Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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How to grow Dragon Fruit from a cutting - Quick Guide. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How to grow Dragon Fruit from a cutting - Quick Guide

Dragon fruit, Pitaya - Hylocereus sp.

🌵 How to grow Dragon Fruit from a cutting - Quick Guide
  • 🐉 Get a healthy cutting

    • Use a 6-10 inch long stem cutting from a mature dragon fruit plant. Let the cut end dry in the shade for 2-5 days so it forms a callus. This also helps prevent rot and fungus.
  • 🐉 Prepare the soil

    • Use well-draining soil - well drained potting mix, Adenium mix, or cactus mix is ideal. Dragon fruit hates wet feet!
  • 🐉 Plant the cutting

    • Stick the callused end about 2-3 inches deep into the soil. Make sure it's planted upright (the way it grew on the parent plant).
  • 🐉 Support it

    • Add a trellis or post. Dragon fruit is a climbing cactus and needs something to grow on.
  • 🐉 Water lightly

    • Water once after planting, then wait until the soil dries before watering again. Overwatering can rot the cutting.
  • 🐉 Give it sun and warmth

    • Place in bright, indirect sunlight while it roots. Once established, it can handle full sun.
  • 🐉 Watch it grow!

Roots usually form in 2-4 weeks. New growth means it's taking off! This is the time to Ferilize it!

🛒Shop Dragon Fruit plants and cuttings

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest #How_to #Dragon_Fruit

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It blooms in shade: Red Feather for your Shade Garden. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

It blooms in shade: Red Feather for your Shade Garden

Sanchezia stenomacra - Red Feather

❣️ It blooms in shade: Red Feather for your Shade Garden
  • What colorful flowers can you plant in shade?

    • A true gem for tropical plant enthusiasts, Sanchezia stenomacra - Blood Red Feather - is a rare Peruvian beauty that brings unusual look and and color to your tropical garden.
  • Its feathery, deep red flower plumes rise like flames above glossy green foliage, blooming non-stop and attracting hummingbirds with their vivid orange-red tubes.
  • Perfect for humid spots with filtered light, it thrives in greenhouses, shaded patios, or even indoors.
  • Upright and fast-growing, it bounces back beautifully from hard pruning and keeps blooming year-round.
  • A true collector's treasure with bold style and easy care.


🛒 Bring home the Blood Red Feather

📚 Learn more:
Why is it called Blood Feather

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Butterfly_Plants

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The secret of getting ahead. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

The secret of getting ahead

The secret of getting ahead
The secret of getting ahead

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." - Mark Twain

🐈📸 Mishka the cat is thinking of going on a diet, at TopTropicals

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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What is better than Plumeria? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What is better than Plumeria?

Chonemorpha fragrans - Frangipani vine

💎 What is better than Plumeria? Only climbing Plumeria!
  • 💮 It's in bloom again at Top Tropicals Garden! Over and over, from Spring through Winter! Almost year around non stop. What a vigorous vine, and the perfume flowers never stop coming.
  • 💮 Imagine Plumeria's wild cousin climbing your fence: Chonemorpha fragrans, the Frangipani vine, is a tropical liana with jumbo 12-inch leaves and creamy white flowers that fill the air with that unmistakable Plumeria scent.
  • 💮 This beauty doesn’t grow like a tree - it climbs! Perfect for fences, trellises, or pergolas, it brings vertical drama and sweet, Plumeria-like fragrance to sunny or lightly shaded spots.
  • 💮 Give it some support and a little fertilizer, and your garden will bloom into a lush, fragrant escape that smells like a Hawaii vacation!


🛒 Grow your own wall of perfume

📚 Learn more:

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

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Who is Percephone? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Who is Percephone?

Persephone Cat

💻 Who is Percephone?

Meet the PeopleCats of TopTropicals, your guides through our gardens and plant nursery! We have 14 cats at Ft Myers and 12 cats at Sebring location.

Today's guest in the studio is Percephone, who already made an appearance in our earlier posts.

