Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 12 Dec 2025

PeopleCats Garden Tours

🎉 PeopleCats Garden Tours





🎄 It is almost here! December 13, 2025 - Holiday Plant Market, proudly hosted by the #PeopleCats of TopTropicals.
Our big end-of-season Plant Day. All year we grow the rare and unusual plants that will be featured at this event, and Saturday is the day they finally meet their new homes. The garden turns into a small holiday escape: fresh air, bright colors, music, snacks, and the PeopleCats greeting everyone like they have known you for years.

📱 Event discounts and specials valid at both locations:



🎁 Learn more about this Event, Holiday deals and extras

#PeopleCats

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 12 Dec 2025

Banana skillet fritters: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

Banana skillet fritters

Banana skillet fritters

Banana skillet fritters

Banana skillet fritters

Banana tree with fruit

Banana tree with fruit

🍴 Banana Skillet Fritters

Ingredients

  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • Oil for pan searing

Instructions

  1. Mash the ripe banana in a bowl until smooth.
  2. Stir in the flour to form a thick batter.
  3. Heat a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat.
  4. Drop small spoonfuls into the pan.
  5. Cook until golden and crisp outside, flipping once.

📚 Learn more:

Plant Facts

Musa sp.
Banana, Bananier Nain, Canbur, Curro, Plantain
USDA Zone: 9-11
Small tree 10-20 ftFull sunModerate waterEdible plantSubtropical plant. Mature plant cold hardy at least to 30s F for a short time
  • Banana cinnamon fritters
  • Secret Banana Daiquiri recipe: healthy never tasted so good
  • Grilled Banana Boats recipe
  • Banana plant (Musa) in Plant Encyclopedia
  • The best varieties of edible Banana to plant
  • Posts about #Bananas
    📱 Why every garden needs a banana tree

    #Food_Forest #Recipes #Bananas

    🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
  • Date: 12 Dec 2025

    🎄 Holiday Plant Market:
    Saturday, Dec 13, 2025, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM 🎉

    Smokey  the  tuxedo  cat  and  Sunshine  the  ginger  cat  sitting  at  a  table, 
 studying  a  Holiday  Plant  Market  flyer  with  a  notepad,  coffee  cup,  and 
 donut.

    Smokey: We invited people, so we need to be prepared for the crowd.
    Sunshine: I am prepared. I saw yummy donuts on the flyer.
    Smokey: Of course you did, genius. You are responsible for donuts and coffee.

    It is almost here. Our big end-of-season Plant Day. All year we grow the rare and unusual plants that will be featured at this event, and Saturday is the day they finally meet their new homes. The garden turns into a small holiday escape: fresh air, bright colors, music, snacks, and the PeopleCats greeting everyone like they have known you for years.

    Meet PeopleCats crew in charge

    TopTropicals  CatPeople:  cat  King
    King
    TopTropicals  CatPeople:  cat  King
    Sushi
    TopTropicals  CatPeople:  cat  Snitch
    Snitch
    TopTropicals  CatPeople:  cat  Paisley
    Paisley
    TopTropicals  CatPeople:  cat  Persephone
    Persephone
    TopTropicals  CatPeople:  cat  Loki
    Loki

    Why you should come

    It is December in Florida - warm breeze, sunshine, and perfect planting weather. While the rest of the country is scraping frost off windshields, you're choosing which banana tree to take home. Come enjoy a colorful Saturday surrounded by plants, music, snacks, and friendly PeopleCats. This is your holiday escape, your plant-hunting adventure, and your chance to bring home something amazing before the season ends.

    Not Local?

    Not everyone is lucky enough to live close by. For our online customers, here is 20% for online orders:

    EVENT2025

    Valid for online orders only. Minimum order $120 (excluding shipping and handling). Cannot be combined with any other discounts, coupon codes, automatic promotions, or special offers. Not valid on previous purchases. One use per customer. Code must be entered at checkout. Offer valid through the end of Sunday, 12/14/2025

    Learn more about the event

    🛒 Go Shopping

    Date: 11 Dec 2025

    Achieving the impossible

    Cat Pelmen is jumping over the barricades

    😆 Achieving the impossible



    "Only he who attempts the absurd is capable of achieving the impossible." - Miguel de Unamuno

    🐈📸 Cat Pelmen - is an incredible achiever, a friend of TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden.

    #PeopleCats #Quotes

    🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

    Date: 11 Dec 2025

    Cat guided Garden tours of Top Tropicals - Holiday Plant Market

    Cat guided Garden tours of Top Tropicals

    🎉 December 13, 2025 - Holiday Plant Market!

