥 A cacao pod contains 20 to 50 beans, each surrounded by a sweet, mucilaginous pulp. The pods grow directly on the trunk and larger branches of the tree, a feature known as cauliflory.
• 
  💥 After harvesting, cacao beans are fermented for several days, a critical step that develops the flavor precursors needed for chocolate production.
• 
  💥 The Cacao tree thrives in the humid, tropical regions around the equator. It can be grown as an exciting house plant.
• 
  💥 Health benefits: cacao beans are rich in antioxidants, magnesium, iron, and other minerals. They also contain flavonoids, associated with heart health benefits.
• 
  💥 There are three main varieties of cacao beans: Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario. Criollo is considered the highest quality but is less common due to its susceptibility to disease. Forastero is the most widely grown, known for its hardiness. Trinitario is a hybrid of the two.
• 
  💥 It takes about 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate. The beans undergo roasting, grinding, and mixing with sugar and other ingredients to produce the final chocolate product.

📚Learn more: Plants of Love - Aphrodisiacs of the plant world

🛒 Grow your own Chocolate Tree

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

❤️💰 Fruit of Money and Love

🫘 Theobroma cacao, commonly known as the Chocolate Tree or Cacao Tree, is very exciting plant and a superfood as we mentioned earlier.

• 
  💥 Theobroma means "food of the gods" in Greek. "Theo" means god, and "broma" means food.
• 
  💥 The Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs were among the first to cultivate cacao, using it to make a bitter beverage called xocoatl. It was often spiced with chili peppers and used in various rituals and ceremonies.
• 
  💥 Currency: in ancient Mesoamerican cultures, cacao beans were so valuable that they were used as a form of currency. For example, 100 beans could buy a slave or a turkey.
• 
  💥 The Aztecs believed that cacao had stimulating properties and used it as an aphrodisiac. Emperor Montezuma was said to consume a large amount of cacao before visiting his harem. We can't deny that chocolate's mood-enhancing properties, combined with cultural and psychological factors, contribute to its romantic allure! ❤️
• 
  💥 A cacao pod contains 20 to 50 beans, each surrounded by a sweet, mucilaginous pulp. The pods grow directly on the trunk and larger branches of the tree, a feature known as cauliflory.
• 
  💥 After harvesting, cacao beans are fermented for several days, a critical step that develops the flavor precursors needed for chocolate production.
• 
  💥 The Cacao tree thrives in the humid, tropical regions around the equator. It can be grown as an exciting house plant.
• 
  💥 Health benefits: cacao beans are rich in antioxidants, magnesium, iron, and other minerals. They also contain flavonoids, associated with heart health benefits.
• 
  💥 There are three main varieties of cacao beans: Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario. Criollo is considered the highest quality but is less common due to its susceptibility to disease. Forastero is the most widely grown, known for its hardiness. Trinitario is a hybrid of the two.
• 
  💥 It takes about 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate. The beans undergo roasting, grinding, and mixing with sugar and other ingredients to produce the final chocolate product.

📚Learn more: Plants of Love - Aphrodisiacs of the plant world

🛒 Grow your own Chocolate Tree

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

❤️💰 Fruit of Money and Love

🫘 Theobroma cacao, commonly known as the Chocolate Tree or Cacao Tree, is very exciting plant and a superfood as we mentioned earlier.

• 💥 Theobroma means "food of the gods" in Greek. "Theo" means god, and "broma" means food.
• 💥 The Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs were among the first to cultivate cacao, using it to make a bitter beverage called xocoatl. It was often spiced with chili peppers and used in various rituals and ceremonies.
• 💥 Currency: in ancient Mesoamerican cultures, cacao beans were so valuable that they were used as a form of currency. For example, 100 beans could buy a slave or a turkey.
• 💥 The Aztecs believed that cacao had stimulating properties and used it as an aphrodisiac. Emperor Montezuma was said to consume a large amount of cacao before visiting his harem. We can't deny that chocolate's mood-enhancing properties, combined with cultural and psychological factors, contribute to its romantic allure! ❤️
• 💥 A cacao pod contains 20 to 50 beans, each surrounded by a sweet, mucilaginous pulp. The pods grow directly on the trunk and larger branches of the tree, a feature known as cauliflory.
• 💥 After harvesting, cacao beans are fermented for several days, a critical step that develops the flavor precursors needed for chocolate production.
• 💥 The Cacao tree thrives in the humid, tropical regions around the equator. It can be grown as an exciting house plant.
• 💥 Health benefits: cacao beans are rich in antioxidants, magnesium, iron, and other minerals. They also contain flavonoids, associated with heart health benefits.
• 💥 There are three main varieties of cacao beans: Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario. Criollo is considered the highest quality but is less common due to its susceptibility to disease. Forastero is the most widely grown, known for its hardiness. Trinitario is a hybrid of the two.
• 💥 It takes about 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate. The beans undergo roasting, grinding, and mixing with sugar and other ingredients to produce the final chocolate product.

📚Learn more: Plants of Love - Aphrodisiacs of the plant world

🛒 Grow your own Chocolate Tree

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

🔮 Why cannon balls grow on a tree with mollusk open mouth.

• 🐙 Couroupita guianensis - Cannonball Tree - is a rare tree from South America with a bizarre fruit and flowers, that can be seen only in tropical botanic gardens.
• 🐙 It is a very tall tree with large, elliptical leaves
• 🐙 The pinkish-red flowers, strongly scented at night, grow directly from the trunk near the base of the crown, and not on the branches. They look like exotic mollusks! They have a complex structure with numerous stamens that resemble sea anemones or other marine life. The flower is often described as looking like an open mouth or a sea creature.
• 🐙 The tree blooms year round. Flowers are followed by large, globular fruit, up to 8 inches in diameter, resembling cannonballs, hence the name "Cannonball Tree." They remain on the tree for many months. On older trees there may be dozens of fruits and flower clusters at the same time!
• 🐙 When the ripe fruits fall from the tree, they can make a loud, cannonball-like noise upon hitting the ground due to their size and weight.

