Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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Health benefits of a simple plant: Coral bean. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Health benefits of a simple plant: Coral bean
🍒 Health benefits of a simple plant: Coral bean

  • Don't let the tough, thorny branches fool you - this native plant has a long history of traditional use. While the seeds are poisonous, the young leaves and flowers have been safely cooked and eaten in small amounts by various cultures.

  • Traditionally, Erythrina herbacea - Coral Bean has been used in folk remedies for calming the nerves, easing muscle pain, and even promoting better sleep.

  • Modern science hasn’t fully explored these uses yet, but the plant contains alkaloids that may have sedative and muscle-relaxing properties. It's a reminder that even rugged native plants can carry powerful natural potential.

  • As a bonus, Erythrina herbacea is also beautiful and beneficial in the garden, drawing in hummingbirds and butterflies with its vibrant pink flowers - hummingbirds can't resist this wild bloomer! It grows well in poor soil and dry conditions - low effort, high reward!


🛒 Plant once, enjoy for years

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Butterfly_plants #Discover

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Florigon mango: smooth, early, and always reliable. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Florigon mango

Florigon mango: smooth, early, and always reliable.
Mango Rainbow🌈
  • 🟡 Florigon is one of those mangoes that keeps showing up early - and never disappoints!
  • 🟡It's creamy and mild, with a buttery texture and just a hint of spice. Sweet, but not too sweet - perfect for eating fresh or even over a scoop of ice cream.
  • 🟡The tree is compact, reliable, and disease resistant, making it a favorite for backyard growers.
  • 🟡Early fruit, no fiber, and smooth as silk - Florigon is an easy win in your garden.


🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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Patience is the key. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Scooby and Cash the cats

Scooby and Cash the cats

🐈 Patience is the key

"Patience is not simply the ability to wait - it's how we behave while we're waiting." - Joyce Meyer

🐈📸 Scooby and Cash, patiently waiting for birdwatching at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden 

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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What is that Big Thing??? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Giant Bird's Nest Anthurium - Anthurium x hookeri

What is that Big Thing???
  • What is that big thing in the corner? It's the Giant Bird's Nest Anthurium minding its business and taking up way more than its fair share of space. This plant, Anthurium x hookeri, looks like it wandered in from the jungle and decided to stay.
  • The leaves are enormous - wrinkly, leathery, and can grow over 6 feet long! They feel kind of like cardboard and look like something out of a rainforest movie set.
  • Despite its size, it's easygoing. Doesn’t need much water, tolerates deep shade, and generally keeps to itself. Just give it room to stretch and maybe say hi once in a while.
  • If you like big, bold plants that know how to take up space without being fussy, Giant Bird's Nest Anthurium delivers!


🛒 Adopt the big guy - Giant Birdnest

📚 Learn more:
▫️Discover the Giant Bird’s Nest Anthurium

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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A plant wearing a sweater. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Tradescantia sillamontana - White Velvet, Cobweb Spiderwort

👚 A plant wearing a sweater
  • 👕 Tradescantia sillamontana - White Velvet, Cobweb Spiderwort - is one of those plants that stops people in their tracks and makes them ask, "What is that fuzzy thing?" Here's why it's so cool:
  • 👕 It looks like it's wearing a sweater! Its silvery-green leaves are covered in a soft, white fuzz that looks like cobwebbing - hence the nickname Cobweb Spiderwort. It's as if the plant dressed itself for a chilly morning
  • 👕 It grows low and spreads nicely, forming a neat, dense mound about 10-12 inches tall and 18 inches wide, making it perfect for edging, containers, or spilling over walls.
  • 👕 In summer and fall, it surprises you with vivid magenta-purple flowers tucked among the fuzzy foliage.
  • 👕 Despite its delicate appearance, this plant is hardy to light freezes (zone 8) and thrives on neglect. Dry spells? No problem. It pairs beautifully with succulents. Sun or shade!
  • 👕 Whether in a rock garden, pot, or tucked into a sunny nook, White Velvet brings texture, contrast, and plenty of personality. This little spiderwort is weird, wonderful, and surprisingly easy to grow.


🛒 Get your own Fuzzy White Velvet Tradescantia

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

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Beware of the Wigglebutts! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Sunshine, Draco and Lila the dogs

🐶 Beware of the Wigglebutts!

Another year passed, and here is another Lab Family reunion!
Exactly a year ago: 8 cute puppies update: wet dog fragrance. Mango's puppies turned into big monsters.

🐈📸 Sunshine, Draco and Lila visiting their Mom Mango at Top Tropicals Bfarm and PeopleCats.Garden

#PeopleCats

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Mango Tebow. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Tebow Mango

Tebow Mango - smooth, sweet, and melting.
Mango Rainbow🌈
  • 🟡 Mango Tebow is Kent x Edward hybrid, an excellent late season variety. It is a Florida-born favorite named after Tim Tebow.
  • 🟡 Fiber-free, smooth orange flesh with a sweet, tropical pineapple-coconut twist. It's juicy, fragrant, and just melts in your mouth.
  • 🟡 A compact, heavy-bearing tree - perfect for home growers.


🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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National treasure of Thailand: Golden Shower Tree. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Cassia fistula - Golden Shower Tree

🌞 National treasure of Thailand: Golden Shower Tree
  • ☀️ Cassia fistula - Golden Shower Tree is known as the national flower of Thailand. It is one of the most spectacular flowering trees for tropical and subtropical gardens.
  • ☀️ From late spring through summer, it puts on a breathtaking display of golden-yellow flower clusters that hang in long, pendulous chains, often over a foot long. When in full bloom, the entire tree appears drenched in gold.
  • ☀️ This deciduous tree drops its leaves in the dry season, allowing the brilliant flowers to take center stage. The leaves re-emerge after flowering, followed by long, dark brown seed pods that can reach up to two feet.
  • ☀️ Cassia fistula is fast-growing, typically reaching 20-30 feet tall, and thrives in full sun with well-drained soil. It prefers a dry season to initiate heavy blooming and is tolerant of drought once established.
  • ☀️ Aside from its beauty, the tree has cultural and medicinal significance in Asia in Ayurvedic medicine.
  • ☀️ Fun facts:

▫️In Thailand, it’s called Ratchaphruek and symbolizes royal identity.
  • ▫️Its golden flowers are often used in local festivals and ceremonies.
  • ▫️It attracts bees and butterflies and provides seasonal shade.


🛒 Shop showy Cassia trees

📚 Learn more:
▫️Compact and showy flowering trees: Rainbow Cassias.

#Butterfly_Plants #Trees

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