Garden Blog - Top Tropicals
Date:
PeopleCats Botanical Garden Grand Opening
Guided tour with Mark Hooten
Top Tropicals Garden Center is pleased to invite you to visit our new PeopleCats Botanical Garden on the grounds of Top Tropicals in Ft
Myers. It is named in honor of the relationship with our beloved Cats, who we treat like People. You'll see our Garden PeopleCats roaming the property. As a matter of fact, they rule
the garden!
The Garden has many mature trees and plants so you can see what they look like before your purchase them in our Garden Center. And of course, our
PeopleCats will be guiding you in the Gardens!
Photo above: blue light in the forest - TopTropicals Garden Ghost, the spirit is always watching!
What does a dragon taste like? Does Dragon Fruit come from a monster cactus? Learn why you need to grow your own
🔴 You may have tried a Dragon fruit from the store l, but do you know how it grows? On a cactus tree!
🔴 Names: varieties of Hylocereus and Selenicereus - these fruit bearing cactus plants are also called Dragon Fruit or Pitaya.
🔴 Commercially grown fruit sold in a grocery store may be tasteless. You need to grow your own good variety to have tasty, sweet, flavorful fruit!
🔴 Dragon fruit comes in many varieties. Colors of flesh differ: white, pink, dark red and even purple. The outside of the fruit can be red/pink or yellow.
🔴 In commercial groves, Pitayas grow like cactus trees, over a strong support - big "umbrella frames" ☂️
🔴 It is an easy plant, with low water needs, takes both sun and semi-shade.
🔴 Our favorite variety is Yellow Dragon Fruit Palora, (Selenicereus megalanthus). It is the sweetest and has the most flavor of all. We shared some recipes earlier.
🔴 Can be grown in container with a wooden trellis. And the flower is beautiful, too!
📚 Learn more about Dragon Fruit
🍹 Recipe: What to do with a Dragon fruit?
🛒Grow your own Tasty Dragon Fruits
#Food_Forest #Recipes #Nature_Wonders #Dragon_Fruit
🏵 TopTropicals
Top 10 fruit youll ever need for your health benefits:
Dragon fruit
#6 Dragon fruit 🐲🌵
- 🟡Dragon fruit is often used in smoothies, fruit salads, and refreshing drinks.
- 🟡It is high in fiber, aiding digestion and promoting gut health.
- 🟡Low in calories and packed with nutrients, it's great for weight management.
📚 More about Dragon fruit from previous posts:
- 💋Do red, white and yellow Dragon fruit taste differently?
- 💋What does a dragon taste like and why you need to grow your own.
- 💋What to do with a Dragon Fruit and how to make Dragon Fruit Smoothie
🛒 Plant a Dragon Fruit Cactus Vine
#Food_Forest #Remedies #Dragon_Fruit
🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
What does Dragon Fruit Flower look like?
Dragon fruit flowers
- Dragon fruit flowers are large, bright, and truly eye-catching. They have long, pale petals that spread out like a star, with a creamy white or yellowish center.
- The flowers open at night, giving them a magical, moonlit vibe, and their size makes them look almost otherworldly.
- When they bloom, they can be up to a foot wide, and they give off a sweet, subtle fragrance. It's like seeing a flower from a fairy tale!
📚 More about Dragon Fruit from previous posts:
- 💋Do red, white and yellow Dragon fruit taste differently?
- 💋What does a dragon taste like?
- 💋How to make Dragon Fruit Smoothie
🛒 Plant a Dragon fruit
#Food_Forest #Hedges_with_benefits #Dragon_Fruit
🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
Do red, white and yellow Dragon fruit taste differently?
White Dragon Fruit
Red Dragon Fruit
Yellow Dragon Fruit
🐉 White Dragon Fruit is not as common as the red variety and has a slightly sweeter taste. The sweetest one, however, is the yellow variety.
#Fun_Facts #Food_Forest #Dragon_Fruit
🏵 TopTropicals
Date:
Cat of the month:
Persephone
The Queen of the Underworld
Well, well, well... it seems we have a new purrsonality around here! A few days ago, we discovered a mysterious little purrrson living under the TopTropicals office. Did a customer leave her behind? Or was she simply drawn to our PeopleCats paradise? Who can say! Either way, since she made her grand entrance from the underground, we decided to name her Persephone, after the Greek goddess and Queen of the Underworld.
Persephone has come a long way - she finally let us pet her, and now she's taken over the office desk! She even drools a little when she gets those precious head scratches. Persephone has officially joined our Nursery Team, adding her charm to Customer Service
Come and see our PeopleCats (including the Queen herself!) in purrrrson at our Garden Center in Ft Myers, Florida!
