Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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A banana with no bananas? Scarlet red flowers of Musa coccinea. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

A banana with no bananas? Scarlet red flowers of Musa coccinea

Musa coccinea, Scarlet Banana

🔥 A banana with no bananas? Scarlet red flowers of Musa coccinea.
  • 💃 Musa coccinea, Scarlet Banana, is a small tropical plant from China and Vietnam that grows like a banana but doesn’t bother with fruit you can eat. Instead, it puts out tall, upright spikes of red bracts with yellow flowers tucked inside - like a torch made of petals.
  • 💃 Each stem flowers once and then fades, but new shoots keep popping up from the base, so the plant just keeps going. The leaves are classic banana style: big, dark green, and glossy.
  • 💃 You’ll see the flowers in summer, and they last a long time - bright, strange, and impossible to ignore. The plant stays compact, does well in pots, and even the fruit (small and orange) adds a weird touch. It's one of those plants that doesn't try to fit in.


🛒 For fans of strange plants

📚 Learn more:

#Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden #Bananas

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How to catch a cat (the fast and easy way) A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How to catch a cat (the fast and easy way)

Top Tropicals cats: Jacques, Macaron and Klaksa

Top Tropicals cats: Jacques, Macaron and Klaksa

How to catch a cat (the fast and easy way)

Step 1: Put down a box.
That's it. You've already won.

Step 2: Remove the first cat from the box.
It resets automatically. No assembly required.

Step 3: Wait 0.5 seconds.
Next cat enters trap willingly.

Step 4: Repeat as needed.
Box works on all models.

Final step: All cats are now removed from the kitchen.
You can finally eat in peace.
Much easier than crawling under the table like a maniac.

🐈📸 Top Tropicals cats: Jacques, Macaron and Klaksa at PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats

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Blue lips smell like violets - Mazabuka, Sclerochiton harveyanus. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Blue lips smell like violets - Mazabuka, Sclerochiton harveyanus

Sclerochiton harveyanus - Mazabuka, Blue Lips

👄 Blue lips smell like violets
  • 💙 Sclerochiton harveyanus - Mazabuka, or Blue Lips blooms with quirky blue-to-purple flowers that really do look like lips. And in the tropical plant world, blue flowers are rare. And they are lightly violet-lavender-fragrant!
  • 💙 Even better? It's a total shade lover. No need for blazing sun - this beauty is happy to bloom in the cool, leafy spots of your garden.
  • 💙 Loved by bees and birds, and just the right mix of weird and wonderful.


🛒 Add Blue Lips to your shade garden

📚 Learn more:

#Perfume_Plants #Shade_Garden #Butterfly_Plants
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

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Kitty saved his life! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Kitty saved his life!

😮 Kitty saved his life!

"Where there’s a will, there's a way" - Thomas Heywood, The Proverb, 1608.

🐈📸 Philemon the cat finding his ways at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Late season mango Kent: Florida's delight. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Late season mango Kent: Floridas delight

Mango Kent

Late season mango Kent: Florida's delight.
Mango Rainbow🌈
  • 🟡Kent is Florida's late-season superstar that never disappoints!
  • 🟡These big, oval mangoes turn yellow-green with a ruby-red blush and emit the most tropical, peachy aroma. Slice inside and you’ll find dense, fiberless orange flesh that melts in your mouth with a sweet-tangy burst and warm spice notes. It's juicy, succulent, and perfect fresh or in smoothies - and they keep coming from July through early fall.
  • 🟡This tree is a heavy bearer, disease resistant, and a must-have in any mango collection!


🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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Today's peace. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Todays peace

Todays peace
❤️ Today's peace

"Worry does not remove tomorrow's troubles, it takes away today's peace." - Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian watchmaker and Holocaust survivor.

🐈📸 Ricki has no worries about tomorrow at Top Tropicals PeopleCats.Garden. 

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Caught on camera: found this on the Flower of Caipora. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Caught on camera: found this on the Flower of Caipora

Ruellia affinis - Flower of Caipora

🌺 Caught on camera: found this on the Flower of Caipora.
  • 🍁 Ruellia affinis, the Flower of Caipora - is a rare tropical gem from the forests of Brazil, with tropical red blooms when you need them most!
  • 🍁 This isn't your typical Ruellia. It's a climbing, vining shrub that puts out blazing red flowers in winter when most plants are taking a nap especially during Fall-Winter holidays.
  • 🍁 You can let it vine up a trellis or pinch it back to make a bushy, compact shape. Either way, those scarlet blooms will pop once the older stems mature.
  • 🍁 Just give it light shade, warmth, and moisture - and it'll reward your patience with color when you least expect it!


