Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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🍒 New video: Grumichama

The sweetest tropical cherry for your yard

If you're looking for a fruit tree that does it all - gorgeous looks, amazing flavor, and nonstop production - meet Grumichama - Eugenia brasiliensis, the tropical cherry you'll fall in love with! The cherries are glossy, deep purple-black, and unbelievably juicy. One bite and you're hooked - sweet, smooth, with hints of cherry, grape, and plum.

Grumichama is our favorite tropical cherry at Top Tropicals. So good, you'll eat one… then a handful… then half the tree! Grumichama is perfect for beginners - tough, forgiving, and super productive. Cold hardy to the upper 20s. It takes heat, partial shade, even salt spray. It thrives in a pot or in the ground and can produce up to 500 fruits per tree!

Start your food forest with Grumichama. It's easy. It's beautiful. The most addictive fruit!

Grumichama - Eugenia brasiliensis

Start your food forest with Grumichama

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The wild fruit with a secret: health benefits of rare Spanish Tamarind - the exotic fruit you've never heard of. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

The wild fruit with a secret: health benefits of rare Spanish Tamarind - the exotic fruit youve never heard of The wild fruit with a secret: health benefits of rare Spanish Tamarind - the exotic fruit youve never heard of The wild fruit with a secret: health benefits of rare Spanish Tamarind - the exotic fruit youve never heard of The wild fruit with a secret: health benefits of rare Spanish Tamarind - the exotic fruit youve never heard of The wild fruit with a secret: health benefits of rare Spanish Tamarind - the exotic fruit youve never heard of
🍊The wild fruit with a secret: health benefits of rare Spanish Tamarind - the exotic fruit you've never heard of

  • Looking for a new exotic fruit to love? Meet Vangueria infausta - Spanish Tamarind, also called Wild Medlar. Native to Southern Africa, this little-known gem grows on a small tree and produces round, golden-brown fruit with a sweet-tart flavor. You can eat them fresh, dried, or even turn them into a tropical jam or homemade fruit beer!

  • But it's not just tasty - it's super healthy. The fruit is packed with vitamin C, fiber, and minerals like iron and magnesium. Locals use it as natural medicine: the leaves and bark are brewed into teas for colds, fevers, and stomachaches. The roots are even used for coughs and snakebites.

  • Secret bonus? Its bark and leaves make natural dyes in yellow, green, and purple!

  • The Wild Medlar is easy to grow in warm climates (Zones 9-11) and can handle poor soil and dry weather. In cooler zones, just grow it in a pot and bring it in for winter. Give it full sun, some water, and it'll reward you with 20-40 fruits per season.


🛒 Grow your own wild superfruit - Spanish Tamarind

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Discover

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What is the best tasting and most beautiful tropical cherry? Grumichama. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What is the best tasting and most beautiful tropical cherry? Grumichama

Grumichama - Eugenia brasiliensis

🍒 What is the best tasting and most beautiful tropical cherry? Grumichama!
  • 🍒 If you are hunting for a fruit tree that does it all - gorgeous looks, unbelievable flavor, and nonstop productivity - meet Grumichama (Eugenia brasiliensis), the tropical cherry you'll fall in love with!
  • 🍒 Grumichama is a compact cherry tree that steals the show. In spring, the tree transforms into a cloud of delicate white starburst flowers, like fireworks frozen in bloom. The blossoms are pure white with long, golden-tipped stamens, giving them a soft, lacy glow. The entire tree hums with life - bees and butterflies swarm to sip the nectar, turning your garden into a pollinator paradise.
  • 🍒 And then comes the fruit! The cherries are dark purple-black, glossy, and almost too juicy to believe. One bite and you're hooked- sweet, smooth, with hints of cherry, grape, and plum. It's our favorite tropical cherry at Top Tropicals, hands down. So good, you'll eat one - then a handful - and then realize you've picked half the tree. They're that good!
  • 🍒 Grumichama tree is a dream come true for beginners. It tolerates heat, partial shade, even salt spray. It's drought-tough, yet grateful for a little water with a crazy fruit yield - up to 500 fruits per tree. And it's perfect container fruit, so even small-space gardeners in colder zones can grow it. Cold hardy to the upper 20s!
  • 🍒 Even when not fruiting, Grumichama is a stunning ornamental. Shiny evergreen leaves, showy blooms, and a neat, upright form make it a standout in your landscape.
  • 🍒 And the fruit? Packed with vitamin C, fiber, and even a bit of plant protein, it's a sweet treat that’s also healthy. Perfect fresh off the tree, or turned into jam or jelly - if you can stop eating them long enough.
  • 🍒 Start your food forest with Grumichama. It's easy. It's beautiful. And it's the most addictive fruit!


🛒 Start your food forest with Grumichama

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Why grow Grumichama? Benefits of Brazilian Eugenia Tree - Cherry of the Tropics

#Food_Forest #Discover

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Black Tacca Lily. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Tacca Lily - Black Bat Flower, Devil Flower

