Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Charlie, the Indoor Hunter

Carlie was a kitty drop off with LadyBug, Rickie, and Purry.
Charlie is Jamie's baby. She has an attitude of a teenager, one minute she loves you and the next - wants nothing to do with you. Carlie stays with the inside PeopleCats, she says it's too big in the outside world for her and she gets scared. Carlie has a fun game (fun to her): she plays around 2:00 am in the morning, she loves to drag random items down the hall (socks, toys, shirts, even blankets) in her mouth MEOOOWWWING as loud as she can. She then sets the items down on her human's bedroom rug and waits for her human to say thank you. We're pretty sure her hunting instinct is off...

Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.

2019, from Top to Bottom: Moe, Charlie, Bagheera, and Snitch. 2016: Charlie

From left to right: Purry, LadyBug, Charlie, and Ricki - 2016

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Mommy Moe, meep-meep!

Moe is the oldest of the indoor PeopleCats. She came to us six years ago. She is a Siberian, these are sold as hypoallergenic cats... Unfortunately for Moe's previous owner, she is not hypoallergenic! Lucky for us she is a purrrrfect fit.
Moe is the mommy cat to all others. She takes all new People under her wing and shows them around. She is a very sweet purrrson, and very smart. She loves turning lights off on you and playing fetch with her toy mouse. Siberian cats have a very unique meow. It is actually more of a "meep-meep", there is no eowww part!

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Keeping us clean and happy!

Moe raising Bagheera and Mowgli

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Why cats???

"One cat just leads to another..."

- Ernest Hemingway -

Q: I learn a lot from your emails and it is one of the few subscriptions that I actually (usually) open and read. I don't mean to be negative but I'm not really a fan of the cat content that you now feature above the plant content. I'm surprised that you dedicate so much space to material that really is off-topic... I'm glad you guys are in business and you educate as much (or more) than you sell. I actually drove to your location to buy stuff a few years ago and most of what I bought is still alive. My neighbor also bought a cocoa plant from you and it is thriving!

A: Thank you for your comments and orders with us. We really appreciate your interest in our newsletter.
As far as cats, we added regular Cat of The Day section because it became so popular and many customers asked for it ;) While we all know that the World is made of 2 halves - CatPeople and DogPeople, most PlantPeople are PetPeople and they find this combination fun and garden-productive!
Besides, TopTropicals Garden Center is a cat-friendly Plant facility, so the cats are part of our business, as a matter of fact... Not only do they help us with our daily hard work, they also give us so much love, and helps us to become better people. Our employees take care of them; the cat care is on their daily task list!
Do not worry, our plant content always comes first, and more interesting stuff coming every week! Thank you for staying with us.

Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Gordon Freeman: the Veteran, son of the Veteran

Gordon Freeman is one of the oldest cats, a True Veteran, and a Son of the Veteran. He was born at our old location back in Punta Gorda on November 11, 2008, when our son Alex just came back from Iraq, where he was on a military mission. So Gordon adopted him! Along with Alex, Gordon Freeman is taking care of our Country security, and is an active supporter of our Troops. This Veterans Day, his daddy Alex is again on a mission overseas, protecting our Freedom. Gordon Freeman is waiting for him to come back soon.

Our prayers are with our Soldiers. Stay safe and sound, and get back home soon!

Happy Birthday, Gordon! Happy Veterans Day!

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Gordon 2008

Gordon today

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. King: the King of the Nursery

King runs the nursery... when Duck Dobi has a day off. So technically, he is only an Assistant Manager.

As you remember, a few months ago King got in trouble protecting his property from invaders, and got a serious injury. He was rushed to the hospital and had a big surgery. The King was saved! Many customers reached out with help, placed orders for our special "Save the King" fundraiser and even sent donations to help him manage his medical bills. We want to thank you all again for your support, and for staying with us!

King will make sure his Homeland Security is always alert. We are safe here. Welcome to TopTropicals!

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It's been a hard day's night... and I've been working like a dog!
Have I deserved my drink?

King and Dobi figuring out who is the Boss. Dobi knows who.

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Fearless Mr Barcy, the Boss

Mr Barcy is the Boss. He owns the property, the street, the neighborhood, and the City of Ft Myers. Once he told us that he owns the whole State of Florida too but he won't go any further... for political reasons he preferred not to disclose.
Along with Chief, Mr Barcy is one of the oldest cats of TopTropicals.
His story is, some 10 years ago, he was sitting in Animal Control shelter in Sebring, FL with no one wanting to adopt him... His "time" expired and he was supposed to be put down on Friday... Someone sent us his picture in a shelter cage and... on Wednesday, we picked him up (along with a few other "scheduled" cats). Since then, Mr Barcy has been living with us, running the business, and being the smartest Purrrson we ever met.
As a Boss, Mr Barcy has his own GPS tracker - and he walks 3-4 miles every day (not bad for a senior purrson ah?) around his premises, keeping operations under control, and himself in great shape.
In his leisure time, Mr Barcy prefers mice- and snake- hunting, keeping the neighborhood safe and monitored. He can walk a human without using a leash, and his tail is ALWAYS up!

Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.

Mr Barcy planning his business day

Don't interrupt my snake-snacking!

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat, Pet & Plant Community

Marco watching Dobi Duck; King & Marco with their Pet Frog

Barcy, Wesley and Coconuts at sweet liquor tasting

Anyone knows the name of this creature? He feeds on our Jasmines!

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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Marco

Cat of the Day: Marco

When you visit TopTropicals Garden Center, the first Purrrrson that greets you will probably be Marco. He likes to chill out right at the parking lot under the shady oak!

Marco is a long-hair Russian Blue, and it is too hot for him in Florida. So he gets a fashionable Lion Cut every couple of months!

See more PeopleCats of TopTropicals

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Australia Planting 1 Billion Trees To Fight Climate Change

TopTropicals.com

Australia plans to plant 1 billion new trees to fight climate change, by the year 2050. That is a lot of trees and is the first real effort the country has made toward combating climate change. The only real problem is finding enough space to plant that many trees...
A billion trees is a billion trees, and even with a team of 30,000 people planting a tree per day for the next 31 years, the final tally would still only be 339,450,000 trees. Australia will need a tree army to get that many trees planted by 2050... Read the whole story...

How about planting just one tree today and save the World one step at a time?

On the photo: Callistemon, Australian native tree.

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Helping Citrus and other fruit trees with Nutritional Supplements

Q: Can you recommended a product to help with my citrus? Combating greening and chlorosis.

A: Citrus greening is spread by an insect called the Asian citrus psyllid. The psyllid feeds on the stems and leaves of the trees, infecting the trees with the bacteria that causes citrus greening. Florida Citrus growers dedicated the last decade to researching citrus greening. Officially, currently there is still no cure, however, some Nutritional solutions have shown promising results. To slow the progression of citrus greening in infected trees, nutrients are applied to the leaves and to the roots. Providing better nutrition helps trees fight against citrus greening and enables them to continue to produce quality fruit.

We recommend the following products for use on regular basis:

SUNSHINE Epi is a natural Brassinosteroid plant hormone and a bio-stimulant that may be very effective as citrus greening treatment. It works through plant's immune system and shows amazing results of recovery of weak and sick plants.

SUNSHINE Superfood, a complex micro-element supplement, maintains plant's health and provides vigorous growth.

SUNSHINE-Honey is a basic nutritional complement, it contains essential plant micronutrients Boron (B) and Molybdenum (Mo). These elements are essential to vegetative and reproductive growth, cell expansion, tissue growth, and fertility. A very common problem for most unimproved garden soils is lack of Molybdenum and Boron as soil micro-component. This results in underdeveloped / low quality fruit and/or premature fruit drop. Applying SUNSHINE Honey on your fruit trees will fill that gap and help a fruit tree to form a healthy fruit.

Macro-nutrients should be applied in combination with micro-nutrients on regular basis:

Mango-Food - Smart Release Fruit Tree Booster (works great for all tropical fruit trees)
Fruit Festival Plant Food - Ideal blend designed to improve fruit trees health and vigor, and increase crop yield.

See SUNSHINE Boosters page for the complete list of plant boosters.