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Florida native plants for Florida and beyond

Florida Native Plants

If you live in Florida community with HOA, you may need these plants!

Did you know that we carry Native Florida plants?

At Top Tropicals, we have the biggest selection of tropical plants from around the World, with a special selection of Florida Natives. If you are looking for a particular Florida Native plant, just let us know - we can get them for you, because... we are here in Florida and we know them all!

If your Florida yard is regulated by a Homeowners Association, you may be required to plant native plants or those species on approved list. Why? These policies aim to promote sustainable landscaping practices and protect Florida's unique ecosystems. Although this may seem to limit your choices, there are plenty of Florida-friendly plants to choose from!

In general, native plants are adapted to the local climate and soil conditions, making them more resilient and requiring less water, fertilizer, and pesticides. This makes them easy to grow and great for beginners.

Native plants provide essential habitat and food sources for local wildlife, including birds, butterflies, and other pollinators. And Florida flora has a lot to offer for the wildlife!

If you live outside of Florida, our native plants may appear to you as much exotic and rare as those from Asia, S. America or Africa! Let's take a peak at some Natives...

Shop Florida Native Plants

Erythrina herbacea - Coral Bean

In the photo above: Erythrina herbacea - Coral Bean. Coral trees - Erythrinas are very showy, red-flowering small trees that are perfect for locations with poor soil and limited irrigation, very easy to grow, great butterfly and hummingbird attractors..

Acacia farnesiana - Sweet Mimosa

In the photo above: Acacia farnesiana - Sweet Mimosa. One of the most useful tropical plants that is very cold tolerant, blooms all winter through spring with honey-fragrant flowers - canary yellow powder puffs, attracting bees and butterflies. Fast growing bushy tree, tolerates poor soils and drought.

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What is hotter that hot pepper?

Capsicum annuum x chinense - Biquinho Pepper

Capsicum annuum x chinense - Biquinho Pepper

Capsicum annuum x chinense - Biquinho Pepper

Capsicum frutescens - Wiri Wiri Papper

Capsicum frutescens - Wiri Wiri Papper

🔥 What is hotter that hot pepper? Wiri Wiri Pepper! - it's about how to live long and have a great skin.

🌶 These two peppers are a must for spice lovers - intense fruity habanero flavor packs quite a bang! 💥
Extremely showy, these ornamental peppers have culinary benefits and are great for container garden.
  • ❤️ Capsicum annuum x chinense - ❤️-shaped Biquinho Pepper that you saw in earlier post. An exceptionally distinct pepper, an ancient hybrid of Capsicum annuum (bird pepper) and Capsicum chinense (habanero group). While of small size (1"), these heart-shaped red fruits are prolifically produced along the branches of compact plants.

  • 🔴 Capsicum frutescens - Wiri Wiri Pepper from Guyana is the illustrious gem; hard sought and rarely found. This plant produces good yields of small 1/2" berry shaped hot peppers. Peppers grow upright, are very hot, and turn from green, to orange, to red when mature. Guyanese dinners will only take one of those meals for you to never forget! The secret of their food is the flavor, and one of the cornerstone ingredients in many of their dishes is the Wiri pepper. The Guyanese population claim that it is not just a key ingredient to their diet, but also to why they are so good looking, live so long, and have such great skin.


❗️ What makes these peppers so much different than any other hot peppers?
Hot? Yes, it is important that hot peppers are, but the people who really know, know that it is not just about heat, it is about flavor! And that is exactly what makes these little red gems so special.

🧪 For abundant crops, fertilize with Sunshine C-Cibus plant booster.

🛒 Order Hot Peppers

#Food_Forest #Container_Garden


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Date:

Does Red Passion flower produce edible fruit?

