Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 16 Nov 2019

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...

Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.

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:

Greenhouse in Virginia
Plumeria cold protection
Ghost Cold Protection
Seven rules of cold protection for tropicals
About Cold Protection
Cold protection - winter action for your plant collection
Tropical Treasures articles on zone pushing.

Date: 22 Jul 2024

What are the best butterfly attracting plants for a Southern garden?

Asclepias - Milkweed, butterfly attractor

What are the best butterfly attracting plants for a Southern garden? 5 best butterfly attractors.

If you love butterflies and if you enjoy having nature around your home, then plant a butterfly garden. Caterpillars, which transform into butterflies, require special kinds of plants to feed upon. Below are the top five winners that butterflies appreciate the most. Besides, remember That all yellow flowers are attractive to butterflies, for example Cassias. Butterflies like the Sun and everything that looks like the Sun! 🌞

🏆 5 best butterfly attractors:

1. Calotropis gigantea - Giant milkweed, Arka
2. Odontonema cuspidatum - Firespike
3. Plumbago - blue, white and red
4. Rondeletia leucophylla - Panama Rose
5. Asclepias - Milkweed

💻 Learn more:

🎥 ABC-7: Butterfly plants at Top Tropicals
The Milkweed and the Monarch, how to raise your own
Musings of a butterfly gardener about the milkweed bug
Plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds

🛒 Shop butterfly plants

#Butterfly_Plants

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Date: 19 Feb 2023

Top 5 butterfly attractors

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly"
Chuang Tzu (Taoist philosopher)

In the photo: yesterday we watched a butterfly born on one of our Champaka trees!

Q: What are the best butterfly attracting plants for a Southern garden?

A: If you love butterflies and if you enjoy having nature around your home, then plant a butterfly garden. Florida is a perfect place to create a year round and fully functioning butterfly garden. Caterpillars, which transform into butterflies, require special kinds of plants to feed upon and these plants grow extremely well in the South Florida and other subtropical areas. Below are the top five winners that butterflies appreciate the most. Besides, remember That all yellow flowers are attractive to them, for example Cassias. Butterflies like the Sun and everything that looks like the Sun!
1. Calotropis gigantea - Giant milkweed, Arka
2. Odontonema cuspidatum - Firespike
3. Plumbago auriculata Imperial Blue
4. Rondeletia leucophylla - Panama Rose
5. Asclepias curassavica - Red Milkweed, Butterfly Weed

Read more about Butterfly garden:
The Milkweed and the Monarch, how to raise your own
Musings of a butterfly gardener about the milkweed bug
Plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds

Shop Butterfly Plants

In the photo: Odontonema cuspidatum - Firespike

Date: 4 Feb 2021

PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Month: Moishe, the Google Intern with a Sweet Tooth

Just a few months ago we introduced our new Little Purrrson Jim II that we got as a "toy" for intellectual Google the Cat, to cheer him up after he lost his friend Jim I... Jim II, the fluffy goofball, grew up in no time and in his turn, requested entertainment, since Google bored him with his technical lectures... So we got a toy for Jim-the-toy... and he turned out to be - another mini-Google!
Moishe is very busy young individual, spending his day solving math equations and discovering laws of physics... Google appreciates the new generation's input. Jim II is simply glued to the little guy. He follows Moishe everywhere, including boring seminars by Google. Jim loves his new little brother with all his heart!
Moishe's favorite things are - gravity experiments, reading scientific manuscripts, and eating JAM for breakfast! No toast required.

TopTropicals PeopleCat Club and Zoo

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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!

In the photo: Moishe the Scientist and Jim the Hopeless Romantic

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