Date:
PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cats of the day: Biggy's Cat Hospital
Biggy checking on patient Abu when he couldn't walk
During these challenging times for the whole planet, we receive kind letters from our customers checking on how our PeopleCats are doing, especially those that previously were ill. And since we promised to follow up on everyone, including heart-breaking story of Raja and Abu, today's report is about everybody's progress!
As we mentioned in our previous newsletter, several cats in TopTropicals
Cat Sanctuary had a coronavirus (we call it COVID-Cat-20), or simply a cat respiratory infection. Chiefy, Snitch, Marco and Biggy had it really bad, but some other PeopleCats surprisingly didn't
get it! Just like with humans. Lucky King didn't have a single sneeze!
Finally, everybody has recovered by now, but it has been a very stressful
couple of weeks for us, considering limited vet availability at this stay-home
time. On top of that, Lil S had an abscess and was also contained in a home hospital, away
from flu-quarantined PeopleCats. Our homes become real cat hospitals!
We are thankful to our customers support, especially Silvia who made
several donations for our PeopleCats, and also recommended antiseptic pads - those worked great for Lil S!
Abu and Raja's adventures were not over... After 2 weeks of seeing a
vet treating their infections and injuries, they got worse... Then after a
couple of weeks in another hospital (and a couple thousand more in bills) we were
suggested to put them down as hopeless since they would never walk again...
But Kristi did not want to believe it, she did not give up! The kittens heard
her. They won. Today, they are all better, walking, jumping and playing!
Thank you Kristi!
Never give up hope!
Stay safe and healthy with your PeoplePets!
TopTropicals PeopleCat Club
Thank you everybody for supporting us in helping PeopleCat Community!
Make
your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us. Every little
bit helps! Thank you and God bless you and your pets!
Date:
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: ">Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals 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:
Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the day: Russian Blue - a true Angel
Many customers ask if they can adopt one of our PeopleCats. Sorry, the answers is no, because they are not only members
of our family, but also valuable employees who help us around the nursery:
to grow and ship plants, work on construction projects, and even take care of
property security. However, we can give some advise on what kind of cats make
the most purrrfect companions.
If you are searching for a pet with a heart of an Angel, who is gentle and
loving, the Russian Blue is the perfect purrson to add to your family. The
Russian Blue breed comes in beautiful shades of gray, varying from a light
shimmering silver to a darker, slate gray. Their short, dense coat has been the
hallmark of the Russian breed for more than a century. It is a naturally
occurring breed originated in the port of Arkhangelsk in Russia. They are also
sometimes called ArchAngel Blues. It is believed that sailors took Russian Blues
from the Archangel Isles to Great Britain and Northern Europe in the
1860s.
Throughout the history of Top Tropicals, we've had many Russian Blues,
including famous Wesley, Marco, and King that are loved by everyone.
In the photo: TopTropicals editor Alex with Gosha - manager of the Puppet Kingdom, Museum of Dolls in Preili, Latvia
In the photo: King is checking security of the new window
TopTropicals PeopleCat Club and Zoo
Thank you for supporting us in helping PeopleCat Community!
Make
your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us! Every little
bit helps. Thank you and God bless you and your pets!
Date:
PeopleCats saving us from COVID-19!
Cat owners have higher immunity for COVID-19?
In our previous newsletter, we were talking about cats fighting the coronavirus and how to help them to recover.
The research made by Sabina Olex-Condor, a Polish doctor who works in a
clinic in Madrid, showed that due to cross-immunity (cats are a known reservoir
of coronaviruses) cat owners have milder sympthoms of COVID-19! Perhaps this
is due to the fact that in a cross-reaction antibodies are produced to the
virus, and owners of cats are more protected from COVID19... Read more)
Now that quarantine has been introduced almost universally because of
coronavirus, dog owners are also in a better position - they can officially go
outside for a short while. But the benefit of dogs (and other pets) is not only
that. Scientists from the Italian city of Catanzaro found in the course of
the study, that those who have a four-legged pet, have very mild symptoms of
the COVID-19. A similar effect was observed in those in contact with cattle...
To find an explanation for this phenomenon, the researchers compared viruses.
It turned out that the disease of bulls, cows and other cattle is similar to
Chinese coronavirus by 38.4%, and the virus of dogs by 36.9%. This means
that owners of animals already have some kind of immunity. So the owners of cats
and dogs, as a rule, tolerate coronavirus easier or completely asymptomatic.
Read more...
Stay safe and healthy with your PetPeople!
TopTropicals PeopleCat Club
Thank you everybody for supporting us in helping PeopleCat Community!
Make
your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us. Every little
bit helps! Thank you and God bless you and your pets!
