Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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How to grow tropical fruit outside the Tropics. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How to grow tropical fruit outside the Tropics

Tropical fruit trees grown in containers

Tropical fruit trees grown in containers

How to grow tropical fruit outside the Tropics

👨‍� Can you grow tropical fruit in colder climates? Absolutely! The key is growing them in containers so you can move them indoors during cold weather. With the right plant selection, a bit of motivation, good plant food, and a little love, you can enjoy a delicious harvest of exotic fruit - enough to treat your family and even share with friends. Here's everything you need to start your own Tropical Fruit Garden in containers.

🏆 Top tropical fruits and expert tips for growing in containers

🛒 Shop top picks for your container tropical garden:

Condo Mango
Cold hardy Avocado
🍒 Tropical Cherries - Eugenias
⭐️ Carambola (Start Fruit)
🍉 Guava
🍈 Annona
🍍 Pineapple
🌶 Herbs and spices - tropical edibles right away
🕙 Fast-fruiting trees
🍊 Shop all fruit trees
Supplies and Boosters

#Food_Forest #How_to #Discover

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The perfect ever-bloom beneath your shade tree. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

The perfect ever-bloom beneath your shade tree

Tabernaemontana divaricata - Pinwheel Jasmine in bloom

🎡 The perfect ever-bloom beneath your shade tree
  • ➕ Tabernaemontana divaricata, also known as Pinwheel Jasmine or Crape Jasmine, is in bloom virtually year around at Top Tropicals garden.
  • ➕ It is a charming, low-maintenance shrub that thrives under taller trees, like palms or oaks. With glossy green leaves and delicate white, pinwheel-shaped flowers, it adds brightness and elegance to shaded spaces.
  • ➕ Blooming year-round, Pinwheel Jasmine brings steady beauty to your garden and can even be trained into a small ornamental tree.
  • ➕ While it loves bright light for the best floral show, it's surprisingly shade-tolerant - making it a go-to choice for under-tree planting.


🛒 Let your shady spots bloom beautifully!

📚 Learn more:
What is the best showy shrub to plant under a shade tree?

#Hedges_with_benefits

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Holding the world together. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Holding the world together

Pearl the dog and her cat buddy Ricki

Pearl the dog and her cat buddy Ricki

😘 Holding the world together

"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together." - Woodrow Wilson

🐈📸 Pearl and her cat buddy Ricki at TopTropicals

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Starry fruit and rusty leaves: the tropical tree full of surprises. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Starry fruit and rusty leaves: the tropical tree full of surprises

Chrysophyllum cainito - Caimito, Star Apple

🌟 Starry fruit and rusty leaves: the tropical tree full of surprises

❓ Is it Star Apple, Star Fruit, Cainito or Caimito? Are you lost? Don't be - and here is the truth:
  • ⭐️ Don't confuse Chrysophyllum cainito (Caimito) with Pouteria caimito (Abiu), or Averrhoa carambola (Star Fruit) - which are all different fruit entirely!
  • ⭐️ The Star Apple tree - Chrysophyllum cainito, also known as Caimito, is a tropical treasure admired for both its fruit and foliage. It is related to Sapote and Sapodilla and produces round, glossy fruit that comes in stunning purple and green varieties.
  • ⭐️ When sliced open, the juicy flesh reveals a star-shaped pattern - hence the name "Star Apple"!
  • ⭐️ The flavor is mildly sweet, often described as a mix of grape, lychee, and apple with a hint of caramel.
  • ⭐️ The tree also features lush green leaves with a striking rusty-red underside, making it as beautiful as it is bountiful.
  • ⭐️ Caimito thrives in warm climates and is popular in the Caribbean, Central America, and Southeast Asia.


🛒 Plant your own exotic Star Apple tree

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest #Nature_Wonders

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Napoleons Plume - Orchid Tree that blooms in a pot. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Napoleons Plume - Orchid Tree that blooms in a pot

Bauhinia monandra - Napoleons Plume Orchid Tree in bloom

🌸 Napoleons Plume - Orchid Tree that blooms in a pot
  • Bauhinia monandra - Napoleons Plume Orchid Tree - is a breathtaking tropical tree with flowers that truly resemble delicate orchids, and leaves folding like butterfly wings. It is one of he most impressive varieties of orchid trees.
  • Each blossom starts off pale yellow and transforms to soft pink by the next day, with the center petal beautifully streaked in magenta - a unique color shift that makes the tree look like it's blooming in multiple shades at once. When in bloom, it's covered in these showy flowers, creating a dazzling display.
  • Despite its exotic look, this tree is surprisingly well-suited for containers. It can be easily kept trimmed and compact, with seedlings often blooming when just 2 feet tall. While it's sensitive to cold, growing it in a container makes it easy to move indoors during chilly weather. This makes Bauhinia monandra the perfect choice for gardeners who want a tropical tree that delivers nonstop visual impact in a manageable size.
  • How to enjoy the orchid flowers and butterfly foliage of Bauhinia right on your patio or balcony? Choose the right variety. More bauhinia species suitable for containers: B. galpinii, B. madagascariensis, B. monandra, B. alba (candida), B. acuminata, B. bidentata, B. blakeana, B. grandidieri and many others.


