Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

💳 Undocumented use of a hairbrush

"You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life." - Coco Chanel (and here is her Chanel No5 Tree, by the way)

🐈📸 Niki is making herself beautiful for a date at PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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🍒 Cocoplum: secret fruit in your hedge

• 🍒 Most people think Cocoplum is just a boring hedge plant: Bahamas Cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco). Thick, green, easy to trim - great for privacy. But hidden in all that greenery? Super-sweet plum-like fruit that are edible and very tasty! They look like small plums and come in pink, purple, or white when ripe.
• 🍒 Cocoplum is native to Florida and has been quietly feeding people for generations, long before it became a landscaping go-to. The fruit is mild, a little sweet, and great for snacking or making into jam.
• 🍒 Cocoplum isn't just a tasty surprise - it comes with some health perks too:

▫️Rich in antioxidants - especially anthocyanins, which give the purple fruit its color and help fight free radicals in the body.

• ▫️Good source of fiber - helps with digestion and keeping you full.
• ▫️Contains vitamin C - supports your immune system and skin health.
• ▫️Low in calories - great for snacking without guilt.
• ▫️So when you bite into a Cocoplum, you're not just tasting Florida - you're getting a little wellness boost too.

🍯 Quick Cocoplum Jam:

• 🔸2 cups ripe Cocoplums
• 🔸1 cup sugar
• 🔸1 cup water*
• 🔸1 tbsp lemon juice
• 🔸Mash it all up, cook on low 20-30 minutes until thick. Cool and enjoy!

*To make a delicious summer drink, add 10 cups of water and just get to boil. Let sit 2 hrs, mash up, drain fruit and cool to enjoy.

So next time you walk by a Cocoplum hedge, check for fruit. There might be a free snack waiting for you!

🛒 Get your edible hedge Cocoplum: privacy with perks

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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Crunchy Pate??? Sound ON! 📢

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. And chase the rider." - Dorothy Parker

⚠️ WARNING: sound effects 18+!
Marco at PeopleCats.Garden is eating his pate with a side of sound effects. Apparently, he ordered pate "extra crispy". Volume up for maximum crunch!

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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More than white: rare Butterfly Gingers

• If you’re a fan of that sweet, heady scent of the classic White Butterfly Ginger (Hedychium coronarium) - a symbol of Hawaiian paradise - you’ll be happy to know it has some beautiful, fragrant relatives!
• Hedychium coronarium - White Butterfly Ginger

This is the one everyone knows and loves. Big, white, butterfly-shaped blooms with an intense perfume. Grows in sun or shade, survives light freezes, and fills the summer air with scent. A must for Southern gardens and anyone who wants a piece of island paradise.
• Hedychium flavum x coccineum cv. Dr. Moy, Variegated Hardy Ginger Lily

A showstopper with variegated leaves splashed in creamy white, and peachy-orange fragrant flowers in late summer. This hybrid from Dr. Moy of the San Antonio Botanical Garden brings both bold foliage and beautiful scent. A real garden standout.
• Hedychium flavum x coronarium, Yellow Butterfly Ginger, Nardo Ginger Lily

Looks like the classic white, but with soft yellow blooms and the same rich fragrance. Long, slightly fuzzy green leaves and flower spikes that light up late summer with scent and color. This variety grow fast and much bigger than plant also much bigger and vigorous than classic white Butterfly ginger.

🛒 Smell the difference - get your ginger trio

#Shade_Garden #Perfume_Plants

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😰 Free ride!

"There's no free ride. Someone always pays and if you don't know who that someone is, it's probably you." - Sarah Palin

🐈📸 Philemon the cat is getting a free ride at at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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✨ Perfume in a pot: exotic Dwarf Chanel No 5 Tree

• ⭐️ The Chanel No. 5 tree in a pot? Yep.

Cananga fruticosa - Dwarf Ylang-Ylang Tree, is the compact cousin of the famous perfume tree. It has the same elegant, drooping flowers that smell like the original Ylang-Ylang - the scent behind Chanel No. 5 - just in a smaller, easy-to-grow version.
• ⭐️ It stays nicely shaped like a little tree, blooms year-round in warm weather, and does great in a container. Just give it bright light, and if the air is humid, you'll get that dreamy fragrance in full force.
• ⭐️ A perfect plant for anyone who wants their space to smell amazing - naturally.

🛒 Grow your own Chanel No. 5

📚Learn more:

• ▫️ Flowering season of Dwarf Chanel No 5
• ▫️ How to grow your own Chanel #5
• ▫️ What is the best perfume tree for container culture
• ▫️ Ylang Ylang Tree

#Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Trees

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🌈 🍄"Shrooms time" - cat herbal party

"I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me." - Winston Churchill

🐈📸 Bob, Cash, Timo, Niki and James having their Catnip herbal party - "shrooms time" - at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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💪 Grows in neglect: tough plant for tough spots

• 🌿If you've got a dry, rough patch where nothing wants to grow, try Devil's Backbone, or Jacobs Ladder - Pedilanthus tithymaloides.
• 🌿This plant is seriously tough. It handles heat, drought, poor soil - no complaints.
• 🌿Its zig-zag stems look like they were folded by hand, and the little pink flowers are a nice surprise.
• 🌿Low maintenance, spreads well, and doesn’t mind being ignored.
• 🌿Great as a groundcover, border filler, or just doing its thing in a forgotten corner.

📚 Learn more:
The best undemanding plant for dry and hot area

🛒 Add this survivor to your garden

#Container_Garden #Nature_Wonders #Hedges_with_benefits

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