🛒 Shop rare plants

#Fun_Facts #Trees #Nature_Wonders

🏵 TopTropicals

More pictures of the Cannonball Tree for the previous post 👆

#Fun_Facts #Trees #Nature_Wonders

🏵 TopTropicals

❔ Is Magnolia edible? Vanilla Magnolia: it's for cooking!

💮 Florida Sweet Bay, or Vanilla Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) has beautiful flowers with strong vanilla fragrance, while the leaves offer unique culinary uses.

• 🔹 Strong vanilla scent: fragrance can be noticed hundreds of yards away.
• 🔹 White, delicate blooms.
• 🔹 Unique leaf flavor: fresh leaves have a distinct taste, fun for cooking. Sweet Bay offers unique cooking flavors.
• 🔹 Prefers moist, acidic soil conditions, tolerates flooding, ideal for wet spots in your yard.
• 🔹 Pest-free: no bugs or other pests.

🛒 Shop Magnolia trees

#Trees #Perfume_Plants

🏵 TopTropicals

🥭 Top 5 exotic Mango varieties for rare fruit collection.

Now that you have decided to collect them all but have limited space, these are the top 5 of the most interesting rare Mango cultivars:

• 🟠 1. Kar Lon Long - rare and unusual, native to India. Fruits that can weigh up to 5 lbs each! The unique flavor that has been described as being a cross between a mango and a pineapple.
• 🟠 2. Mun Kun Si - similar to Nam Doc Mai but much bigger. Rare variety, very popular among Thai and Vietnamese people. The fruit are extremely sweet, fiberless and somewhat crunchy ("Mun" means crunchy). Very late producer, fruit may still be on a tree as late as January.
• 🟠 3. Pina Colada - very sweet, has rich flavor with a hint of coconut and pineapple.
• 🟠 4. Ugly Betty - awesome mango, great sweet flavor, while the fruit is real ugly! Slightly mis-shaped at the top - hence the name.
• 🟠 5. Giselle - from Gary Zill's breeding program and was a seedling of a mango called Tower. It was described as a juice mango and is named after Gary's wife.

❓What is your favorite Mango variety? Share in comments 👇

📝 See also earlier posts:

• 🔸 5 most Favorite Mango Varieties
• 🔸 Top 10 Dwarf "Condo" Mango
• 🔸 Top 5 vigorous growers and reliable producers
• 🔸 How to grow a mango tree

🛒 Shop Mango Trees

#Food_Forest

🏵 TopTropicals

💋 Is scarlet you favorite flower color too?

❓What is your favorite flower color? Share in comments👇

• 🔴 Cordia sebestena - Scarlet Geiger tree - is a showy small tree with bright scarlet flowers.
• 🔴 Flowers are followed by white edible fruit.
• 🔴 Named in memory of John Geiger, a 19th-century Key West pilot and wrecker.
• 🔴 Flowers appear scattered over the tree during most of the warm season.
• 🔴 Popular landscape tree, but beware it is cold sensitive and won't tolerate frost, otherwise it is easy to grow and undemanding.
• 🔴 Other species are much more hardier: C. rupocola, C. lutea, C. boissieri (the most cold hardy).

🎥 Cordia sebestena - Scarlet Geiger tree

🛒 Shop Cordia trees

#Trees

🏵 TopTropicals

⭐️ How to grow your own Carambola

Star Fruit - Carambola Tree (Averrhoa carambola). Growing this tree is a fun and rewarding way to enjoy this unique and delicious fruit right at home.

• 
  🌟 Star power: slice it, and you get perfect star-shaped pieces for impressing guests or adding some sparkle to your fruit salad. Bright yellow and shiny, the fruit adds a pop of color to any dish. Great in salads, smoothies, desserts, or even as a garnish. Endless possibilities!
• 
  🌟 Nature's candy and low-calorie treat: a delightful mix of sweet and tangy flavors packed with juicy goodness, a refreshing way to stay hydrated. Guilt-free snacking with hardly any calories. Snack away!
• 
  🌟 Health benefits: Star fruit is loaded with Vitamin C. Good source of dietary fiber, keeps things moving smoothly. Packed with antioxidants to help fight off those pesky free radicals.
• 
  🌟 Cultivation of the tree is easy:

• ▪️ Loves full sun. Plant it in a sunny spot for the best fruit.
• ▪️Keep warm and protect from winds. Thrives in warm, tropical climates, but can take some light frost winters as long as protected from winds, wind-free is the key!
• ▪️Prefers well-drained soil. Keep it happy with good drainage.
• ▪️Regular watering but doesn't like soggy feet.
• ▪️Space saver: compact tree that doesn't take up much space. Perfect for smaller gardens. Dwarf varieties available, good for containers.
• ▪️Fast grower: grows quickly. You'll be harvesting star fruit in no time!
• ▪️Pretty blooms: produces lovely pink flowers. Adds beauty to your garden even before the fruit comes.
• ▪️Home harvest: enjoy fresh, home-grown star fruit. Pick them right off the tree!
• ▪️Fast-fruiting: seedlings start fruiting within 3 years from seed. Grafted or air-layered trees fruit right away.

📚 Learn more: Carambola tree is the Star of the orchard

🛒 Shop Start Fruit varieties

#Food_Forest

🏵 TopTropicals