Garden Blog - Top Tropicals
Date:
Go Bananas!
10 good reasons to plant bananas in your garden
Adding banana plants to your subtropical garden or plant collection can enhance the aesthetics of your outdoor and indoor space, provide fresh and nutritious fruits, and offer a fun gardening experience with relatively low maintenance requirements. It's a delightful way to connect with nature and enjoy the benefits of homegrown produce.
1. Tropical Ambiance: Banana plants bring a touch of the tropics to your subtropical garden. Their large, lush leaves create a lush and exotic atmosphere that can transform your garden into a tropical paradise.
2. Homegrown Flavor: Growing your own banana trees allows you to enjoy the freshest, most flavorful bananas right from your garden. Homegrown bananas often have a superior taste compared to store-bought varieties.
3. Nutritional Benefits: Bananas are packed with essential vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. By cultivating your own banana trees, you gain access to a nutritious and healthy snack option right in your backyard.
4. Quick Results: Banana plants are known for their fast growth. In subtropical climates, they can produce fruit in as little as one to two years. This means you don't have to wait long to savor the fruits of your labor!
5. Low Maintenance: Banana trees are relatively low-maintenance once established. They require regular watering, but their hardy nature makes them a relatively easy addition to your garden. They are not messy in a landscape.
6. Versatility: Bananas offer versatility in your garden. You can choose from dessert bananas for snacking, cooking bananas like plantains for culinary experiments, or even ornamental banana varieties to enhance your garden's aesthetics. There are so many varieties to enjoy! You can't find this big selection in a grocery store.
7. Sustainable Living: Growing your own bananas reduces your reliance on store-bought produce, contributing to a more sustainable lifestyle. It also minimizes the carbon footprint associated with transporting fruits to market.
8. Educational Value: Cultivating banana plants can be an educational experience for both adults and children. It offers insights into tropical horticulture and can foster an appreciation for gardening and botany.
9. Landscaping Appeal: Beyond their fruit-bearing potential, banana plants add visual interest to your garden. Their unique form and striking leaves make them an excellent choice for landscaping and providing shade in your outdoor space.
10. Resilience: While bananas thrive in tropical conditions, many banana varieties are hardy enough to withstand cooler climates, making them a durable addition to your garden.
Date:
New Exotic Adeniums
Saving on your favorite plants is Easy.
Easy like Sunday Morning...
It's time for our favorite day and another Easy stroll through Top Tropicals Garden with savings of
up to 50% and MORE!
The Flower of Prosperity and Good Fortune...
The Adenium obesum, Desert Rose, is a highly prized ornamental plant, perceived in some cultures as a sacred symbol of prosperity, abundance and good fortune. Since the Desert Rose is strong and adaptable to climatic conditions, it represents strength, persistence and resilience. We could all use a little more of these qualities in our lives...
Adeniums (Desert Roses) are the easiest plants in cultivation yet they bring you so much joy with their colorful flowers and showy caudex. There are hundreds, if not thousands of amazing colors and new hybrids are created every year. Many gardeners want to collect them all! And we can help you to grow your collection. We have many new varieties in stock and are offering two special Collection Deals!
Special Deals for Desert Rose Collectors
The plants are well developed, with large caudex, grown
in 1 gal pots, normally $42.95 each,
with Collection savings of $30 and $65!
3 Adeniums Collection
Regularly $128.95,
Collection price $98.95 - savings of $30 per set!
Varieties included in this collection:
RED Adenium Red Wine
WHITE Adenium Jasmine
BLACK Adenium Black Widow
5 Adeniums Collection
Regularly $214.95,
Collection price $149.95 - savings of $65 per set!
Varieties included in this collection:
PURPLE Adenium Mee Stang
LIGHT YELLOW Adenium Yellow Gold (Vanilla Gold)
STRIPED PINK Adenium Bua Champoo
ORANGE Adenium Yellow Gift (Sai Thong)
RED-BLACK Adenium Red Dragon
Now wait... Save even more with Easy Sunday:
Combine both collections and save ANOTHER $15! Use this limited time offer coupon:
ADENIUM15
Remember, this Easy Sunday Deal expires on Tuesday 3-1-22!
