Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 29 Jan 2020

Meet People of TopTropicals. Pea Cock of the Day: the Orchid Guard

Recently we started to reveal the secret about who works behind the scenes on TopTropicals project; you have already met our editors and their assistants: Marina with Tilda, and Alex with Sonya. Today's story is about a Magic Peacock who works in orchid greenhouse of Eleanor Wilks - our photographer and tropical plant journalist in New Zealand and Australia. The watermark EleNZ you see on pictures of Australian flora - is Eleanor's!
Today Eleanor is sharing with us pictures of this amazing bird that helps her around her Orchidarium.
This young Pea Cock showed up one day in her backyard from nowhere and set up his living quarters in a tree. She asked around: no one was missing a peacock... so she took the Pea in and now he is in charge of her orchid collection. After a day of a hard work, Pea comes home to the back porch, waiting for Eleanor to sing him a good-night lullaby. Pea won't go to sleep until everyone in the house is ready for bed and the lights turned off. What a responsible house guard!

Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.

Date: 3 Mar 2020

Tu BiShvat - New Year for Trees

By Alex Butova

Tu BiShvat is the Israeli Arbor Day, and it is often referred to by that name in international media. Ecological organizations have adopted the holiday to further environmental-awareness programs. The modern practices and interpretations of Tu BiShvat often revolve around the earth and environment. This holiday is a celebration of nature and appreciation for creating the natural world. In Israel, Tu BiShvat is celebrated as an agricultural holiday. The 15th of Tu BiShvat was celebrated this year on February 10, 2020. This day marked the beginning of a new year for trees. This day marks the season in which the earliest-blooming trees emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle. Often the date of Tu BiShvat is used for determining the age of fruit baring trees and therefore establishes their birth dates. Therefore, Tu BiShvat is the "birthday" of trees!

The traditions and customs of Tu BiShvat vary, however, the most common include planting trees and gathering with family and friends for a meal. It is celebrated by eating fruit, particularly the kinds that praise the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, almonds, dates, olives and others. It reminds people that "a man is a tree of the field", and reflects on the lessons we can derive from the botanical analogue.

Check out fruit trees and nuts:

Persimmon tree

Loquat tree

Date: 27 Feb 2020

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Lucky Abu

"You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats".
Colonial American Proverb

- our last Cat of The Day Itembi started with this quote... and guess what, it proved right again!..

Right around the corner from TopTropicals, in the woods, Kristi noticed a skinny poor cat... she looked so miserable, just bones and skin... she could hardly walk and looked injured. And yet she had 2 kittens following her! The Cat Family could use some meal and a warm home. Unfortunately they seemed to be feral and wouldn't let Kristi pick them up.
Compassionate Kristi spend couple days brainstorming how to save these poor PeopleCats in need. She ended up setting a trap and... bingo! The first Little Purrson found its forever sweet home at TopTropicals!
...The cat groomer Lindsey came home from school. First bath time... the kitty smelled like poop! Soon the bath time was over... Full of fleas, and it's a boy!

She named him Abu. Just like the delicious exotic tropical fruit! Or, a mischievous Aladdin's Monkey companion ;)

We will send you updates on Abu and hope that his Mom will join him soon at TopTropicals Cat Paradise!

Remember that every dollar you spend on TopTropicals plants, is split between plant growers and PeopleCats who are our all-time companions and helpers in our daily hard work! We thank our customers for buying plants and thank our PeopleCats for keeping us cool, kind, and happy!

Check out the Video: and more Cat of the Day stories.

Lucky Abu: from rags to riches!

Being trapped in a cage for a few hours is not so bad if you have your own petting staff!