    • 🎄 It is almost here! Holiday Plant Market, proudly hosted by the #PeopleCats of TopTropicals.
    Our big end-of-season Plant Day. All year we grow the rare and unusual plants that will be featured at this event, and Saturday is the day they finally meet their new homes. The garden turns into a small holiday escape: fresh air, bright colors, music, snacks, and the PeopleCats greeting everyone like they have known you for years.
    • 🎄 Why you should come


      It is December in Florida - warm breeze, sunshine, and perfect planting weather. While the rest of the country is scraping frost off windshields, you're choosing which banana tree to take home. Come enjoy a colorful Saturday surrounded by plants, music, snacks, and friendly #PeopleCats. This is your holiday escape, your plant-hunting adventure, and your chance to bring home something amazing before the season ends.
    • 🎄 Holiday extras


      - 30% OFF online prices
      - FREE plant with purchase
      - $5-10 specials
      - Mini donuts and holiday treats
      - Cold drinks, iced tea, citrus-infused water
      - Tropical Christmas music playing all day
      - Cat-guided tours from our PeopleCats (they know the garden better than we do) - Subject to Purrrson's schedule/availability
      - Exciting Raffle prizes


    📱 Event discounts and specials valid at both locations:



    🎁 Learn more about this Event, Holiday deals and extras

    📱

    #PeopleCats

    🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

    Date: 10 Dec 2025

    Meet Onikas cats - Fred

    Fred - the most inquisitive and smartest of all her tuxedo cats!

    Fred - the most inquisitive and smartest of all her tuxedo cats!

    Cat Fred

    Cat Fred

    🕺 Meet Onika's cats: Fred



    🐈📸 Meet Onika's cats from TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden:
    This is Fred - the most inquisitive and smartest of all her tuxedo cats! Fred is super smart. Very tough on the outside, but sweeter than a mango on the inside.

    #PeopleCats

    🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

    Date: 10 Dec 2025

    The secret New Deal Franklin Roosevelt never told you about

    Schlumbergera x New Deal - Thanksgiving-to-Easter blooming Cactus

    🌸 The secret New Deal Franklin Roosevelt never told you about

    • 🌸 Schlumbergera x New Deal is not your regular Christmas cactus. Big blooms, long history. This heirloom flowers from Thanksgiving to Easter and descends from a plant first sold on the very day Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected.
    • This variety actually vanished from the trade for decades. Its first known appearance was at a rare plant sale at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on November 8, 1932 - the exact day Franklin Roosevelt won the presidency and launched the famous New Deal. The name stuck, and so did the legend!
    • 🌸 What makes New Deal so special? The blooms are huge - about an inch larger than standard holiday cactus flowers - and come in brilliant violet-pink and white. And the timing is even better. It sends up a full flush around Thanksgiving and Christmas, then wakes up again with a second wave closer to Easter. That’s why some people call it a Thanksgiving cactus, others call it a Christmas cactus, and many insist it’s an Easter cactus. The truth? It’s all three.
    • 🌸 Despite its pedigree, New Deal is surprisingly easy to grow. It thrives in normal houseplant conditions, stays compact, and rewards even casual care with heavy, reliable blooming.
    • 🌸 The plants available today come from true descendant cuttings of an original 1932 specimen that is still alive. This makes New Deal one of the rarest, most authentic holiday cactus cultivars you can own - a living slice of history and one of the most generous bloomers of the entire holiday season.


    🛒 Get the New Deal: the Thanksgiving-to-Easter bloomer

    📚 Learn more:

    Plant Facts

    Schlumbergera sp.
    Orchid Cactus, Thanksgiving Cactus, Christmas Cactus, Easter Cactus, Crab Cactus
    USDA Zone: 9-11
    Groundcover and low-growing 2ft plantSemi-shadeShadeRegular waterEpiphyte plantYellow, orange flowersRed, crimson, vinous flowersWhite, off-white flowersPink flowersSubtropical plant. Mature plant cold hardy at least to 30s F for a short time
  • More about Schlumbergera from Plant Encyclopedia
  • What is the most popular Christmas plant?
  • An heirloom holiday cactus lost for decades: Thanksgiving-to-Easter bloomer

  • #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

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    Date: 10 Dec 2025

    Katuk coconut soup: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

    Katuk coconut soup

    Katuk coconut soup

    Katuk leaves - Sauropus androgynus, Tropical Asparagus

    Katuk leaves - Sauropus androgynus, Tropical Asparagus

    🍴 Katuk Coconut Soup

    Ingredients

    • Katuk leaves (Sauropus androgynus), about 2 cups, stems removed
    • Coconut milk, 1 cup
    • Garlic, 1 clove, minced
    • Salt, to taste

    Instructions

    1. Wash Katuk leaves thoroughly.
    2. Boil Katuk leaves in plenty of water for 15 minutes.
    3. Drain completely and discard the boiling water.
    4. Chop the cooked Katuk leaves.
    5. Warm coconut milk in a saucepan over low heat.
    6. Add garlic and simmer gently for 1 minute.
    7. Add the boiled Katuk leaves and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
    8. Season with salt and serve warm.

