Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 16 Nov 2019

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...

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

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

Date: 6 Jan 2020

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Independent Paisley

Paisley is an independent cat that prefers to spend her time alone. She is Snitch's sister, both of them came to us two years ago from our co-worker Cindy (Purry's Mom). Even though Paisley is the smallest of Kristi's inside PeopleCats, she will make sure no food is wasted and finishes the other cats' food after they leave their bowls. She enjoys catching lizards when she gets outside time on the porch. Her excellent hunting skills would make her a great outdoor cat, but we are afraid she will become bird prey due to her small size.

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Paisley likes hanging with the other cats if there's a rug involved!

Date: 27 Nov 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cindy's Purry - Jackson's Nanny

Purry came in the same litter with LadyBug, Ricki, and Charlie.
She now lives in Cindy's house as an indoor cat. She is the most lovable and purring purrrrson.

Purry (or Pursey) has a little ward she faithfully looks after... Her soft purrs put Baby Jackson Michael every time to sleep!

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Purry - 2016

Date: 14 Oct 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Ricki

The Smallest Cat

Ricki is a tiny little cat. He is already 3 y.o. but still feels shy because he always has been the smallest one... He arrived to TopTropicals as a little kitten, along with his 3 sisters, Charlie, Purry, and LadyBug, in a box. Ricki was the last kitten in the littler and almost half the size of other kittens! But his ears were the biggest. So he became a very Wise Puuurson who knows how to Listen.

Not only Ricki was the smallest, but he also was pretty sick when we first got him at the age of 4 weeks. He had a bad infection in both eyes and could hardly see anything... His 2 sisters got adopted by employees, but no one wanted to adopt poor Ricki... so he stayed at TopTropicals. Almost 2 weeks of therapy finally helped him to get all better. Now he is one of the cutest Little People!

Ricki has his own spot at the corner of a dinner table. He is not interested in stealing any food (unlike Wesley), he just wants to be involved in a dinner conversation...

Ricki likes treats and remains very shy, staying indoors. If you visit our Garden Center, you may bring him a small treat - his favorite "Temptations".

Wesley and Ricki at Dinner conversation

LadyBug, Purry, and Ricki, 2016.

Date: 3 Dec 2019

Ghost Cold Protection

Q: Has anyone ever tried using heat packs under frost blankets to protect tropical plants from frost?

A: The reality is, the heat packs used for shipping do not have enough heat capacity to create efficient warming effect. From our own experience, the best way is to use small 25W incandescent bulbs which produce lots of heat (considering observing all safety precautions and fire safety). Some gardeners use Christmas lights. See picture of our plants in the ground during a cold night. We called them Ghost Cold Protection! ;)

See more columns on cold protection:
Seven rules of cold protection for tropicals
About Cold Protection
Cold protection - winter action for your plant collection
Tropical Treasures articles