Date: 3 Mar 2020

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Poor Little Raja

In our last newsletter we told you about little Abu, a Baby-Purrrson that Kristi rescued from the woods where he had been surviving along with other feral cats: his little sister and his Mom who was badly injured in a car accident. We received messages from our customers asking if we were able to rescue the other two cats...
For the past few days Kristi, Jamie and Onika have been trying to capture them... The feral cats didn't want to come to humans, they were hiding away. The ladies were able to trap Abu with a tuna can... then tried and tried again with the other two with no luck... Even tried to call Animal control asking for help catching the animals so we could give them medical help. We were told that they don't trap cats! ("unless it's a cat-hating neighbor going against a crazy cat lady" - Crazy Cat Lady's comment). The girls continued their efforts again and again, with treats, traps and different capture plans... day after day.
Unfortunately, the sick mother-cat did not survive and we found her yesterday with her little baby crying over her cold body.
Kristi was able to grab the tiny kitten who was even smaller than her brother Abu. She named her Raja - a friend of Abu. Raja said that her poor mother's words were: "Go to that lady, my baby, she looks kind. It's my time to go now, and you will be in good hands..."
The little Raja was in very poor shape herself, with eyes full of tears. She was covered by fleas, and looked like passing out from anemia. Her paw was injured and infected, and her little nose... first we just thought she was pig-nosed! But her nose is also swollen. Kristi rushed her to the vet where Raja got treatments and meds. She got much better the same day and finally stopped crying. Raja finally recognized her brother Abu and cuddled with him.
Now Raja is on her way to recovery and will be sending her updates soon!

Thank you everybody for supporting us in helping PeopleCats. Every dollar you spend on TopTropicals plants is split between plant growers and PeopleCats who help us become better people.

Check out the Video: and more Cat of the Day stories.

Date: 3 Dec 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Bagheera

Bagheera and Mowgli are Kristi's PeopleCats, originally they came together and they stick together. As little kittens, they were raised by Moe, the Mama-cat. Although she is not technically their Mom, but... she is a Mom for everyone!

Bagheera was born with his brother at a gator farm. He was too little to leave his mom, but he needed out. Bagheera is one of the sweetest boys we know. When he was a baby he could not sleep without laying on Kristi's face, both paws stretching across her mouth. Now he's a big brave boy. He rules the inside PeopleCats, stealing food from his human's plates and asking forgiveness at night when he lays above your head with his hands on your face. He's a reminder that we are all still little kittens on the inside...

Bagheera's new nicknames are Mr Biggs, Biggie and Biggy Biggy Biggy!

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Date: 23 Jan 2020

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Weasley the Immigrant

Weasley came from the neighborhood cat community (our neighbor takes care of at least a dozen of cats). Whether TopTropicals dry food tastes better than neighbor's, or simply he is such an enthusiast of tropical gardening, he hangs out with us all the time.
When you see him in our Garden Center drinking milk or chilling right on the walkway with other PeopleCats, don't get him confused with other two ginger cats we have: Barcy and Snitch... as well as the Russian Blue cat with a similar name Wesley...
Although Weasley currently has a status of a legal immigrant, he feels pretty confident around our greenhouses and will be happy to give you a tour. He is still a volunteer here but has already applied for a permanent residence and a full time position, so his food needs are being added to our cat payroll.
When visiting TopTropicals nursery, feel free to add your donation to a Cat Jar located in our office by customer's computer. We appreciate everybody's help - every penny goes to PeopleCat's needs.

Check out Video: Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals and more Cat of the Day stories.

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: 11 Dec 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Muggle the Snuggle

The sweet talking bathroom cat

Muggle* (or some call him Mawgli) is the little brother to Bagheera. We call him the sweet talker because he really does talk to you. As soon as he sees you he wants to have a conversation. He meows at you and if you meow back he will continue the talk. He is our bathroom cat because he loves to sit in the bathroom with you and purrrrrr. We think maybe he sees this time as his alone time with his humans, his one-on-one time when he doesn't have to share the attention with the other PeopleCats!

* His name is actually Muggle, Jamie named him after Harry Potter which she loves.

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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: 8 Nov 2019

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!

Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.

Keeping us clean and happy!

Moe raising Bagheera and Mowgli