🥑 What is the best Avocado variety? Five more most popular Avocado cultivars - total of 10!

🏆 We introduced 5 most popular varieties in our previous post. Here is 5 more, making it 10 total.

6. Joey - very cold hardy variety. Produces medium size, egg shaped purple-black fruit. It has excellent flavor. Heavy bearer. Season: September-October. It survived temperatures around 10F near San Antonio, Texas (Zone 8b). Can take temperatures down to 15F for a short period of time without significant damage.

7. Day - green, smooth skin and is shaped like a club. The fruit is of very good quality and has a nice buttery consistency. The slender tree is very cold tolerant and produces July through September.

8. Ulala (Super Hass) - sometimes called Uhlala or Uh-La-La. Cold hardy variety that can take temperatures down to 18F for short period of time without significant damage. The fruit is black skinned, with smooth texture. Seed is very small.

9. Fantastic - very cold hardy variety, supposedly the most most cold hardy of all avocados. Produces green, paper thin skin. The fruit has a creamy texture. It survived temperatures around 10F near San Antonio, Texas (Zone 8b) and can take temperatures down to 15F for short period of time without significant damage.

10. Monroe - inherited from its Guatemalan-type parent some degree of cold hardiness. In addition, the trees produced a very large, elliptical-shaped fruit with good eating qualities. Good producer, commercial cultivar in Florida. Legend has it that "it was found in Homestead, Florida on a cool dark rainy night after a meteor crashed into an abandoned papaya plantation."

📚 Learn more: Avocado Variety Guide - check this out for interactive chart of Avocado varieties and sort them by flower type A or B, tree habit, fruit shape and quality, cold hardiness, origin, season and more!

❔ What is your favorite Avocado variety?
Share in comments👇

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🍾 What is the safest alcohol?

• 🍹"Rum and Tequila are the safest alcohol drinks", - says Addiction Specialist, - "But only when consumed in combination with fruit juice".
• 🍹Rum is considered the "safest" alcohol due to its content of zinc, potassium, and phosphorus, which result in a less aggressive impact on the liver. It should be mixed with fruit juice such as Mango or Orange (Check out our Mango Gelato Recipe)
• 🍹 Tequila, often consumed with salt and lemon, introduces sodium chloride and vitamin C into the body, which can help reduce hangovers.

📸 Mango Xoai Thuong (Elephant)
Citron 'Buddha's Hand' (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis)
Variagated Lemon "Pink Lemonade"

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🐰🐁🐿🦫 How to protect fruit in your garden from greedy competitors

• 🥭 Mango season is here, and so are squirrels, bunnies, birds, rats, and raccoons... They also love the delicious fruit but don't like to share. So you may end up getting their leftovers if anything!


Here is how we protect our mango and avocado fruit - so far it works great:

• 💰💰💰 Fruit Protection Bags

These mesh netting bags/covers are made of strong nylon and have an easy drawstring, helping to protect developing fruit on a tree from insects, birds, and rodents. With drawstring closures on both ends, you can easily tighten bag around the fruit. Available from Amazon for only 15 cents a piece.

🥭 🥑🍒 Enjoy your fruit!

🛒 Dont's have your own mango tree? Plant one now to enjoy fruit tomorrow.

📚 Fun reading: Penelope, the Squirrel Cat

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🍊 How to have fresh Papaya fruit year around

• 🟠 Many people include Papaya fruit in their daily diet because of its healing properties for digestive system. You can eat Papaya fresh as a tasty dessert, add to salads ripe or green, use fruit and leaf wraps in cooking - possibilities are endless.
• 🟠 Buying papaya fruit from the store every day can become costly. So you can plant your own tree - Papayas are heavy producers. But like with many fruit trees, the question may arise:

❓ What to do with so many fruit at once, and where to get the fruit when it's out of season?

• 🟠 The answer is: plant several varieties. Different Papaya cultivars, similar to Mango and Avocado, have different crop seasons.
• 🟠 If you want to enjoy fresh delicious Papaya fruit year around, plant several Papaya varieties in your garden that have different ripening times.