Passiflora coccinea - Red Passion Flower

💃 Does Red Passion flower produce edible fruit?
  • ♥️ Passiflora coccinea, or Red Passion Flower, is a spectacular, passion-red variety!
  • ♥️ It is tropical, evergreen vine from South America known for its stunning scarlet-red flowers and edible passion fruit. Yes, the fruit are edible, but they are very rarely seen.
  • ♥️ It thrives in full sun or part shade with fertile, well-drained soils and can grow up to 10-12 feet long.
  • ♥️ This easy-to-grow plant is perfect for trellises, walls, and containers. Minimal pruning is needed, and it blooms primarily in summer and fall.
  • ♥️ Attracting butterflies and hummingbirds 🦋🐝


💻 Do you grow Passion vines? Share yours in comments👇

📚 From previous post: The truth about Passion flower and Passion fruit.

🛒 Shop Passiflora plants

#Food_Forest #Butterfly_Plants

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Date:

We've SLASHED shipping costs!

Cat shipping plants in a cart

In this world of ever rising prices, we've managed to slash our shipping costs to you by up to 50% in certain locations!

As prices have continued to skyrocket over the last 3-4 years, we are all feeling the pinch. At Top Tropicals we've done our very best to keep our plant prices steady and have even reduced some prices! But we don't control shipping costs and fuel surcharges and we have felt your frustration in trying to get our plants to you at reasonable shipping rates.

We've spent the last months working with our packaging and shipping suppliers and partners and have managed to slash your shipping costs by up to 50% depending on your location, on top of existing discounts and shipping specials.

You will see this shipping discount in your cart!

And remember these shipping discounts can be combined with all our plant discounts to add up to incredible savings for you!

If you haven't shopped with us for a while, we encourage you to check out our store and see for yourself the savings we now offer! Welcome back!

Start shopping

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How to always have your own Root Beer

Piper auritum - Root Beer Plant, Acuyo, False Kava-Kava

🥤 How to always have your own Root Beer
  • 🥙 Piper auritum - Root Beer Plant, Acuyo, False Kava-Kava - is a close relative of Piper methysticum (Kava-Kava), and Piper nigrum (Black Pepper). It is very often confused with Kava-Kava, and probably has some similar medicinal effects.
  • 🥙 This herb originated from Tropical America and grows also in the South Pacific.
  • 🥙 Large-leaved perennial, known for its leaves, which are used for their spicy aromatic scent and flavor, some liken to root beer, others to anise-clove. It can be used for making a root beer-flavoted drink.
  • 🥙 This species is easily identified by its huge leaves which can grow over a foot long in older specimens.
  • 🥙 The leaves are chopped and used for flavoring, as well as used whole, as wrappings for meats, tamales, etc.


📚 Learn more about Piper plants

🛒 Grow your own Root Beer Plant

#Food_Forest #Remedies

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Date:

What is a good exotic looking flowering plant for a shade garden?

Chrysothemis pulchella - Copper Leaf, Black Flamingo

🔥 What is a good exotic looking flowering plant for a shade garden?
  • 🏀 One of the most unusual looking plants in or shade garden collection is Chrysothemis pulchella - Copper Leaf, Black Flamingo.
  • 🏀 It is a spectacular tropical perennial that can be grown as a houseplant or in a greenhouse.
  • 🏀 From summer to late fall it is covered with showy orange-red flowers, may bloom sporadically several times a year.
  • 🏀 Forms a dense mountain of flowers and foliage.
  • 🏀 The plant forms tubers at the base of the stem. By the end of fall the leaves may die back, the plant goes dormant till spring. Then it re-sprouts in Spring again.
  • 🏀 Reduce water to minimum during dormancy period.


🛒 Order online

#Shade_Garden #Container_Garden


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Date:

Why walking outdoors improves mental health

Why walking outdoors improves mental health
🌳 Why walking outdoors improves mental health

  • 🚶‍♀️Spending time in nature - even as little as 10 minutes - can yield short-term benefits for individuals with mental illness, according to a new study involving 1,492 participants with a diagnosed mental illness and 14,168 studies.

