Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

🐈 Full-on reality show: Survivor - Backyard Edition

🐾 Today’s episode of Spoiled Indoor Cats Watch the Wild features Serge, Jim II, and Kiwi glued to the screen door, eyes wide. Outside, a scrappy street cat dares to eat their refused dinner leftovers.
Serge snickers:

• “No way... he's actually eating that.”

Jim II gags dramatically.
Kiwi chimes in:
• “We sent that brand back with a paw-written complaint!”

📸Serge, Jim II, and Kiwi the Cats @TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats

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🌴 Why is my palm tree turning yellow?

Yellowing leaves are a common concern with palms and can be a sign of several issues, most commonly: nutrient deficiency and pests or disease. Additionally, leaf yellowing may be a sign off overwatering or poor drainage, underwatering, or cold damage.

• ✔️Nutrient deficiency

Nutrient deficiency is the most frequent cause of palm issues. Palms are heavy feeders, and even a slight imbalance can lead to yellowing. Lack of nitrogen, magnesium, iron, or potassium is the leading cause.
• ✔️Signs of nutrient deficiencies:

▫️Magnesium and Iron deficiency is one of the top culprits, especially in sandy soils. It causes older fronds to turn yellow with green veins.

• ▫️Potassium deficiency causes yellow or orange spots on older fronds.
• ▫️Nitrogen deficiency leads to overall pale yellowing, especially in new growth.

• ✔️How to fix?

Use a slow-release fertilizer with high Nitrogen content, like Green Magic, that includes all these elements; with 16-6-11 grade and 6 months release, it turns plants green very quickly! You can also use a balanced liquid fertilizer like Sunshine Robusta. Additionally, a supplement of magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) and micro-element supplement containing chelated Iron can help, like Sunshine Superfood (amino-acid based natural product).
• ✔️Pests and Diseases

Pests and fungal diseases can lead to yellowing. Check for signs of scale, mites, or fungal and bacterial problems, especially if yellowing is uneven or spotted.
• ✔️Signs of pests:

▫️Thrips cause silvery-yellow streaks or mottling

• ▫️Spider mites, especially in dry conditions, cause yellow speckling
• ▫️Scale insects can suck sap and weaken fronds
• ▫️Mealybugs often found in leaf bases and crowns

• ✔️How to fix?

Inspect your palm regularly and treat pests early with neem oil, insecticidal soap, or horticultural oil.
• ✔️Lethal yellowing

Lethal yellowing is a serious disease caused by a phytoplasma, a type of bacteria-like organism. It affecting mostly Coconut palms and some other species like Phoenix (Date) palms. It causes premature fruit drop, yellowing of fronds starting from the lower ones, and eventual death of the tree.
• ✔️How to fix?

Unfortunately, there's no cure, but early removal of infected trees can slow the spread. Disease-resistant coconut varieties are available.
• ✔️Other causes

▫️Overwatering or Poor Drainage: Too much water can suffocate roots and lead to yellowing. Make sure the soil drains well and let it dry slightly between waterings.

• ▫️Underwatering: Dry soil for too long will stress the palm. Water deeply but infrequently.
• ▫️Cold Damage: Exposure to cold temperatures can turn fronds yellow or brown, especially in tropical varieties.

✔️In most cases, leaf yellowing isn't fatal, but it's a sign your palm needs attention. Focus on balanced feeding, proper watering, and pest checks to keep your palm healthy and green. Trim only fully dead fronds - yellow ones still provide nutrients to the palm. With proper care, your palm should green up again.

🛒 Shop garden supplies

#How_to #Fertilizers

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🐊 The most unique Florida Native

• 🐸 Baccharis halimifolia - Aster Tree, Snow Bush, or White Cloud Tree, is a one-of-a-kind member of the daisy family - actually, it's the only tree in the Asteraceae family!
• 🐸 In winter, it puts on a magical show, covered in persistent fluffy white seedheads that look like fresh snow or a floating cloud.
• 🐸 Its quirky leaves and adaptable shape let you grow it as a shrub, small tree, or potted plant. Hardy and tough, it thrives in poor soils, handles drought, and even tolerates some frost.
• 🐸 A perfect choice if you are looking for beauty with zero fuss.

🛒 Bring home the magical Aster Tree - tough, unique, and blooms with beauty!

#Trees

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💐 The shrub that smells like a royal bouquet and grows like a weed?

💐 Clerodendrum bungei - Glory Bower, Cashmere bouquet, fills the air with sweet perfume and bursts of pink blooms that butterflies love. Its dark leaves add contrast, and it grows fast - maybe too fast - so plant it in a pot or tucked-away spot unless you want a fragrant takeover!

🛒 Add Clerodendrum bungei to your garden today - before it grows away!

📚 Learn more:

• 💋How to get a large, lush and fragrant bush in no time
• 💋Cashmere Bouquet

#Hedges_with_benefits #Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Butterfly_Plants

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🐈 Cat of the day: Macaron

• 🐾 Meet Macaron, our desert drifter from Nevada who now claims a corner of TopTropicals Arizona office.
• 🐾 Unlike your average snuggly cat, Macaron refuses the luxury of a bed - he prefers the cold hard floor or a tangle of electronic wires (maybe he's solar-powered?)
• 🐾 Macaron doesn’t hang out with the other cats, doesn’t play, doesn’t cuddle. He’s a true lone ranger. Some say he's antisocial... we say he's just mysterious!