🐈📸 Persephone - the Queen of the Underworld at PeopleCats.Garden 

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Allergy-free cat that blooms all year! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Allergy-free cat that blooms all year!

Acalypha hispida - Red Hot Cattail, Chenille Plant

🔥 Allergy-free cat that blooms all year!
  • 🐈 Acalypha hispida - Red Hot Cattail or Chenille Plant, is a showstopper with long, fuzzy tassels that look just like playful cat tails - without the sneezes!
  • 🐈This tropical beauty grows fast, blooms year-round in warm climates, and dazzles with vibrant red, pink, white, or crimson flowers that hang like living ornaments.
  • 🐈 Whether grown as a tall shrub, trimmed hedge, or in a sunny container, it's tough, salt-tolerant, and always eye-catching. Bright light and a few trims are all it needs to purr-form!


🛒 Buy now - the purrfect bloom with zero allergies!

📚 Learn more:
The purrrfect hypoallergenic Cat Tail

#Hedges_with_benefits

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Never walk back. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Never walk back

Cat Chin Chin and a turtle

Cat Chin Chin and a turtle

🐈 Never walk back

"I am a slow walker, but I never walk back." - Abraham Lincoln

🐈📸 Chin Chin at the race start with a turtle at TopTropicals

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Bug off! Simple and safe ways to clean your plants. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Bug off! Simple and safe ways to clean your plants

Simple and safe way to clean plants

🕷 Bug off! Simple and safe way to clean your plants
  • 🕷 Got pests? Try this quick, organic fix:

▫️1 cup warm water
  • ▫️1 tsp cooking oil
  • ▫️A few drops of dish soap

    • Mix it up and wipe leaves with a soft cloth or paper towel. Works great for aphids, mealybugs, spider mites, and whiteflies.

  • 🕷For sucking insects like scale, you may need a stronger solution, like a systemic insecticide from local garden center. Try products containing Imidacloprid (also safe and found in flea shampoos).
  • 🕷Got sooty mold on leaves? Wipe with household hydrogen peroxide, then rinse.
  • 🕷 SUNSHINE NoBug - Natural Plant Protector works for all kinds of bugs! Fast. Easy. No bugs!


🛒 Stay bug-free with SUNSHINE NoBug - Natural Plant Protector

📚 Learn more:
️How to get rid of pests on Hibiscus?

#How_to

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What is the difference between Brunfelsia americana and nitida? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What is the difference between Brunfelsia americana and nitida?

Brunfelsia americana - Lady of the Night

⭐️ What is the difference between Brunfelsia americana and nitida?
  • ⭐️ Brunfelsia americana and Brunfelsia nitida are very similar and both are commonly called Lady of the Night, They are night-fragrant shrubs that bloom with creamy white flowers, but they differ slightly in form and character.
  • ⭐️ Brunfelsia americana grows taller and more upright, reaching up to 12 feet in favorable conditions, with creamy white tubular flowers that release a rich, sweet fragrance after dusk - filling the garden with magic scent.
  • ⭐️ Brunfelsia nitida has a more compact, bushy growth habit, making it better suited for smaller spaces or containers. Its star-shaped white flowers are also fragrant at night, though the scent is typically lighter or spicier than that of B. americana. The foliage of B. nitida is glossier and more refined, adding to its neat, ornamental appearance.
  • ⭐️ While both offer evening blooms and fragrance, B. nitida stands out for its tidy size and formal appeal, whereas B. americana impresses with its height and intense perfume.


📚 Learn more:

🛒 Choose your perfect night-fragrant Brunfelsia

#Perfume_Plants #Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

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A wonderful gift at 3 am. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

A wonderful gift at 3 am

Mr Barcy and a frog present

Mr Barcy and a frog present

🐟A wonderful gift at 3 am

"A wonderful gift may not be wrapped as you expect." - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

🐈📸 Mr Barcy is delivering a present at 3 a.m. at TopTropicals

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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