🛒 Shop Orchid Trees

📚 Learn more about Orchid trees:

#Container_Garden #How_to #Trees

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Looking forward to harvest. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Looking forward to harvest

Bob the cat is harvesting Bay Leaves

Bob the cat is harvesting Bay Leaves

🌳 Looking forward to harvest

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." - Robert Louis Stevenson.

🐈📸 Bob is harvesting Bay Leaves at TopTropicals

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Turn up the color in your garden with the bold everblooming Brazilian plume. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Turn up the color in your garden with the bold everblooming Brazilian plume

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume or Red Cloak

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume or Red Cloak

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys flowers

Megaskepasma erythrochlamys flowers

♨️ Turn up the color in your garden with the bold everblooming Brazilian plume
  • ❣️Looking to add nonstop color, tropical flair for shade or sun, and pollinator appeal to your garden?

    • Megaskepasma erythrochlamys - Brazilian plume or Red Cloak, is the ultimate show-stopper shrub that takes both sun or shade.
  • ❣️ With its big, bold leaves and eye-catching crimson-to-mauve flower spikes, this plant brings exotic beauty - without the need for a steamy jungle.
  • ❣️The best part? It's surprisingly cold hardy. This lush-looking tropical can handle brief dips into the 30s (F), making it a top pick for USDA zones 9-11. Plant it in full sun or partial shade, and with regular watering, it rewards you with a steady burst of blooms that butterflies and hummingbirds can't resist.
  • ❣️Reaching 5-7 ft tall in the ground, it fills out beautifully to anchor beds or soften fences. In colder regions, it can still thrive in large pots - just give it a sheltered spot, bring it indoors when temperatures drop, and enjoy its vivid flower show all winter long.
  • ❣️If you want a garden that doesn’t fade with the season, the Brazilian plume delivers color, volume, and wildlife appeal - all year round.


🛒 Make your garden pop with color of Brazilian plume

#Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

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Shooting Star Gardenia: a rare scent from Africa. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Shooting Star Gardenia: a rare scent from Africa

Gardenia nitida (Posoqueria), Shooting Star Gardenia

⭐️ Shooting Star Gardenia: a rare scent from Africa
  • ⭐️ Gardenia nitida (Posoqueria), Shooting Star Gardenia - is a rare African treasure prized for its star-like tubular flowers and rich, intoxicating fragrance.
  • ⭐️ Blooming sporadically throughout the year, this plant puts on a dazzling show when in bloom - often covered in clusters of white blossoms that light up the garden like stars.
  • ⭐️ Its leaves are unusually shaped and add to its exotic charm. It is a must-have for fragrance lovers and rare plant collectors.


🛒 Bring the stars with scent to your garden

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

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A kitten like a rosebud. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

A kitten like a rosebud

Sushi the cat

Sushi the cat

😏 A kitten like a rosebud

"A kitten is in the animal world what a rosebud is in the garden." - Robert Southey

🐈📸 Sushi the cat, a couple weeks after she was born at TopTropicals Bfarm

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Pineapple Guava: fragrant fruit, beautiful blooms, and real health benefits. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Pineapple Guava: fragrant fruit, beautiful blooms, and real health benefits

Pineapple Guava blooming

Pineapple Guava blooming

Pineapple guava fruit

Pineapple guava fruit

🍓 Pineapple Guava: fragrant fruit, beautiful blooms, and real health benefits
  • Feijoa sellowiana, also known as Pineapple Guava or Guavasteen, is an evergreen shrub or small tree that brings together beauty, fragrance, and edible rewards.
  • With its soft pink, edible flowers blooming in late spring and strongly scented fruit ripening in late summer to fall, it offers interest across multiple seasons.
  • The fruit is especially unique. When fresh fruit blended with a little sugar, many describe the flavor as forest strawberries with hints of mint or pineapple - some even say it reminds them of Juicy Fruit gum. The texture is smooth and slightly gritty, similar to a pear.
  • Nutritionally, Feijoa fruit is low in calories, high in fiber, and an excellent source of Vitamin C and antioxidants. You don’t need to guess when it's ready - the ripe fruit drops to the ground.
  • Pineapple Guava is easy to grow and adaptable. It tolerates drought, thrives in full sun or partial shade, and withstands heat as well as cold down to 10F. Whether planted in the ground or grown in a large patio container, it needs minimal care - just occasional watering and light feeding.
  • It also serves multiple purposes in the landscape: a dense, evergreen hedge for wind protection, a privacy screen, or a standalone ornamental that attracts birds and butterflies. It can be shaped into a small tree or kept compact depending on your space.
  • A beautiful, edible, and low-maintenance addition to the garden that earns its place year after year.


🛒Taste the fragrant forest-strawberry flavor - grow Pineapple Guava

📚 Learn more:

#Edible_Forest #Guava #Discover

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