⚡️What is Mickey Mouse Plant?

🐭 Ochna integerrima - Vietnamese Mickey Mouse plant, Hoa Mai.

• ⭕️ Its seeds and sepals resemble the face of Mickey Mouse, hence the common name.
• ⭕️ Hoa Mai, also known as Yellow Mai Flower, is the quintessential symbol of Spring in Vietnam, especially during the Tet celebration.
• ⭕️ "Hoa Mai" translates to "yellow blossoms," highlighting the bright yellow flowers that bloom during Tet.
• ⭕️ Ochna integerrima is a medium-sized shrub that can be trained into a miniature tree, making it a prized plant for exotic collections.
• ⭕️ In winter, it is covered with bright yellow flowers, which are believed to bring good luck and prosperity during the Tet celebration.

🛒 Get your own Mickey Mouse Plant

#Hedges_with_benefits #Nature_Wonders
#Fun_Facts

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

🍇 What tree is the most prolific while its fruit tastes as good as Lychee? Longan!

• 🔴 Longan (Euphoria longana) is a medium sized tree from China, it can be pruned to maintain a small tree size for container culture.
• 🔴 This Lychee relative has stiffer leaves, more wind resistance and fruits more prolifically and regularly than its famous cousin.
• 🔴 The flesh is sweet, aromatic and juicy, very similar to Lychee. It is usually eaten fresh but can be canned or dried.
• 🔴 The crisp skin is easy to remove and the white flesh has a texture and sweetness reminiscent of litchi.
• 🔴 Longan tree is fast growing, vigorous, and very easy to grow.

It is not fussy about soil and water. Young trees are usually air layered and start fruiting right away.

🛒 Plant your own Longan Tree

#Food_Forest

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

➕ "No matter how much the cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens." - Abraham Lincoln

😶 Good night...

Share your cats in comments!
📸 🐈🐈🐈👇

🐾 More #PeopleCats in our Garden:
PeopleCats.Garden 

#Quotes

🏵 TopTropicals

🍌 Why Bananas? They are good for you and are fun to grow!

• 💛 Bananas are berries, not fruits!
• 💛 They float in water like apples and watermelons.
• 💛 Bananas are high in potassium, which helps muscles work properly.
• 💛 They can improve your mood because they contain tryptophan, which your body turns into serotonin.
• 💛 Bananas are great for your heart because they have lots of fiber and potassium.
• 💛 Eating bananas can help with digestion since they are rich in fiber.
• 💛 They are a natural energy booster, perfect for a quick snack.
• 💛 Bananas can help keep your blood pressure in check due to their low sodium and high potassium content.
• 💛 They contain vitamins like B6 and C, which are good for your immune system.
• 💛 Rubbing the inside of a banana peel on mosquito bites can reduce itching and swelling.

❔ What is your favorite Banana or Plantain variety?
Share in comments👇

🛒 Shop Banana varieties

#Food_Forest

🏵 TopTropicals

🐈 "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'" - C.S. Lewis

😶 Good night...

Share your cats in comments!
📸 🐈🐈🐈👇

🐾 More #PeopleCats in our Garden:
PeopleCats.Garden 

#Quotes

🏵 TopTropicals

🐶 8 cute puppies update: wet dog fragrance!

Mango's puppies turned into big monsters! Lab Family reunion and the Country Bath... Visual definition of Happiness!

😶 Good night and sweet dreams about cute kittens and puppies...

Share your pets in comments!
📸 🐈🐈🐈👇

🐾 More #PeopleCats in our Garden:
PeopleCats.Garden 

🏵 TopTropicals

🏳️ "A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you." - Elbert Hubbard

😶 Good night...

Share your pets in comments!
📸 🐈🐈🐈👇

🐾 More #PeopleCats in our Garden:
PeopleCats.Garden 

#Quotes

🏵 TopTropicals

🌈 Mango Rainbow tasting table: what's the taste of that Mango variety?

🥭 We just had a mango tasting table of a few early and mid-season varieties and here is our impression:

• 🟠 Tommy Atkins (purple) - the earliest variety, sweet a juicy, but a bit fibrous. The fruit is super colorful! The tree is an excellent producer, vigorous and problem-free.
• 🟠 Haden (red) - a full sweet flavor, less fibrous than Tommy. Very colorful, large fruit.
• 🟠 Florigon (yellow-green, round) - completely fibreless, sweet and flavor is somewhat mild pineapple-like.
• 🟠 Baptiste (bright yellow) - very sweet, firm flesh, good flavor.
• 🟠 Val Carrie (green elongated) - reminds large Asian mangoes, with firm flesh, very sweet, fibreless and juicy. It is a cross between Valencia Pride (large fruit) and Carrie (excellent flavor). It took the best from its parents. Very aromatic flesh has no fiber at all.
• 🟠 Kent (large green-and-red) - excellent flavor, large size, and very little fiber. Eat before fruit gets too ripe.

❔ What Mango varieties have you tried this year?
Share in comments 👇

📝 See also earlier posts:

• 🔸 5 most Favorite Mango Varieties
• 🔸 Top 10 Dwarf "Condo" Mango
• 🔸 Top 5 vigorous growers and reliable producers
• 🔸 Top 5 exotic Mango varieties for rare fruit collection
• 🔸 How to grow a mango tree
• 🔸 How to protect mango fruit from rodents

🛒 Shop Mango Trees

#Food_Forest

🏵 TopTropicals

❤️ "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." - Margaret Wolfe Hungerford

😶 Good night...

Share your beautiful cats in comments!
📸 🐈🐈🐈👇

🐾 More #PeopleCats in our Garden:
PeopleCats.Garden 

#Quotes

🏵 TopTropicals

🥑 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👇

🛒 Shop Avocado Trees

#Food_Forest

🏵 TopTropicals