For example:
Waimanalo - ripens from July to October and sporadically throughout the year.
Sunrise - ripens from January through September and sporadically throughout the year.
Maradol - ripens from August through March and sporadically throughout the year.
• 🟠 Papaya tree doesn't take any room in your garden: similar to a palm tree, all its leaves/crown is up high, so you can plant as many trees as you want in a very limited space and still use the room under Papaya tree for other plants.

🛒 Limited time offer: Papaya collection - 3 trees for half price!

Shop Papaya varieties

📚 Learn more from previous posts:
The secret facts of Papaya's private life
Top 3 most wanted Papaya varieties

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⚡️ #Fun_Facts: Cucumber Tree

• 🥒 Cucumber Tree (Averrhoa bilimbi) - these curious fruits are incredibly sour and often used as a natural cleaning agent due to their high acidity.
• 🥒 In some cultures, bilimbi fruits are used to remove rust and stains from metal and clothes, making them a versatile household item beyond their culinary uses.
• 🥒 These fruits make a great lemonade too!

🛒 Shop rare fruit trees

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🥢 Where does Blackberry Jam come from? It comes from Gardenia!

Randia formosa - Blackberry Jam Fruit, Jasmin de Rosa is a curious small evergreen tree from South America that combines features of a fragrant flower and delicious dessert fruit which tastes like fresh Blackberry jam. Fragrant white flowers are similar to Gardenia.

This relatively hardy tropical can be grown in a container as well as in the ground. It's very сompact (4-5 ft), perfect for container culture, will fruit in a container.

Kids love the fruit! Many claim that it is even better than Blackberry preserves.

Large tubular white flowers attract nocturnal moths. Since the plant is closely related to the gardenia (Rubiaceae plant family), its flowers are sweetly fragrant.

Produces as many as 25-30 fruits at a time. Since it blooms for a few months from Summer through Winter, fruiting and flowering can be enjoyed even when other plants are dormant.

Article about Blackberry Jam Fruit formosa

Order Blackberry Jam tree

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🥑 Five most popular Avocado varieties

❓ "What is the best variety of Avocado?"
"Do you have the one with small black fruit and bumpy skin?"
"I have avocado with very large green fruit, what variety is it?"

These are frequently asked questions we get from our customers. This basic "classification" by black/green doesn't encompass all the wonderful qualities avocados have to offer. There are numerous hybrids in cultivation, and once you plant your first tree and taste the REAL fruit (not from the grocery store), you'll be eager to explore other varieties. While it's true that avocado fruit can vary in "butter" content, most superior varieties are equally delicious.

✅ We will guide you through Avocado varieties like we did with Mango varieties in earlier posts. First comes first -

🏆 The most popular Avocado varieties:

1. Brogdon - red-purple pear-shaped fruit, 7-15 oz. Skin is very thin, yellow buttery flesh. Fruit ripens in late summer-fall. Very cold hardy.
2. Hass - probably the most popular, but this tree prefers drier climate (Florida is humid, so we plant adaptable Florida Hass here). The fruit is dark-colored with a rough and bumpy skin, turns black when ripe.
3. Fuerte - a dwarf and a very cold hardy variety. Everybody's favorite "Condo Avocado": perfect for container culture and small yards. The mature tree in the ground is under 15 ft; 6-7 ft in containers.
4. Oro Negro - Oro Negro means "black gold" in Spanish, which is an incredibly appropriate name for this fruit. This Monroe hybrid (with big size fruit) is crossed with a Mexican type which would explain the black skin. The flesh is rich and buttery with a creamy texture.
5. Winter Mexican - one of most cold hardy varieties, Guatemalan x Mexican origin. Mature trees may withstand temperatures in the mid 20s. Oblong fruit, 12-18 oz, thick green skin. Very vigorous tree, bears heavily and regularly in December-January.


📚 Learn more: Avocado Variety Guide - check this out for interactive chart of Avocado varieties and sort them by flower type A or B, tree habit, fruit shape and quality, cold hardiness, origin, season and more!

🛒 Shop Avocado Trees

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💋 What is lipstick made of? Lipstick plant!

