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.

Vietnamese Mickey Mouse Plant
Hoa Mai - a must for 2023 luck!

Easy Sunday Morning Deal 50% off!

It's our favorite day and another Easy stroll through Top Tropicals Garden with savings of up to 50% and MORE!

The most celebrated flower in Vietnam, Ochna integerrima, called in Vietnam Hoa Mai or Mai Vang, blooms profusely on the occasion of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. It will be celebrated soon - January 22. As we know, it is a Year of the Cat. So, all you will need is a Cat and... the Hoa Mai, the Mickey Mouse plant!

Mickey Mouse plant has pretty bright yellow flowers, believed to bring good luck and prosperity. They are followed by cute shiny black berries on bright red sepals that resemble the face of Mickey Mouse.

Healthy Plants: Q&A from Mr Booster

Why my Avocado is not flowering?

Q: I have 5 avocados. Three of your cold hardy varieties and two others that have all flowered and set fruit in the past. The last two years including this year, not a single one of them has put out any flowers. I am getting lots of new growth like one would expect on a tree too young to flower. The last two years have been very mild with out any damaging frost where in previous years they lost all their leaves due to frost yet started putting out flowers once winter was over. I am confused because they have all flowered and set fruit previous years. Any ideas would be appreciated.

A: From information you provided, and considering the trees get lots of full sun and cold was not an issue, the only explanation is - lack of nutrients. Here is an example.
Very common situation: you get a small 2-3 ft Avocado or Mango tree in 3 gal pot (or even smaller) from a nursery, full of flowers, and sometimes even a small fruit. You bring it home, plant it in the ground or a bigger pot, it looks happy and grows like crazy. Then next year - oops, no fruit, sometimes not even flowers. What happened?
When the tree lived in a nursery, it was provided with all necessary nutrients through the injector systems (continuous feed); or some nurseries may use top dress smart release on regular schedule. Regardless of fertilizer type, professional grower's set up delivers plant food non-stop, on regular basis, with balanced formulas. Plants are not only growing fast but also ready to produce, since nutrients are always available for a full growth cycle.
When you plant a tree in the ground (or larger pot), conditions change. They may be beneficial for the plant: lots of room for roots to establish, hence lots of vegetative growth. Even if you planted it using good quality fertile soil, this soil may contain mostly nutrients responsible for vegetative growth (branches and leaves). Chances are, your soil may be rich in Nitrogen (good for green growth), but poor in other elements responsible for flowering and fruiting (Phosphorous, Potassium, and many important micro-elements such as Molybdenum, Boron, Iron, etc.). Besides, existing soil gets exhausted quickly, and within a year a two, if you don't add fertilizer, flowering and fruiting may be reduced or even stopped. This is why fertilizing program is very important for fruit trees that are expected to bring a crop soon.

We recommend:

- SUNSHINE C-Cibus - Crop Nutrition Booster - balanced food for fruit trees
- SUNSHINE-Honey - sugar booster - promotes more efficient blossoming and pollination, makes flowers bigger and reduces bud drop
- SUNSHINE SuperFood - for improving fruit trees production

Also keep in mind that some fruit trees have a habit of "skipping" a year and may either produce less or not produce at all every other year. In any case, balanced nutrition program can help to fix this "bad habit".

Healthy Plants: Q&A from Mr Booster

How not to kill gardenias?

Q: I have tried to grow gardenia in pots for years and never keep them alive. When i look on camellia websites they say fertilize potted plants twice a year. I'm confused as I tend to kill them with kindness haha. Also, if our tap water has high cal/mag and that stops the gardenia getting other nutrients why would I make up the feed with tap water? So confusing and online is mixed messages...

A: Gardenias are not the easiest plants to grow, however, they are easier in pots than in the ground: they prefer acidic soils, and in many areas soils are alkaline. The most important factor is balanced and sufficient nutrients. In the ground, plants have no limits to reach out to different elements by spreading their root system. In a pot, once all the good stuff is consumed, plants start suffering nutrient deficiency. This is why a balanced feeding program is important.

Generally speaking, Cal/Mag in tap water cannot be bad, because they are essential elements, good for plants (in proper amounts). However, just Cal/Mag is not enough. This is why you need a balanced liquid fertilizer for plants that prefer acidic soil. Excessive Cal/Mag alone can create nutrient lock up, especially if they are chelated with EDTA like in dry fertilizers, which are not fully accessible for plants.
We recommend natural, Amino-Acid based fertilizers that are completely consumed by a plant and are safe to use with EVERY watering, even in Winter. They are scientifically formulated and cover all plant needs. For your gardenias, you should use SUNSHINE Pikake - Fragrant Flower Booster.
Another important factor is proper watering. Gardenias like regular water but don't like wet feet = well drained potting mix is a must, similar to Abundance professional growing mix.

What fig trees are good for Florida?

Q: My baby fig tree was sprayed by the lawn people with weed killer :( Any ideas? Also what figs do you have available to grow here in Florida?

A: Unfortunately once a plant is affected by a herbicide, there is not much you can do about it. If you don't rinse the chemical within a few seconds, it gets into the plant internal system and nothing can be done to save the plant. The tree may remain green for a few days up to a week, but then gradually dies back. If your fig tree wasn't rinsed immediately after herbicide spray, it is probably too late.
If you want to replace it with a new one, here is a few suggestions of our favorite fig varieties which are great producers and grow well in Florida heat:

Brown Turkey Fig - our favorite!
Black Mission Fig
Beers Black Fig
Texas Everbearing Fig
Magnolia Fig
LSU Purple Fig
Olympian Fig
Texas Blue Giant Fig
See full list of Fig Trees.

Make sure to get appropriate plant food for your fig tree so it develops faster for you and gets well-established before winter: SUNSHINE C-Cibus - Crop Nutrition Booster from Garden Series, or Combo Total Feed Collection - all nutrients in just one bottle, for fruit trees and edibles.