  • 🚶‍♀️Just 10 minutes of walking, running, or exercising in nature has a positive effect.

  • 🚶‍♀️The type of setting doesn’t matter - parks, mountains, forests, and farms all work.

  • 🚶‍♀️Nature benefits people with mood disorders and stress the most.


So, lets go outside and touch some plants!

🐈 Are you looking forward to results of study where cats are involved?

#Fun_Facts #Remedies


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Date:

Why we want to plant a tree today

Tulip Tree

Code red: Study reveals human degradation of tropical forests
is greater than previously estimated

This summer has been scorching hot across the globe, with every summer month breaking temperature records in recorded history.

Have you ever wondered what kind of natural world your children or grandchildren will inherit? Will they grow up surrounded by lush forests and greenery, or will they only know cities made of metal and concrete?

Tropical forests are super important for biodiversity and fighting climate change, but humans are messing them up more than we thought. Using fancy tech from the International Space Station, scientists found that human activities like logging and road-building are degrading these forests a lot. Even edges of forests are suffering, reducing canopy height and biomass significantly. This degradation is often overlooked, even though it has a huge impact on carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.

Planting trees in your yard, or even better, several trees, helps combat this problem by restoring some of the lost biodiversity and absorbing carbon dioxide. Plus, it's a fun way to make your space greener and contribute to a healthier planet!

Together, we've planted over 15,000 trees this year!

This year at TopTropicals, we have planted quite a few trees. Let's see...
- 44 mango trees planted at our BFarm...
- 49 tropical fruit trees
- 127 flowering trees and shrubs... (special thanks to Mick and Aurelio)
- 15,282 plants were ordered and, hopefully, planted by our customers this year so far...

Join us. Plant a tree today to make the difference!

"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago." - Warren Buffett

Get some plants!

Morning in the forest

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What is better - Blue or Pink? You need both!

Blue Butterfly Bush (Clerodendrum ugandense)

Blue Butterfly Bush (Clerodendrum ugandense)

Pink Butterfly Bush (Clerodendrum mastacanthum)

Pink Butterfly Bush (Clerodendrum mastacanthum)

🦋🎀 What is better - Blue or Pink? You need both!

These two varieties of Clerodendrum must go together - Blue Butterfly and Pink Butterfly - perfect combination! The flowers and butterfly-like shape attract butterflies and other pollinators to the garden. So these plants are all about butterflies!

🦋 Blue Butterfly Bush that we mentioned earlier, is a popular fast growing showy shrub with bright blue butterfly-like flowers

🎀 Pink Butterfly Bush is very rare new plant in cultivation, is very similar to more common Blue variety but has pink flowers.

🛒 Order Butterfly Bushes

#Butterfly_Plants

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Date:

How to grow Bougainvillea bonsai

Bougainvillea bonsai

Bougainvillea bonsai

Bougainvillea bonsai

Bougainvillea bonsai

🎍 How to grow Bougainvillea bonsai
  • 🌸 Choose a Variety: Select a dwarf variety or one with smaller leaves and flowers for easier training. The best dwarfs are "Pixie" and "Sunvillea" varieties.
  • 🌸 Potting: Use a small, shallow bonsai pot with good drainage. A bonsai soil mix is ideal as it provides proper aeration and drainage.
  • 🌸 Pruning and Training: Regularly prune to maintain shape and encourage new growth. Use wire to train branches, but be careful not to damage the plant. Prune after flowering to shape and maintain size.
  • 🌸 Watering and Feeding: Water thoroughly when the soil is dry but avoid waterlogging. Use a liquid fertilizer such as Sunshine Megaflor for profuse flowering.
  • 🌸 Light: Place in a sunny location, as bougainvilleas require plenty of light to thrive and bloom.


📚 Learn more: Compact Bonsai and Money Money

🛒 Shop plants for bonsai

#Container_Garden


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