Date:
Go Bananas - up to 20% OFF Banana Trees!
Now through 4/15 - Limited Time Only!
Banana Health Benefits
Bananas are a powerhouse of nutrition - rich in potassium for heart health, and packed with vitamins B6 and C to boost energy and immunity. They come from fast-growing, easy-care trees that thrive in warm climates or containers. Whether eaten fresh, blended, or baked, bananas are a naturally sweet and tasty treat you can grow yourself!
Ready to turn your garden into a tropical paradise and grow your own delicious bananas? Now's your chance - use our offer below!
A Banana for Every Space and Taste
At Top Tropicals, we've got over a dozen top banana varieties - from exotic ornamental beauties like Blood Leaf and Siam Ruby to edible showstoppers. Edible varieties range from popular, heavy-producing types like Double Mahoi to rare collector favorites like Ice Cream (Blue Java) - the kind you'll never find at the grocery store. We also carry dwarf varieties that grow just 4 feet tall but still produce full-sized fruit - perfect for containers, patios, and small spaces. Collect them all - edible, ornamental, dwarf, rare - and enjoy the fun, flavor, and beauty of growing your own banana grove.
From Collectors to Beginners - We've Got Your Banana
"Growing bananas is like growing sunshine. They bring energy, beauty, and fruit to your doorstep." - said Dr. Richard Campbell, tropical fruit expert and co-creator of the condo mango concept.
Growing bananas is easy, low-maintenance, and budget-friendly. With Sunshine Boosters plant food, these tropical favorites grow fast and can start producing as soon as next season! Whether you live in the South or up North, in a house or an apartment - you can grow your own bananas in the garden, on a balcony, patio, or lanai and enjoy the taste of the tropics at home.
Special Offer
Get instant 10% off all bananas for 1 week only, plus extra 10% OFF sitewide with code below for qualified orders.
Additional 10% off your entire purchase (including any other plants), saving total of 20% on your Banana trees:
GOBANANAS
Min order $150, excluding S/H. Exp. 4-15-25
Hurry, offer ends April 15th!
Learn More About Banana Varieties:
- Top Ornamental Banana Varieties - Which One Belongs in Your Garden?
- Best Edible Bananas to Grow - Sweet, Unique, and Delicious!
- How Many Banana
Varieties Can You Grow? (More Than You Think!)
In the photo above: Sunshine Boosters are the best fertilizers for ornamental (Sunshine Robusta) and edible bananas (Sunshine C-Cibus).
How many varieties of Bananas can I grow?
Bananas (Musa sp.) in containers
- 💛 At Top Tropicals, we have a few dozen varieties of Bananas (Musa sp.) - ranging from popular commercial and plantain types to spectacular ornamental bananas with colorful, tropical foliage.
- 💛 Banana plants are a favorite in Southern gardens, indoor plant collections, and greenhouses in cooler climates. Fast and easy to grow, they transform any space into a tropical paradise in just one season and can produce fruit for you in as little as 8–18 months after planting.
- 💛 Bananas are a powerhouse of nutrition, packed with potassium for heart health, fiber for digestion, and vitamins B6 and C for immunity. They’re a natural energy booster, great for snacks, smoothies, and even baking. Plus, their tryptophan content can improve your mood, and their low sodium helps regulate blood pressure.
- 💛 With so many delicious and unique varieties, growing different types of bananas lets you enjoy a range of flavors, textures, and uses - whether fresh, blended, or cooked - making them a must-have in any tropical or indoor garden!
Discover the most popular edible and ornamental bananas in our next post 🔽
🎥 Banana selection today at TopTropicals farm. Come over to pick the best one!
📚 More about Banana from previous posts:
- 💋Top 10 fruit you'll ever need for your health benefits: #5 Banana growing and fun facts
- 💋How to make tasty Carambola Banana Whip
- 💋Why Bananas? They are good for you and are fun to grow
- 💋Bananas help you feel fuller and enhance your mood
🛍 Shop Banana varieties
#Food_Forest #Bananas
🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
What are the best varieties of edible Banana and which one should I plant?
Truly Tiny Banana
Cuban Red Dacca Banana
Double Mahoi Banana
Dwarf Cavendish Banana
Gran Nain Banana
Banana Lakatan
Continued for the previous post🔼
🔥 The most popular edible banana varieties:
- 🍌 Truly Tiny - is a compact banana variety growing 2-3 feet in pots and up to 5 feet in the ground, perfect for small spaces or container gardening, producing 4-5 inch fruit with a distinctive pineapple flavor.
- 🍌 Cuban Red Dacca - a vibrant tropical banana variety with reddish-purple, plump, and short bananas that are sweeter and richer in flavor than common yellow bananas, thriving in warm climates and reaching 8-15 feet tall.
- 🍌 Double Mahoi - is a Cavendish banana variety that typically produces a double stalk of bananas in its second year, boosting the harvest.
- 🍌 Dwarf Cavendish - a hardy, vigorous banana variety growing under 5-8 feet, producing large, flavorful fruit with minimal care, making it a popular backyard banana in Florida and one of the most common Cavendish types for hobbyists and container gardens.
- 🍌 Gran Nain - is the true Chiquita banana, growing under 5-8 feet tall and producing large bunches of fruit, making it a staple of commercial banana production.
- 🍌 Ice Cream (Blue Java) - a cold-tolerant hybrid of Musa balbisiana and Musa acuminata, vigorous banana growing 10-15 feet tall and producing 40-60 lb bunches of stout, bluish-skinned fruit with sweet, vanilla-flavored, cream-like flesh that can be eaten raw or cooked.
- 🍌 Banana Lakatan - a popular Philippine banana cultivar prized for its sweet taste, rich aroma, and firm texture, making it a top choice for dessert bananas.
🆒 Banana #Fun_Facts
- 🟡Bananas are rich in potassium, which helps regulate blood pressure and supports heart health.
- 🟡They provide a quick source of energy and are great for post-workout recovery.
- 🟡The fiber in bananas aids digestion and promotes gut health.
- 🟡Eat them fresh, add to smoothies, bake into breads and desserts, or use in various savory dishes.
- 🟡Rubbing the inside of a banana peel on mosquito bites can reduce itching and swelling.
Learn about ornamental Bananas in next post 🔽
🛍 Shop Banana varieties
#Food_Forest #Bananas
🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
Why Bananas? They are good for you and are fun to grow!
Red Banana
Praying Hands Banana
Banana fruit
Rojo Banana
Variegated Banana
- 💛 Bananas are berries, not fruits!
- 💛 They float in water like apples and watermelons.
- 💛 Bananas are high in potassium, which helps muscles work properly.
- 💛 They can improve your mood because they contain tryptophan, which your body turns into serotonin.
- 💛 Bananas are great for your heart because they have lots of fiber and potassium.
- 💛 Eating bananas can help with digestion since they are rich in fiber.
- 💛 They are a natural energy booster, perfect for a quick snack.
- 💛 Bananas can help keep your blood pressure in check due to their low sodium and high potassium content.
- 💛 They contain vitamins like B6 and C, which are good for your immune system.
- 💛 Rubbing the inside of a banana peel on mosquito bites can reduce itching and swelling.
❔ What is your favorite Banana or Plantain variety?
Share in comments👇
🛒 Shop Banana varieties
#Food_Forest #Bananas
🏵 TopTropicals
The First Video of Exotic Adenium Hybrids!
Exotic Adenium Hybrids
- 🌸
· Easy to grow indoors or out
- · Thrive in sun, shade, and low humidity
- · Drought-tolerant, low maintenance
- · Not picky about soil
- · Stunning blooms and unique caudex shapes
- 🌸 How Many Varieties Exist?
· Over 200 hybrids at Top Tropicals
- · 100+ varieties in stock now
- · From doubles to red, purple, yellow, striped, dotted, rainbow, even black flowers - you'll want them all!
🌸 How to Grow a Big, Swollen Caudex
Each time you repot, raise the plant slightly to expose more of the upper roots. This encourages new root growth downward and helps form a thicker, more dramatic caudex.
- · Use a well-draining mix
- · Water only when dry - Adeniums love dry conditions
- · Feed with Sunshine Megaflor Booster that supports both caudex and blooms
- · Grow best in filtered bright light
👍 A simple trick with big results!
📚 More about Adeniums:
- • Why Adeniums are the most popular container plants
- • How to grow a happy Adenium
- • What is the easiest container plant with beautiful flowers
- • Multi-grafted Adenium with different colors of flowers on the same plant
- • What you need for successful growing Adeniums
🛒 Shop Adenium colors and hybrids
#Container_Garden #How_to #Shade_Garden #Adenium
🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
Top 10 fruit youll ever need for your health benefits:
Bananas
#5 Banana 🍌
- 🟡Bananas are rich in potassium, which helps regulate blood pressure and supports heart health.
- 🟡They provide a quick source of energy and are great for post-workout recovery.
- 🟡The fiber in bananas aids digestion and promotes gut health.
- 🟡East them fresh, add to smoothies, bake into breads and desserts, or use in various savory dishes.
📚 More about Banana from previous posts:
- 💋How to make tasty Carambola Banana Whip
- 💋Why Bananas? They are good for you and are fun to grow!
- 💋Bananas help you feel fuller and enhance your mood
🛒 Plant a Banana Tree
#Food_Forest #Remedies #Bananas
🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals
Date:
NEW
VIDEO:
How to get variegated vanilla bananas.
Discovering natural banana with seeds
with Fermin Garcia
We got a variegated banana from Thailand, planted it at our farm and started fertilizing with our famous Sunshine Rubusta (featured in our earlier blog: Sunshine Boosters Winter Use - The magic fertilizer in action.
In just a few months, it grew into a massive banana tree - one of the largest we've ever seen! Soon, a flower spike appeared, followed by variegated bananas. As they ripened, they turned yellow and developed a sweet vanilla flavor, with seeds! These are natural bananas, not modified. In today's video, we're showing how we harvested the fruit, tasted it, and discovered the seeds...
We've named this banana Fermin's Vanilla Delight Banana (Musa x paradisiaca). Fermin planted the seeds and we hope to have these plants soon. Add item 6379 to your wishlist and be the first to know when they're ready!
Use Sunshine Robusta magic fertilizer to have your bananas (and everything else) grow like crazy! It is safe to use all Sunshine Boosters year around with every watering.
Check out different banana varieties we have at TopTropicals - delivered to your door!
Subscribe to our Channel:
Subscribe to Top Tropicals YouTube Channel and get our latest video news of what is fruiting and blooming!
Date:
Growing Adeniums: A Beginners Guide
Q: How to you keep Adenium happy and blooming like on the pictures?
A: Adeniums, also known as Desert Roses, are exotic and striking plants that can bring beauty to any indoor or outdoor garden. Despite their desert origins, they require a bit of care to thrive. Here's a simple guide to help you grow healthy and vibrant adeniums:
Light and Location: Adeniums prefer filtered light, although they can tolerate full sun. In hot climates, they thrive in bright, indirect light. Position your plant accordingly to ensure optimal growth.
Potting and Soil: Use a small pot with excellent drainage to prevent waterlogging. Opt for a well-draining soil mix specifically designed for adeniums or create your own mix using cactus mix with added limestone for slightly alkaline conditions.
Watering: Water sparingly, allowing the soil to dry out between waterings. Avoid overwatering, which can lead to caudex rot. Water in the early morning and ensure the plant drinks up throughout the day.
Fertilization: Use a liquid fertilizer with high phosphate content to encourage both caudex growth and flowering. Apply according to label instructions, avoiding direct contact with the caudex. We recommend Sunshine Megaflor.
Caring for the Caudex: To promote a large swollen caudex, gradually raise the plant each time you repot it, exposing the upper roots. This encourages the formation of additional roots.
Maintenance and Blooming: Adeniums typically bloom from spring through fall. Ensure they receive ample light for heavy flowering. Avoid wetting the leaves and apply fertilizer to support overall plant health.
By following these simple steps, you can enjoy the beauty of adeniums in your own garden or home. With proper care and attention, your Desert Roses will flourish and delight you with their stunning blooms.