A flying bat with whiskers. Tacca. It's rare. It's weird.
  • Tacca Lily - also known as the Black Bat Flower or Devil Flower, looks like something brewed up in a witch's greenhouse.
  • The flower isn't really a single flower - it's a full-on performance. Giant black-maroon "wings" stretch out like a bat in flight, while long, drooping filaments dangle like eerie whiskers or jungle jewelry. Some can reach over a foot long!
  • Those weird, wild filaments? They're not just for show - they are believed to help mimic the look of decaying matter to attract pollinators like flies. Creepy? Yes. Clever? Absolutely.
  • The plant blooms best when it feels pampered - think filtered light, tropical vibes, and spa-level humidity. A smart indoor exotic for a bathroom with a skylight!
  • It grows from a rhizome, and while the Black Tacca (T. chantrieri) is prized for its spooky looks, its Green cousin (T. leontopetaloides) is actually used to make a type of tropical arrowroot starch.
  • Some gardeners say it takes a while to bloom (maybe a few months) - but once it does, it becomes the crown jewel of the greenhouse. People will ask if it's real. You'll say, "Yes, and it lives here!"
  • Tacca comes in different species/colors: Black, White, Green:

Tacca nivea - White Tacca
Tacca chantrieri - Black Tacca
Tacca leontopetaloides - Green Tacca

📚 Learn more:

🛒 Shop Bat Head Lilies - Devil's Flower Tacca

#Nature_Wonders #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden #Fun_Facts

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What Mango fruits year around? Xosi Tu Quy - Four Seasons crisp Vietnamese mango perfect green or ripe. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Xosi Tu Quy, Jin Huang - Four Seasons crisp Vietnamese mango

What Mango fruits year around? Xosi Tu Quy - Four Seasons crisp Vietnamese mango perfect green or ripe.
Mango Rainbow🌈

Xosi Tu Quy, Four‑Seasons, or Jin Huang, is a Vietnamese variety celebrated for its ability to flower and fruit multiple times annually. It produces medium-to-large, bright yellow, firm, fiber‑free fruit with a small seed and crisp, mildly sweet flesh. Ideal for green-eating and pickling, it also ripens to a gentle sweetness with floral-honey nuance. The tree grows vigorously with a dense canopy and shows good resistance to anthracnose - perfect for warm, humid, tropical or subtropical yards. In Florida it typically fruits May-August, possibly longer in ideal conditions.

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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The fiery plant that fights sugar: Nature secret insulin? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Costus igneus - Insulin Plant, Fiery Costus, Spiral Flag

Costus igneus - Insulin Plant, Fiery Costus, Spiral Flag

💚 The fiery plant that fights sugar: Nature secret insulin?
  • Costus igneus - Insulin Plant, also known as Fiery Costus or Spiral Flag, this vibrant tropical plant is famous for its potential health benefits - especially for people managing diabetes. Nicknamed the insulin plant, it's believed to help lower blood glucose levels naturally.
  • Its lush, turmeric-like leaves spiral around upright stems, with a glossy dark green top and a striking light purple underside. The plant grows up to two feet tall and forms elegant clumps from underground rhizomes.
  • In warm months, it produces bright orange, cone-like flowers that stand out beautifully in the garden.
  • Beyond its beauty, the insulin plant is credited with aiding digestion, reducing cholesterol, boosting energy, improving skin health, supporting weight loss, relieving stress, and promoting heart wellness. A real botanical multitasker!


🛒 Grow your own sugar-fighter - order the Insulin Plant

📚 Learn more:
Most interesting edible gingers

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Shade_Garden #Fun_Facts

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Ten common greenhouse mistakes and how to avoid them. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Greenhouse with tropical plants

Greenhouse with tropical plants

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One look and you're hooked: Macaranga! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Macaranga grandifolia - Elephant Ear Tree

One look and you're hooked: Macaranga! 🐸
  • 🐘 These leaves are bigger than your head!

    • Macaranga grandifolia – the Elephant Ear Tree - came from Hawaii. It has leaves so huge, they look like elephant ears or jungle umbrellas! Each one can grow over a foot wide, with a glossy, rounded shape that's pure eye candy.
  • 🐘 Macaranga is easy to grow - perfect for a frost-free garden or in a big pot.
  • 🐘 Macaranga is a real conversation starter. It looks like something straight out of a rainforest dream. Big, bold, and totally tropical! Fast-growing, it brings that lush, exotic vibe instantly to your garden.
  • 🐘 Hard to find, super cool, and ridiculously showy - you’ll want this beauty front and center. Once you see it, you have to have it!


🛒 Get your giant leaves - Elephant Ear from Hawaii

#Nature_Wonders #Trees

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Five best tropical fruits to naturally boost your energy. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Five best tropical fruits to naturally boost your energy

Five best tropical fruits to boost your energy

Five best tropical fruits to boost your energy

⚡️ Five best tropical fruits to naturally boost your energy

How to boost your energy without coffee, or taking medications and supplements? Naturally - from your #Food_Forest! These 5 tropical fruits are not only delicious but packed with nutrients that support natural, sustained energy.
  • 🔥 Banana - Packed with vitamin B6, potassium, and natural sugars, bananas provide a quick yet steady energy boost, perfect for pre- or post-workout fuel.
  • 🔥 Mango - Rich in natural sugars and B vitamins, mangoes help convert food into usable energy while also supporting digestion for better nutrient absorption.
  • 🔥 Jackfruit - Loaded with vitamin B1 (thiamine) and complex carbohydrates, jackfruit fuels the body steadily and supports healthy energy metabolism throughout the day.
  • 🔥 Avocado - A powerhouse of monounsaturated fats, B vitamins, and potassium, avocados help sustain energy levels and promote healthy circulation for optimal vitality.
  • 🔥 Macadamia Nut - Loaded with thiamine (B1) and healthy fats that support nervous system function and long-lasting energy without blood sugar crashes.


📚 Learn more:

🛒 Shop Energy-Boosting Plants for Natural Energy

#Food_Forest #Discover #Remedies #Bananas #Avocado #Mango #Jackfruit

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