...Who doesn't like tropical beauty? Everyone wants tropical plants. But not everyone lives in a warm climate. Is it possible to grow tropicals outside of Tropics?
Top Tropicals horticulturist Mark Hooten, who is well known to many
gardeners as the Garden Doc with his
Saturday Plant Clinic, is answering gardeners' questions about how to prepare and protect tropical plants during winter...
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: 28 Sep 2025
Guava: The Healthiest Fruit You Can Grow
Guava varieties: Pink flesh (upper left quarter), White flesh and Cas
(upper right quarter), Red Cattley Guava (bottom left quarter) and Golden
Cattley (bottom right quarter).
Let’s talk Guava. Few fruits check as many boxes: flavor,
productivity, health, and adaptability. We’ve grown guava trees at Top
Tropicals for years here in Florida, and it never fails to surprise people
with how
easy it is — and how quickly it rewards you.
🌿 Health Benefits
We know the first question: "Why guava in addition to all the other
fruit trees I could plant?" Because guava is one of the healthiest tropical
fruits you can eat and grow — and it produces faster than almost
anything
else.
Vitamin C powerhouse — guava has four times more vitamin C than
oranges. One fruit covers your daily needs and then some.
Potassium and fiber — good for balancing blood pressure and
keeping your heart strong.
Antioxidants like lycopene and vitamin C — these keep your skin
glowing and help protect your cells from damage.
Dietary fiber — aids digestion and helps keep blood sugar
steady.
Guava is a true "food as medicine" tree you can plant right in your
backyard or in pot.
♥️ Our Favorite Varieties are Available Now
We currently have a DOZEN excellent guava varieties in stock selected by
our plant expert Tatiana Anderson — something special for every
garden. Our top picks are:
Pink Guavas
Barbie Pink
– Yellow pear-shaped fruit with thick pink flesh, sweet and juicy.
Cold
hardy for a tropical fruit. The best seller.
Hong Kong
– Large, round, smooth pink fruit. Sweet flavor, very few seeds, and
very
productive.
Tikal
– Our top pick. Fast-growing, disease-resistant, and produces the
sweetest
pink guavas with very few seeds.
White Guavas
Indonesian White
– Aromatic, classic white-fleshed guava with an excellent
tropical flavor.
Kilo White
– Giant fruit up to 2 lbs (1 kilo) each! Few seeds, creamy white
flesh,
and fruits even in containers.
Brazilian Araca
Pera – Rare hybrid used for Guava Wine in Brazil. Tart,
concentrated juice makes excellent wine, sorbet, or jelly. Learn more...
Pineapple Guava,
Guavasteen – Feijoa sellowiana. Strongly perfumed fruit, best
enjoyed when the pulp is mixed with sugar – like forest strawberries.
Cold-hardy, tolerates freeze, and doubles as a great windbreak. Learn more...
Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Charlie, the Indoor Hunter
Carlie was a kitty drop off with LadyBug, Rickie, and Purry.
Charlie is Jamie's baby. She has an attitude of a teenager, one minute she
loves you and the next - wants nothing to do with you. Carlie stays with the
inside PeopleCats, she says it's too big in the outside world for her and she
gets scared. Carlie has a fun game (fun to her): she plays around 2:00 am in
the morning, she loves to drag random items down the hall (socks, toys,
shirts, even blankets) in her mouth MEOOOWWWING as loud as she can. She then sets
the items down on her human's bedroom rug and waits for her human to say
thank you. We're pretty sure her hunting instinct is off...
2019, from Top to Bottom: Moe, Charlie, Bagheera, and Snitch. 2016: Charlie
From left to right: Purry, LadyBug, Charlie, and Ricki - 2016
Date: 29 Nov 2020
Cold protection of tropical container plants
Q: I am long time customer of yours, I live in San Diego
California and while the summer and Fall temperatures are warm to mild, the winter
temperatures dip to a point where some tropicals die off. We are experimenting
with different variations of way to heat and insulate the pots we have the
tropicals planted in as a way to keep them alive during the colder winter
months. I was wondering if you knew of the ideal soil temperature for these
tropical in order to look their best year round. All of the heaters we have
installed have thermostats and temperature adjustments so we can now keep the soil
anywhere between a range of between 65-75 degrees. Any advise you can provide
would be greatly appreciated.
A: This is a very interesting concept you are working with.
Indeed, keeping pots/roots warm, may help a lot! We've been experimenting with
cold protection for a long time - for the above-ground plant parts. For sure
keeping roots protected (even with a thick layer of mulch) will benefit tropical
plants during winter. In case with container plants, this may help
dramatically.
The guideline is, tropical plants slow down or stop their metabolism at
65F. As long as you can keep soil above that temperature - this should work
great. Of course, the higher the better.
Optimum temperature for growing tropical plants in general - 70-85F.
Above 90F, metabolism stops too, unless it's a heat tolerant, desert
plant.
More information on winter cold protection of tropical plants and
zone pushing:
