Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

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A flavor bomb of sugar and citrus, syrupy when ripe - Mango Sweet Tart. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

A flavor bomb of sugar and citrus, syrupy when ripe - Mango Sweet Tart

Mango Sweet Tart - tree with fruit on it

🌈 A flavor bomb of sugar and citrus, syrupy when ripe - Mango Sweet Tart

Sweet Tart is a Florida-grown mango prized for its rich, sweet-tart flavor and silky, fiberless flesh. Created by breeder Gary Zill, it's known for its dense orange pulp, excellent sugar-acid balance, and juicy texture. The fruit is oval, heavy for its size, and sometimes develops harmless speckles on the skin. Great fresh, underripe or ripe. Tangy when underripe, syrupy when ripe and perfect for containers thanks to its upright growth and high productivity. A standout variety that lives up to its name!

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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Wise Mango - a smart choice for flavor lovers: sweet, juicy, and Florida-tough. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Wise Mango - a smart choice for flavor lovers: sweet, juicy, and Florida-tough

Mango Wise tree with fruit on it

🌈 Wise Mango - a smart choice for flavor lovers: sweet, juicy, and Florida-tough.

Mango Wise is a forgotten gem from the golden age of mango breeding in South Florida. Originating in Miami during the post-1930s boom of cultivar development, it was once part of a wave of exciting new introductions. Over time, many of these excellent varieties faded from commercial propagation, despite having outstanding eating qualities. Wise stands out with its nearly round fruit, minimal to no fiber, and rich, juicy sweetness. It's a smart, flavorful choice that deserves a comeback in Florida gardens.

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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PeopleCats Botanical Garden Grand Opening
Guided tour with Mark Hooten

PeopleCats Botanical Garden at TopTropicals

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!

Peoplecats - cat Marco at Top Tropicals gate

More info about PeopleCats Garden

PeopleCats Garden - Top Tropicals Ghost light in the forest the spirit is always watching!

Photo above: blue light in the forest - TopTropicals Garden Ghost, the spirit is always watching!

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Mango Rainbow tasting table: varieties you should try. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Mango Rainbow tasting table: varieties you should try

Kent Mango

🌈 Mango Rainbow tasting table: varieties you should try
  • Kent Mango variety is native to Florida. It is originated in Coconut Grove, in 1945 from a Haden seed.
  • Kent has an excellent flavor, large size, and very little fiber. Considered by many to be one of the best tasting Florida mangoes and one of the most beautiful, truly rainbow colored fruit!
  • Eat before fruit gets too ripe.
  • The most rewarding attribute is a bountiful late season crop.


❔ What Mango varieties do you have in your garden?
Share in comments 👇

📚 Previous Mango Rainbow Tasting Table: 1 • 2 • 3 • 

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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Mango Rainbow tasting table-2: what's the taste of that Mango variety? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Mango Rainbow tasting table-2: whats the taste of that Mango variety?

Mango Rainbow tasting table

🌈 Mango Rainbow tasting table-2: what's the taste of that Mango variety?

We've had another mango tasting table and asked participants to describe the taste in a few words. And this is what we got:
  • 🟠 Haden - mild, melting, classic heavenly mango flavor,dark yellow flesh, almost fiberless.
  • 🟠 Ugly Betty - opposite to the name, the taste is excellent , juicy, melting, sweet.
  • 🟠 Cotton Candy - true candy, fiberless, sweet, melting.
  • 🟠 Madame Fransis - dark orange pulp, slightly fibrous, robust, meaty like a steak, good with cognac. A little pulpy but unique flavor.
  • 🟠 Diamond - bright yellow, fiberless, sugary, juicy, no pulp at all, classic mango taste, good with ice cream, "wow" taste!
  • 🟠 Pickering - zesty, waterfall: all the flavors come at once, eat with White wine and/or a cake. Oval fruit somewhat flat, very large for a dwarf tree!
  • 🟠 Baptiste - hint of citrus, melts in your mouth, dark orange flesh, crisp, eat with Red wine and cheese.
  • 🟠 Florigon - creamy, buttery, spicy. Eat with Ice cream!
  • 🟠 Tommy Atkins - has a bit zing to it, perfect consistency, perfect taste. Super colorful, crimson red to purple skin!
  • 🟠 Nam Doc Mai - gold standard! Perfect every day.
  • 🟠 Carry - tastes even better than all others, smooth buttery, lite!


❔ What Mango varieties have you tried this year?
Share in comments 👇

📝 Previous post: Mango Rainbow Tasting Table

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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Date:

Mango Rainbow tasting table: what's the taste of that Mango variety? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Mango Rainbow tasting table: whats the taste of that Mango variety?

Mango Rainbow tasting table

🌈 Mango Rainbow tasting table: what's the taste of that Mango variety?

We just had a mango tasting table of a few early and mid-season varieties and here is our impression:
  • 🟠 Tommy Atkins (purple) - the earliest variety, sweet a juicy, but a bit fibrous. The fruit is super colorful! The tree is an excellent producer, vigorous and problem-free.
  • 🟠 Haden (red) - a full sweet flavor, less fibrous than Tommy. Very colorful, large fruit.
  • 🟠 Florigon (yellow-green, round) - completely fibreless, sweet and flavor is somewhat mild pineapple-like.
  • 🟠 Baptiste (bright yellow) - very sweet, firm flesh, good flavor.
  • 🟠 Val Carrie (green elongated) - reminds large Asian mangoes, with firm flesh, very sweet, fibreless and juicy. It is a cross between Valencia Pride (large fruit) and Carrie (excellent flavor). It took the best from its parents. Very aromatic flesh has no fiber at all.
  • 🟠 Kent (large green-and-red) - excellent flavor, large size, and very little fiber. Eat before fruit gets too ripe.


❔ What Mango varieties have you tried this year?
Share in comments 👇

📝 See also earlier posts:

🛒 Shop Mango Trees

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

🏵 TopTropicals

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Why PeopleCats? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.

Why PeopleCats?

Why PeopleCats? Why PeopleCats? Why PeopleCats? Why PeopleCats?
⭕️ Why PeopleCats?

"One cat just leads to another..." - Ernest Hemingway

Most PlantPeople are also PetPeople, and many of them are CatPeople - people who have PeopleCats!

Here @TopTropicals, we find that combination both fun and incredibly productive in the garden! Currently, we have over 30 cats across our two locations - each one rescued, with many of them coming from uncertain beginnings, lucky to have found their sweet home with us.

At TopTropicals Garden Center, we're proud to be a cat-friendly plant facility. Our cats play an integral role in our daily routine, showering us with love and even making us better people. Our team takes great care of them, with cat care being part of their daily tasks.

And of course, our customers absolutely adore our PeopleCats, who guide them through the nursery and entertain them at our local plant events.

Come visit us in purr-son and make friends with our #PeopleCats!

📱 Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats

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Cat of the month: Persephone
The Queen of the Underworld

Cat Persephone

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!

See more PeopleCats in our Garden

Cat Persephone

Cat Persephone

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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!

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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!

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