Garden Blog - Top Tropicals
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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.
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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Sonya, the Co-Author
In our previous newsletter, you met our editor/photographer tandem - Tilda & Marina. Today we introduce our columnist assistant - Sonya. For the past decade, this True Norwegian Forest Cat has been a great helper and inspirational co-author for Alexandra, TopTropicals website writer and social media blogger.
Alex has been with TopTropicals since Day One (2003). In 2011, she got Sonya, a 3-month old kitten that someone kicked out: at that young age she already had quite a temper of a real Wild Cat. No one wanted to adopt her and Sonya was doomed to suffer a street life... So Alex invited her in the house... and it took her many months to teach Sonya some good manners! And Sonya turned into a beautiful and affectionate Purrrson as well as became the Boss in the house (what a surprise, duh) and Alexandra's dearest life companion. Sonya also discovered her talent in writing plant stories for TopTropicals, sitting on Alex's shoulder and whispering into her ear while she is typing Sonya's horticultural tips. And when Alex stares at monitors for more than 5 hours, Sonya lays on her keyboard saying: "Now get up and get some stretch lady! Let's go re-pot some plants for a change!"
We will be following up on Sonya's creative work, and you will hear from her again soon...
Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.
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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
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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
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Seven rules of cold protection for tropicals
Q: I was always wondering how you guys manage to grow true tropical trees in Florida? I live in Puerto Rico and we have Breadfruit trees growing here in a wild... but my sister lives not far away from you, in Orlando, which is much colder, and I wonder if I can get her a Breadfruit tree for Christmas?
A: Your
sister can grow a Breadfruit tree in Orlando either in a pot (and bring it indoors during
cold periods) or in the ground inside a structure (an elclosed conservatory
with heating system). See our customer's Greenhouse in Virginia. Cold protection of tropical plants is a lengthy
subject and we have many interesting publications about it in our managine
Tropical
Treasures and on the website. In a nutshell, when growing tropicals outside of
tropical climate, you need to follow these 7 rules:
1. Cut watering to a minimum. Cold+wet kills tropical roots.
2. Water thirsty plants before a cold night. Jucy leaves have fewer
chances to be cold-zapped.
3. Wind protection is more important than a temperature drop. Plant
tropicals close to a house or surrounded by other trees.
4. Duration of a cold period is more critical than the cold itself. If
expecting long cold hours, bring up all available protection resources.
Christmas lights or propane heaters - as long as there is a heat source,
everything helps!
5. Remove plastic covers during the daytime so plants don't get
"cooked" in the sun. Fabric covers are better than plastic.
6. Grow ultra-tropicals in containers and bring them inside the garage
or even indoors during the cold.
7. Use SUNSHINE plant boosters and feed your plants well during Summer to improve cold hardiness.
Related topics:
About Cold Protection
Cold protection - winter action for your plant collection
Improving cold hardiness before winter: fertilizer and micro-elements
Cold hardy tropical fruit trees
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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Vasiliy - the Lover
Wesley (aka Vasiliy) is a real Lover. He is the sweetest Purrrson you can imagine who just loves everybody... except! Except for those who ring the door bell. Wes is afraid of the doorbell and hides in a closet for a few hours every time he hears someone at the door. He runs away from that door knocking off everything on his way to the closet sanctuary. Just in case! In today's world of Amazon deliveries, he gets to spend in a closet quite a bit of time.
Another fear of Wesley is James Coconuts. We don't know why, but for some reason they have an issue. Coconuts once had bitten Wes for being too annoying with his love, and since then they stay on different sides of the couch!
Oh well, who said that lovers have no fears?
Wesley with his brother Marco when they were little
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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.
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Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Tricky Lil S**t still rules the place!
Everyone knows Lil S**t because she is the first Purrrson you see when visiting our Garden Center, along with
Marco. They are our official Greeters.
She not only hangs out at the gate, but also runs our Shipping Department along
with Chief.
Lil S**t has her purrrrsonal extra plates at the gate: she insisted to have
them so she can demonstrate to everyone how empty they always are... that means
the poor Lil Thing is always hungry, duh. Well if you preferrrr to believe her, you may bring some treats for her... and
watch her eating them and bugging the next visitor 5 minutes later...
We don't mind her Lil tricks, because it seems like no matter how much she eats, she sure keeps her Lil figure slim without any diet! Maybe some day she can share her secret with us!
Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.
Lil S**t at the Front Gate claiming her rights for extra food... and complaining to visitors.
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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!
Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.
Purry - 2016
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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!