How to get rid of bad luck:
The story of the Garlic Vine

by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

Are you a vampire? If not, then this is your Plant! Mansoa alliacea, or Garlic Vine, is a truly amazing plant. There are two special features that make it so unique...
...First, the flowers start off deep lavender with white throat and change to a lighter shade of lavender with age. Eventually fading to almost white, and you will see three different color of flowers at the same time on the plant. It's fantastic!...
...Secondly, the small of the leaves makes it a conversation piece: crushed leaves smell like garlic...
...The plant is said to help get rid of bad luck and is a favorite with hunters. Some Amazon natives offer their dogs a brew of this botanical to ensure success during the hunt. Up until now, most consider the plant to be magical or spiritual and they hang bunches of the leaves around their home for good luck or in order to drive away evil spirits...

CONTINUE READING >>

URBAN TROPICAL GARDENING:
10 secrets of successful Container Mango growing on a balcony.

Q: I live in Miami in apartment on a second floor, and I have a balcony with SE exposure. I wonder if I can grow a mango tree in a pot? Will it fruit for me? I recently moved to South Florida and I don't know much about tropical plants; but I tasted real fiberless mangos from someone's garden - it was so delicious and different from those in the grocery store. I wonder if I can have a fruiting tree on my balcony? And if yes, how do I plant and take care of it?

A: Yes, you can! Here is what you need to do:
1) Temperature. You are lucky to live in Tropics, keep it on a balcony year round.
2) Light. Position the pot in a spot with the most sun exposure. Mango trees can take filtered light too, but the less sun, the less fruit you will get.
3) Soil and Container. Use only well drained potting mix. Step up the purchased plant into next size container (3 gal into 7 gal, 7 gal into 15 gal). When transplanting, make sure to keep growth point (where roots meet the trunk) just at the top of the soil. Covering base of the trunk with soil may kill the plant.
4) Water. Water daily during hot season, but only if top of soil gets dry. If it still moist, skip that day. Mangoes (unlike Avocados!) prefer to stay on a dry side.
5) Fertilizer. Use balanced fertilizer once a month, 1 tsp per 1 gal of soil. Do not fertilize during fruiting - this may cause fruit cracks.
6) Microelements. Apply SUNSHINE-Superfood once a month. This will help your mango healthy, vigorous, and resistant to diseases. Use SUNSHINE-Honey to make your fruit sweeter.
7) Insect control. Watch for scales and mealybugs, clean with solution of soapy water + vegetable oil (may need to repeat 2-3 times with 10 days interval), or with systemic insecticide like imidacloprid only as needed (if non-harsh treatment didn't help). Most Flea shampoo for dogs contain that chemical, you may try that shampoo solution.
8) Trimming. Once potted, do not remove leaves that are discolored or have spots until new growth appears. Dark dots on mango leaves, especially in humid climate like Florida, may be signs of fungus. Treat with fungicide according to label, and remove only badly damaged leaves. Trim crown as needed after flowering and fruiting (by Fall). Train into a small tree, and you may remove some lower branches eventually.
9) Flower and fruit. Mangoes are winter bloomers with bunches of tiny flowers coming in thousands. Many of them set fruit (if pollinating insects present). Keep in mind that young trees can only bare a few fruit. Normally a tree will drop excessive fruit and keep only a few that it can manage. To save the young tree some energy, remove fruit if too many and leave only 2-3 for the first year. It will pay you next year with more abundant crop.
10) Variety. Last but not least: Choose the right variety for container culture! Pick from "condo" dwarf varieties such as Icecream, Nam Doc Mai, Carrie, Cogshall, Julie, Fairchild, Pickering, Graham, Mallika, and a few others - check out Mango Chart pdf and full list of our Mango varieties.

Easy Sunday Morning Deals: Fried Egg Tree and Giant Mafafa

Saving on your favorite plants is Easy.
Easy like Sunday Morning...

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It's time for our favorite day and another Easy stroll through Top Tropicals Garden with savings of

up to 50% and MORE!

Fried Egg Tree and Giant Mafafa

How do you like your eggs for Sunday breakfast, sunny side up or over easy? We have an amazing Sunny flower for you that is Easy to get today - with Easy Sunday Morning Deals. And yet another plant that is not only amusing, but also edible and nutritious...

Fried Egg Tree

- Oncoba spinosa -

Oncoba spinosa - Fried Egg Tree, has beautiful white and yellow camellia-like flowers look like 'fried eggs'! Flowers are honey-sweet fragrant and attract butterflies and bees. The fruits have a sour, edible pulp.

Taro Root, Mafafa

- Colocasia Thailand Giant -

This Taro has the biggest leaf on planet, it is a conversation piece in every garden. Grown as a root vegetable for its edible starchy corm, and as a leaf vegetable. The corms are roasted, baked or boiled, and the natural sugars give a sweet nutty flavor. The starch is easily digestible, and since the grains are fine and small it is often used for baby food. The leaves are a good source of vitamins A and C and contain more protein than the corms.

Both plants are large and developed, grown in 2-3 gal pots, regularly $42.95 each,
on Easy Sunday sale for only $21.95!

Combine the two and save even more!

2 plants total price: Reg. $85.95 - Easy Sunday Deal: $39.95

Remember, the Easy Sunday Deal expires on Monday February 7th.

Plants that are not for eating

Q: On the website, it says that the pua keni keni tree is toxic. Do you know how toxic? Is it mild irritation or can someone die from ingesting any part of the plant?

A: Pua Keni Keni, Fagraea - seeds (and especially flesh of the fruit) are toxic, so we recommend to always wash your hands after handling them. Obviously, nobody in our team ever tried to eat them to check how toxic they are and if they are deadly.

In general, one must be careful when using plants for purposes other than ornamental growing, especially for consumption. While some obvious edibles (cultivated fruit, vegetables, herbs) are generally safe, but some individuals may have severe reactions - for example, many people are allergic to mangoes; other people may be sensitive to only mango leaves.

A number of plants that have parts commonly consumed for food, have other parts toxic or poisonous. Example: Potato - Solanum tuberosum - has edible tubers feeding the whole planet population, but this plant's fruit is highly toxic and even deadly if eaten. Fruit from a Potato plant look like tiny little green tomatoes since Potato belongs to the same family as Tomato - Nightshade, but it is super poisonous, while Tomato fruit is perfectly edible. So one must watch out and especially educate little children about not tasting anything directly from the garden.

As far as animals concern, in Nature they know what is poisonous and what is edible. Have you ever seen dead birds around a tree with poisonous fruit/seeds? Animals have their own sense for it. So if your concern is for pets, it is normally safe to have pets around plants with irritating or even poisonous parts. However, if your dog has a bad habit of chewing on stuff, you may use extra caution there.

Photo below:

Riki-Tiki-Tavi exploring TopTropicals Gardens.