📸 Macaron the Cat @TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats

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🍯 How to grow the Amazing Peanut Butter Tree - in one short video

• 
  Peanut Butter Tree (Bunchosia argentea) earns its name from its fleshy fruits that boast a delightful peanut butter flavor. One of the most fascinating exotic fruit, as amazing as Miracle fruit, Peanut Butter Fruit is loved by both kids and adults... and yes, it tastes exactly like peanut butter!.. Yet it is much healthier food, with many medicinal benefits...
• 
  Compact in size, small tree reaching only 10-15 ft or kept as a bush, it's a perfect choice for limited spaces. Can thrive indoors, starting to fruit within just 2-3 years from seed. Watch the video how easy it is to grow:

📱

📚 Learn more:

• 💋Top 10 fast-fruiting trees: #10. Peanut Butter Tree (Bunchosia argentea)
• 💋Delectable Peanut Butter Tree
• 💋The best small fruit trees that will produce right away
• 💋How soon will Peanut Butter Tree fruit?
• 💋Top 10 fast-fruiting trees

🛒 Shop Peanut Butter Tree

#Food_Forest #How_to

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Is it real... or porcelain? Discover the tree that fools the eye!

🔮 Clusia lanceolata - Porcelain Flower has pink blooms so perfect they look fake! This easygoing tree thrives in both sun or shade and even feeds birds with its apple-like fruit. Great undemanding yet unusual flowering plant for container in a shady spot.

🛒Add a touch of porcelain magic to your garden

📚 Learn more:
A flower that looks plastic ceramic

#Container_Garden #Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Fun_Facts

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😱 Cash and Bob have no fear

"Courage is knowing what not to fear." - Plato

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats #Quotes

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🎊 Father's Day Celebration at Top Tropicals on June 14, 2025 🎉

• 🎉 A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our Father's Day Plant Market! We loved seeing so many familiar faces, welcoming new friends, and sharing the joy of nature together.
• 🎉Our friendly #PeopleCats were hard at work, guiding guests through the garden as they picked out the perfect plants to brighten their spaces. The energy was vibrant, and the smiles were endless!
• 🎉If you see yourself or your friends on the photos, save or forward to share the memories! We wish you the best of luck with all your new plants, and we can't wait to see you again at our next event. Happy planting!
• 🎉Your TopTropicals Team works hard in the field and is always happy to help with your garden needs, plant selection, delivery, and installation: Kristi, Jamie, Onika, Damien, Chiane, Ashley, Beatriz, Fermin, Mark... and the #PeopleCats! 🌈

📸 See more photos of the Event

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From berry to beast: how Black Dragons are born

• 🐉 Baby dragons have hatched! Anthurium Black Dragon from our earlier video has been busy... and now we have baby dragons!
• 🐉 Each bright red berry holds a single seed, and the seeds sprout easily - usually in just 2 to 3 weeks. The seedlings start off slow, but here's the exciting part: some come out variegated, with white, purple, or even pink coloring!
• 🐉 No two are alike, and that's what makes Black Dragons some of the most unique houseplants out there. Everyone needs at least one in their jungle!

🛒 Get your own Black Dragon

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Why every collector wants the Gothic Black Dragon Anthurium
• ▫️The most unique plant in your collection

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

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🎶 Celebrate Father's Day at Top Tropicals Plant Market!

• 🎶 Performance of the Famous Hand Pan Lady at Top Tropicals Father's Day Celebration on June 14, 2025 🎶

See more photos of the Event

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🐸 Botanical oddball - an alien ribbon plant with a sense of humor

• 🐍 Homalocladium platycladum - Centipede Fern, Tapeworm Ribbonbush that we mentioned earlier - this leafless wonder grows long, flat, jointed stems that look like green ribbons or, yes, tapeworms. But here's the twist: it also produces charming little flowers that surprise anyone expecting nothing but weird stems!
• 🐍 Low-maintenance and high-impact, it thrives indoors or out, in bright shade to partial sun.
• 🐍 The flowers are real! Tiny, greenish-white to pink blooms appear along the joints - subtle but fascinating.
• 🐍 Conversation piece? 100%. Whether in a pot or in the ground, people will ask what it is - and you’ll love telling them.
• 🐍 If you like your plants with a sense of humor and mystery, this one is for you.

🛒 Shop Tapeworm Plant now - get ready for double takes!

#Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

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😳 Bob is planning his next attack

"The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear." - Democritus

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats #Quotes

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🌈 Golden Queen enormous Thai Mango with many names and one big reputation

Mango Kiew Yai - has many names! It is also known as Khaew Yai, Khao Yai, Kiew Yai, Cat Saigon, or Jin Huang, Golden Queen... It is a semi-dwarf mango originally from Taiwan, prized in Thailand for eating green or pickled. It is a cross between Ivory and Keitt, producing enormous, very ornamental fruit - firm, fiberless, and sweet, with floral and honey notes. It stays mostly green with a pink or yellow blush depending on climate. A late-season variety in Florida, ripening August to September. The tree has a vertical, dense canopy and strong anthracnose resistance, making it a great backyard pick.

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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🌸 Watercolor-pink Crystal Desert Rose

📸 Photo of Adenium Ploysai for the previous post 👆

🛒 Shop adeniums

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Adenium

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