🛒 Limited! Get Flower of Caipora, hard-to-find tropical bloomer

📸 What's on the plant? Anyone knows the name of this Moth?

#Shade_Garden #Container_Garden

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Four stages of Coffee Tree growth: a young potted plant, a mature tree in the ground, white star-shaped blooms, and a branch full of ripening red and green coffee cherries.

What is the most popular and easiest tropical fruit tree to grow indoors?

No doubt about it - it's the Coffee Tree.

  • Coffee is shade-loving and easy to grow with regular water
  • It grows into a dark green shrub or small tree (about 3 to 5 feet tall in a pot)
  • Its fragrant, star-shaped flowers resemble gardenias
  • The whole fruit is edible and turns green to yellow to red
  • The seeds are real "coffee beans" that can be dried, roasted, and ground at home.

Five Reasons to Grow a Coffee Plant

  • Perfect Indoor Fruit Tree: Thrives in filtered light and stays compact
  • Low Maintenance: Forgiving, adaptable, and ideal for new gardeners
  • Aesthetic Appeal: Glossy green leaves and clusters of white blooms
  • Homegrown Coffee: Yes, you can roast your own beans.
  • Year-Round Beauty: Evergreen with seasonal fragrance

Coffee Plant Care Tips

  • Light: Bright, indirect light is best. Avoid harsh afternoon sun.
  • Water: Keep soil lightly moist but not soggy. Let the top inch dry out before watering again.
  • Humidity: Loves higher humidity. Mist regularly or place on a pebble tray.
  • Fertilizer: Use a balanced, gentle fertilizer like Sunshine Boosters C-Cibus every few weeks during growing season.
  • Soil: Loose, rich, and well-drained. High in organic matter and slightly acidic. For potted plants, use a quality indoor tropical mix, such as Top Tropicals Abundance mix
  • Repotting: Refresh soil and size up the pot every 1–2 years to keep roots healthy.
  • Can I grow it outdoors?: Yes - bring it outside in warm months and back indoors before frost. It's best suited for USDA zones 10-11, but container growing gives you flexibility in cooler climates.
  • How long until I get beans?: Expect flowers and fruit within 3 to 4 years from seedling stage - often sooner if you start with a young tree.
  • What does the fruit taste like?: Mild and sweet-tart, like a mix between a cherry and a cranberry. You can eat it fresh.

How to Make Coffee from Your Own Tree

  • Harvest: Pick the ripe red cherries
  • Pop and Soak: Squeeze out the beans and ferment 1-2 days to remove pulp
  • Dry: Spread out to dry for 1-2 weeks until hard and papery
  • Husk: Remove the thin shell to reveal green beans
  • Roast: Use a dry skillet or oven until fragrant
  • Grind and Brew: Cool, grind, and enjoy the freshest coffee you've ever had.
    Learn more: How to make your own coffee from homegrown beans

Coffee Health Benefits

  • Rich in antioxidants - supports heart and brain health
  • Boosts focus and mental alertness
  • Supports metabolism and fat-burning

Why Coffee Makes the Perfect Gift Plant

  • Long-living and beautiful
  • Symbolic, useful, and personal
  • Great for coffee lovers, gardeners, and the "person who has everything"

Read Garden Blog about Coffee

Shop Coffee Plants

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☕ Coffee, Straight from Your Windowsill

Fluffy orange-and-white cat and black-and-white tuxedo cat preparing coffee with a coffee plant, beans, grinder, and espresso cup on a kitchen table

Coffee Crew at Work: Harvest, Grind, Brew

Let's be honest - coffee prices are climbing, supplies are tightening, and that morning cup isn't getting any cheaper. But right now, our Coffea arabica trees are covered in green berries, quietly ripening toward harvest time. Soon, they'll turn red - and that's when it's go time.

This isn't just a pretty plant. It's a compact, shade-loving fruit tree that thrives indoors and adds year-round tropical beauty to any space. Even your cat will approve 🐱🐾.

Watch Top Tropicals videos about coffee plants

Shop Coffee Plants