• 
  💄Bixa orellana - Lipstick Tree, Annatto or Achiote - is a bushy shrub or a small tree South America with large, impressive leaves, charming pink flowers and amazing... seeds! It is used in various industries, including cosmetics and culinary arts.
• 
  💄Natural Pigment: The seeds of the Bixa plant contain a natural pigment called annatto, which ranges in color from yellow to deep orange-red.
• 
  💄Cosmetic Use: Annatto is commonly used in cosmetics, including lipstick, due to its vibrant coloration. It adds shades of red and orange to cosmetic products. Extract derived from the Bixa seeds is mixed with other ingredients to achieve desired shades. It provides a natural alternative to synthetic dyes.
• 
  💄Famous spice Annatto is widely used as a spice in cooking, particularly in Latin American, Caribbean, and Filipino cuisines.
• 
  💄Flavor and color: It imparts a mild, slightly peppery flavor and is prized for its ability to add a rich, yellow-orange color to dishes such as rice, stews, and sauces.
• 
  💄Health benefits: Beyond its culinary use, annatto seeds have medicinal properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
• 
  💄Flower arrangements: The dried seed pods add a unique touch to flower arrangements, enhancing their visual appeal.
• 
  💄Hedge or screen: Ideal for use as a hedge or screen, Bixa requires frequent pruning to encourage bushy growth at the base.

🛒 Grow your own Annatto

#Hedges_with_benefits #Food_Forest

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💋 What is lipstick made of? Lipstick plant!

• 
  💄Bixa orellana - Lipstick Tree, Annatto or Achiote - is a bushy shrub or a small tree South America with large, impressive leaves, charming pink flowers and amazing... seeds! It is used in various industries, including cosmetics and culinary arts.
• 
  💄Natural Pigment: The seeds of the Bixa plant contain a natural pigment called annatto, which ranges in color from yellow to deep orange-red.
• 
  💄Cosmetic Use: Annatto is commonly used in cosmetics, including lipstick, due to its vibrant coloration. It adds shades of red and orange to cosmetic products. Extract derived from the Bixa seeds is mixed with other ingredients to achieve desired shades. It provides a natural alternative to synthetic dyes.
• 
  💄Famous spice Annatto is widely used as a spice in cooking, particularly in Latin American, Caribbean, and Filipino cuisines.
• 
  💄Flavor and color: It imparts a mild, slightly peppery flavor and is prized for its ability to add a rich, yellow-orange color to dishes such as rice, stews, and sauces.
• 
  💄Health benefits: Beyond its culinary use, annatto seeds have medicinal properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
• 
  💄Flower arrangements: The dried seed pods add a unique touch to flower arrangements, enhancing their visual appeal.
• 
  💄Hedge or screen: Ideal for use as a hedge or screen, Bixa requires frequent pruning to encourage bushy growth at the base.

🛒 Grow your own Annatto

#Hedges_with_benefits #Food_Forest

🏵 TopTropicals

💋 What is lipstick made of? Lipstick plant!

• 💄Bixa orellana - Lipstick Tree, Annatto or Achiote - is a bushy shrub or a small tree South America with large, impressive leaves, charming pink flowers and amazing... seeds! It is used in various industries, including cosmetics and culinary arts.
• 💄Natural Pigment: The seeds of the Bixa plant contain a natural pigment called annatto, which ranges in color from yellow to deep orange-red.
• 💄Cosmetic Use: Annatto is commonly used in cosmetics, including lipstick, due to its vibrant coloration. It adds shades of red and orange to cosmetic products. Extract derived from the Bixa seeds is mixed with other ingredients to achieve desired shades. It provides a natural alternative to synthetic dyes.
• 💄Famous spice Annatto is widely used as a spice in cooking, particularly in Latin American, Caribbean, and Filipino cuisines.
• 💄Flavor and color: It imparts a mild, slightly peppery flavor and is prized for its ability to add a rich, yellow-orange color to dishes such as rice, stews, and sauces.
• 💄Health benefits: Beyond its culinary use, annatto seeds have medicinal properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
• 💄Flower arrangements: The dried seed pods add a unique touch to flower arrangements, enhancing their visual appeal.
• 💄Hedge or screen: Ideal for use as a hedge or screen, Bixa requires frequent pruning to encourage bushy growth at the base.

🛒 Grow your own Annatto

#Hedges_with_benefits #Food_Forest

🏵 TopTropicals