    Important Safety Note

    Katuk leaves must always be boiled for at least 15 minutes and the water discarded. Do not consume raw or lightly cooked Katuk.


    🛒 Add Katuk Superfood to your Food Forest

    📚 Learn more:

    Plant Facts

    Breynia androgyna, Sauropus androgynus
    Katuk, Star Gooseberry, Sweet Leaf, Tropical Asparagus, Chang Kok, Manis, Nutty Leaf, Rau Ngot
    USDA Zone: 9-11
    Large shrub 5-10 ft tallSmall plant 2-5 ftSemi-shadeFull sunRegular waterRed, crimson, vinous flowersOrnamental foliageEdible plantEthnomedical plant.
Plants marked as ethnomedical and/or described as medicinal, are not offered as medicine but rather as ornamentals or plant collectibles.
Ethnomedical statements / products have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. We urge all customers to consult a physician before using any supplements, herbals or medicines advertised here or elsewhere.
  • Sauropus androgynus in Plant Encyclopedia
  • The secret Brain Food growing in my backyard (and it tastes like green peas!)
  • Katuk egg stir-fry: Quick-n-Fun exotic recipes
  • Health benefits of Katuk: a Superfood for your mind and body

  • #Food_Forest #Recipes

    🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

    Date: 9 Dec 2025

    When will the war end?

    Cat fight

    🔥 When will the war end?
    Sound on
    🎤

    Find out exactly when the war will end - at the end of this video!

    🐈📸 Starring:


    Orange Cat Zhyrdyay (Cherkassy, Ukraine)
    'Paper' Tiger Cat (intruder from occupied Luhansk, trying to take Zhyrdyay's land)

    🎥 Filmed by:Vasiliy Sarana, Wildlife Explorer and Film Director, Ukraine.
    🔛 Subscribe to Vasiliy's YouTube Channel: Wildlife Adventures Ukraine

    #PeopleCats

    🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

    Date: 9 Dec 2025

    What blooms for you in December: Calliandra tweedii With Love

    Calliandra tweedii "With Love" in a pot

    Calliandra tweedii "With Love" in a pot

    Calliandra tweedii "With Love" plant in the ground

    Calliandra tweedii "With Love" plant in the ground

    Calliandra tweedii "With Love" flowers

    Calliandra tweedii "With Love" flowers

    Calliandra tweedii "With Love" flower close up

    Calliandra tweedii "With Love" flower close up

    💥 What blooms for you in December: Calliandra tweedii "With Love"

    • 💥 December just started and so did Calliandra tweedii "With Love" - right by TopTropicals Bfarm office. This plant always knows how to kick off winter around here. First week of December… boom, the red tassels pop open, and then it keeps going all the way through winter and into spring.
    • 💥 Calliandras are famous for being spectacular winter bloomers, but in our garden they seem to ignore the calendar and flower pretty much year-round. "With Love" grows as a many-stemmed dense shrub, kind of like a small fountain. Branches rise right from the ground, covered in tiny leaflets that gently fold at night or when you touch them.
    • 💥 And the flowers - that’s the whole show! Fine, feathery, glowing-red tassels that look almost electric in the morning sun. The bush by the office is covered in them right now - bright scarlet puffs against fresh green foliage. Most calliandras lean more pink, but this one stays true red. It makes a fantastic hedge, a bold specimen shrub, and honestly a great bonsai because of the branching structure.
    • 💥 If you want something cheerful, easy, and blooming exactly when most gardens look quiet, With Love delivers every single year.


    🛒 Plant Calliandra tweedii "With Love" - Red Tassel Flower
    Shop Calliandras - Powderpuffs

    📚 Learn more:

    Plant Facts

    Calliandra tweedii, Inga pulcherrima
    Red Tassel Flower
    USDA Zone: 9-11
    Large shrub 5-10 ft tallSemi-shadeModerate waterRed, crimson, vinous flowersSubtropical plant. Mature plant cold hardy at least to 30s F for a short time
  • Calliandra tweedii in Plant Encyclopedia
  • Red Tassel Flower blooms through March

  • #Hedges_with_benefits #Butterfly_Plants

    🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals