Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date:

New Complete Guide to Avocado Varieties. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

New Complete Guide to Avocado Varieties

New Complete Guide to Avocado Varieties New Complete Guide to Avocado Varieties
New Complete Guide to Avocado Varieties. How to choose the right type of Avocado.
How many varieties of Avocado are there in cultivation? Did you know that there are hundreds of them? You probably thought there were only 2 kinds - black and green?

You may not realize is that this basic (but practical!) classification doesn't encompass all the wonderful qualities avocados have to offer.

There are numerous hybrids in cultivation, and once you plant your first tree and taste the REAL fruit (not from the grocery store), you'll be eager to explore other varieties. It's a guarantee! While it's true that avocado fruit can vary in "butter" content, most superior varieties are equally delicious.

This Avocado Variety Guide helps to choose the right variety for you. With its interactive tool, you can sort cultivars by fruit shape and quality, cold hardiness, origin, crop season, flower type A or B, tree habit and more.

🛒 Shop Avocado Varieties

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts #How_to

🏵 TopTropicals

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How to get big shade tree in one season with an ice cream on it? It's real! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

How to get big shade tree in one season with an ice cream on it? Its real!

Ice Cream Bean Inga

Ice Cream Bean Inga

Ice Cream Bean Inga

Ice Cream Bean Inga

Ice Cream Bean Inga fruit

Ice Cream Bean Inga fruit

Ice Cream Bean Inga tree

Ice Cream Bean Inga tree

🍧 How to get big shade tree in one season with an ice cream on it? It's real!
  • 🍦 Ice Cream Bean Inga is the ultimate fast-growing, shade-providing fruit tree with an irresistible twist! It not only transforms your yard into a cool, inviting oasis in record time but also produces fruit that kids (and adults!) can't get enough of!
  • 🍦 Picture this: pods up to a foot long, bursting with sweet, creamy pulp that tastes exactly like ice cream!
  • 🍦 Craving instant shade? Perfect for those sunny spots where you need shade, the Ice Cream Bean Inga rapidly unfurls its lush, umbrella-like canopy, creating a natural, leafy retreat in just one season!
  • 🍦 With its delectable treats and speedy growth, this extraordinary tree is sure to be the highlight of your garden - where shade and sweetness meet!


🛒 Get shade with ice cream benefit

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts #Nature_Wonders #How_to

🏵 TopTropicals

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Fruit of Money and Love. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Fruit of Money and Love

Theobroma cacao - Chocolate Tree, Cacao Tree

Theobroma cacao - Chocolate Tree, Cacao Tree

Theobroma cacao - Chocolate Tree, Cacao Tree

Theobroma cacao - Chocolate Tree, Cacao Tree

Theobroma cacao - Chocolate Tree, Cacao Tree

Theobroma cacao - Chocolate Tree, Cacao Tree

❤️💰 Fruit of Money and Love

Theobroma cacao, commonly known as the Chocolate Tree or Cacao Tree, is very exciting plant and a superfood as we mentioned earlier.
  • 💥 Theobroma means "food of the gods" in Greek. "Theo" means god, and "broma" means food.
  • 💥 The Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs were among the first to cultivate cacao, using it to make a bitter beverage called xocoatl. It was often spiced with chili peppers and used in various rituals and ceremonies.
  • 💥 Currency: in ancient Mesoamerican cultures, cacao beans were so valuable that they were used as a form of currency. For example, 100 beans could buy a slave or a turkey.
  • 💥 The Aztecs believed that cacao had stimulating properties and used it as an aphrodisiac. Emperor Montezuma was said to consume a large amount of cacao before visiting his harem. We can't deny that chocolate's mood-enhancing properties, combined with cultural and psychological factors, contribute to its romantic allure! ❤️
  • 💥 A cacao pod contains 20 to 50 beans, each surrounded by a sweet, mucilaginous pulp. The pods grow directly on the trunk and larger branches of the tree, a feature known as cauliflory.
  • 💥 After harvesting, cacao beans are fermented for several days, a critical step that develops the flavor precursors needed for chocolate production.
  • 💥 The Cacao tree thrives in the humid, tropical regions around the equator. It can be grown as an exciting house plant.
  • 💥 Health benefits: cacao beans are rich in antioxidants, magnesium, iron, and other minerals. They also contain flavonoids, associated with heart health benefits.
  • 💥 There are three main varieties of cacao beans: Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario. Criollo is considered the highest quality but is less common due to its susceptibility to disease. Forastero is the most widely grown, known for its hardiness. Trinitario is a hybrid of the two.
  • 💥 It takes about 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate. The beans undergo roasting, grinding, and mixing with sugar and other ingredients to produce the final chocolate product.


📚Learn more: Plants of Love - Aphrodisiacs of the plant world

🛒 Grow your own Chocolate Tree

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

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Shocking content: flowers with lady's parts used for making tea. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Shocking content: flowers with ladys parts used for making tea

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Blue

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Blue

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Lavender

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Lavender

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea White double flower

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea White double flower

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Blue

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Blue

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Blue Double flower

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Blue Double flower

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea White

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea White

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Blue Tea

Clitoria ternatea - Butterfly Pea Blue Tea

Shocking content: flowers with lady's parts used for making tea...

Now that you've met the Sausage Tree, it's time to introduce you to Clitoria...
  • 💙 Clitoria ternatea - also called Butterfly Pea, has distinctive, delicate blooms resembling certain anatomical features... These curious flowers have the shape of clitoris - hence the name of the plant.
  • 💙 Nature's Wink: the Clitoria vine boasts these beautiful sexy flowers in vibrant shades of blue, white, or purple. They’re an absolute showstopper!
  • 💙 Herbal Benefits: beyond its looks, the clitoria flower is known for its traditional uses as a herbal tea, including stress relief and cognitive support. The flowers also used in salads. The plant is both pretty and practical!
  • 💙 Blue Tea is a caffeine-free herbal tea, or Tisane - a beverage made from a decoction or infusion of the Clitoria flower. This stunning blue tea changes color with a squeeze of lemon 🍋 - science and beauty in your cup!⛾
  • 💙 In Thailand and Vietnam the Blue Tea is mixed with honey and lemon for a drink served after dinner, or as a refreshment at hotels and spas; a preparation called Nam Dok Anchan in Thai.
  • 💙 Pollinator's Paradise: Bees, butterflies, and other pollinators can't resist Clitoria's allure 🐝
  • 💙 Easy to grow: Clitoria vine is a gardener’s dream. It is very delicate, fine vine that is both fast growing and easy to control. It can cover a small fence, trellis in a few months. It is also great for containers - this vine will grow just the way you want it.


📚 Learn more about Clitoria and its Tea Infusion

🛒 Get your own Clitoria Vine for fun and Blue Tea

#Nature_Wonders #Recipes #Fun_Facts
#Remedies #Butterfly_Plants #Food_Forest

🏵 TopTropicals

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Can you eat bird-looking flowers? You can eat the whole tree! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Can you eat bird-looking flowers? You can eat the whole tree!

Sesbania grandiflora - Hummingbird Tree

Sesbania grandiflora - Hummingbird Tree Red flower

Sesbania grandiflora - Hummingbird Tree Red flower

Sesbania grandiflora - Hummingbird Tree White flower

Sesbania grandiflora - Hummingbird Tree White flower

Can you eat bird-looking flowers? You can eat the whole tree!
  • 🐧 Sesbania grandiflora - Hummingbird Tree - is named for its flowers resembling little birds.
  • 🐧 It produces a mass of large, 3-4", curved flowers from November to June. Flowers can be coral red or white.
  • 🐧 The fun part is - the flowers are edible! As well as the rest of the plant: tender leaves, green fruit (bean pods), and flowers, used in curries, salads, or fried in batter.
  • 🐧 Medicinal uses: bark, leaves, gums, and flowers have medicinal properties.
  • 🐧 Lower branches form a beautiful floral canopy. It is a fast growing, but a small tree that will fit any yard. Great everblooming tree for container culture.


🛒 Get an edible Hummingbird Tree

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Butterfly_Plants #Container_Garden #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

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What was discovered in the Pyramids: Pigeon Pea - an Ancient Superfood. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What was discovered in the Pyramids: Pigeon Pea - an Ancient Superfood

Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea and Egyptian pyramids

Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea and Egyptian pyramids

Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea

Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea

Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea

Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea

Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea

Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea

What was discovered in the Pyramids: Pigeon Pea - an Ancient Superfood...
  • Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea - existed for more than 4800 year! It's been widely consumed in South Asia, South East Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Documented in India since 2,800 BC; reached Ancient Egypt around 2,200 BC.
  • Provides flavorful, nutritious, and healthy food, with potential to become widely popular like Japanese sushi 🍱
  • It is a showy perennial woody shrub or small tree, 4-8 ft tall, with soft leaves. Can be grown in container
  • Pretty flowers are yellow, with purple or red streaks, pods containing oval to round seeds.
  • Many culinary uses: the tasty and healthy beans used in rice dishes, soups, stews, tempeh, tofu. Unripe pods eaten in curries, leaves and young shoots cooked as a vegetable.
  • Rich source of fiber, protein, vitamins (B, C, E, K), and minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, zinc).
  • Medicinal value: various folk medicinal uses for sores, bladderstones, jaundice, skin irritations, bronchitis, coughs, pneumonia, toothache, dysentery, and more.
  • Everyone can grow it! The plant is super easy, tolerates poor soils, drought tolerant, improves soil quality like many other beans.


📚 Learn more about Pigeon Pea

🛒Grow your own Pigeon Pea Superfood

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Container_Garden #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals

Date:

What is this spiny Hedgehog fruit and how does it taste? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

What is this spiny Hedgehog fruit and how does it taste?

Annona montana - Mountain Soursop, Hedgehog Annona

Annona montana - Mountain Soursop, Hedgehog Annona

Annona montana - Mountain Soursop, Hedgehog Annona

Annona montana - Mountain Soursop, Hedgehog Annona

Annona montana - Mountain Soursop, Hedgehog Annona

What is this spiny Hedgehog fruit and how does it taste?

👀 This is one of the coolest looking tropical fruit!

Annona montana - Mountain Soursop or Hedgehog Annona. It is also called Wild Custard Apple, Guanabana de Monte, or Wild Soursop.
  • 📍 This fruit is prized for its deliciously sweet and tangy fruit, reminiscent of a blend between pineapple and strawberry. It tastes similar to regular Soursop (or Guanabana), with slightly milder flavor. The pulp is highly scented.
  • 📍 The fruit, up to a pound, has the most unusual looks! Just look at these curious Hedgehog spines!
  • 📍 The tree is medium sized, with beautiful, large, leathery dark green leaves that emit a strong aroma when crushed.
  • 📍 Mountain Soursop is much more cold hardy than the Soursop, established trees can take some frost, down to 24F when full grown.
  • 📍 Trees produce within just 2-3 years from seed, like many Annonas, and can happily grow and produce in a large container.


👨�‍👧 We guarantee that everyone who sees this fruit in your garden will ask for seeds even before they taste the fruit! And you will have lots of seeds to share because Mountain Soursop is very reliable producer with many seeds in each fruit.

🛒 Order Hedgehog Annona

📚 Learn more about Hedgehog Annona

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts #Nature_Wonders

🏵 @TopTropicals

Date:

Why exotic Mamey fruit is so much wanted? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Why exotic Mamey fruit is so much wanted?

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote

Pouteria sapota, Mamey Sapote

🍊 Why exotic Mamey fruit is so much wanted?

Pouteria sapota, or Mamey Sapote - is Cuban favorite. It is considered by Cubans to produce the best fruit in the world.

🍹 The fruit has delicious bright orange soft flesh, sweet and pumpkin-like in flavor. The Mamey fruit is eaten fresh, in milk shakes and ice cream.

👀 Mamey has a curious growth habit: flowers emerge in clusters in the axils of fallen leaves along the branches, followed by the showy fruit. This is called cauliflorous - plants that flower and fruit from their main stems or woody trunks. Other examples are Cucumber tree and Jaboticaba.

🌳 Mamey is a slow growing, compact tree, but needs some space to spread the branches. It normally grows 20 ft in height and 20 ft wide.

🛒 Order Mamey Tree

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts #Nature_Wonders

🏵 TopTropicals

Date:

Fun Facts: Cacao beans. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Fun Facts: Cacao beans

Cacao Chocolate Tree (Theobroma cacao)

Cacao Chocolate Tree (Theobroma cacao)

Cacao Chocolate Tree (Theobroma cacao)

Cacao Chocolate Tree (Theobroma cacao)

Cacao Chocolate Tree (Theobroma cacao)

Cacao Chocolate Tree (Theobroma cacao)

Cacao Chocolate Tree (Theobroma cacao)

Cacao Chocolate Tree (Theobroma cacao)

📖 Fun Facts: Cacao beans (Theobroma cacao) were used to make chocolate, and the ancient Maya and Aztec civilizations valued cacao beans as currency 💰 Can we use chocolate as money?
  • 🍫 Chocolate tree has large dark green leaves that shade the fruit pods which grow directly from the trunk and branches.
  • 🍫 The flesh of the fruit is eaten as a dessert, and the seeds are the raw material of chocolate. Hot chocolate can be made by drying the seeds, roasting, grinding, and adding milk.
  • 🍫 This exotic rare tree makes a gem of a houseplant collection.


🛒Get your own Chocolate Tree

#Fun_Facts #Food_Forest

JOIN 👉 @TopTropicals

Date:

Why this Akee taste of deliciousness always follows me? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Why this Akee taste of deliciousness always follows me?

Akee fruit, Ackee

Why this Akee taste of deliciousness always follows me? Definitely the favorite fruit (it's actually a vegetable).

Can't wait for the next crop this year 😼

📖 Fun Fact: Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica and is a key ingredient in the traditional Jamaican dish, ackee and saltfish. However, it must be properly ripened and cooked due to its toxic properties when unripe.

‼️ Check out our previous post about Akee.

📚 More about Akee

🎥 YouTube Recipe: How to cook perfect Akee?

🛒 Grow your own Akee tree

#Food_Forest #Nature_Wonders #Recipes #Fun_Facts

🏵 TopTropicals
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