Garden Blog - Top Tropicals
Date: 20 Dec 2025
Hello friends,
From our home and garden to yours, we wish you a warm and peaceful holiday season. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, as it comes to a close, Kwanzaa, Feliz Navidad, the New Year, or all of the above, we hope your days are filled with light and the promise of what is growing ahead.
Gardening connects us across seasons, cultures, and traditions, and we are grateful to share this journey with you.
Date: 28 Dec 2025
According to our experts: Smokey and Sunshine. When we say experts, we do not mean consultants or trend writers. We mean two real gardeners. Smokey watches patterns. Sunshine notices when people rush. Together, they explain what actually works.
Smokey: Hello gardeners. 2026 is the Year of the Horse.
Sunshine: Horses do not garden.
Smokey: Please do not interrupt me. No, they do not. That is just the
calendar. What matters is what gardeners do at the start of every new year.
They often rush and repeat the same mistakes.
Sunshine: The biggest one is rushing the garden before morning
coffee.
Smokey: Correct. Rushing looks like effort, but it is usually just
impatience. Gardens punish impatience very reliably.
Most early-season problems come from doing things too soon:
- watering before roots are active
- fertilizing before growth begins
- planting before conditions settle
- poking plants daily to check how the roots are growing
Sunshine: If you are poking the roots, the plant was fine until you
started poking it.
Smokey: Good gardening is not constant action. It is knowing when to
act and when to stop interfering.
- Plant when the timing is right.
- Let roots work quietly.
- Leave resting plants alone.
Sunshine: Coffee first. Donuts optional, but highly
recommended.
Smokey: One last thing, while you are not rushing.
Our gift cards are still on promotion. They do not need planting, watering,
or timing decisions today.
A gift card is a symbol of patience. Buy it now. Use it when the moment is
right.
Smokey and Sunshine:
Our resolution for 2026 is simple: stop
rushing the garden.
Wishing you a calm, steady, coffee-fueled 2026 garden
🐾🌿
Date: 12 Dec 2025
Date: 5 Jan 2026
Ordering plants in winter is often easier than people expect - and for many plants, it is actually better. Lush foliage plants like philodendrons and medinilla, fine-leaved trees such as moringa, jacaranda, and poinciana, and even sensitive fruit trees like papaya, jackfruit or starfruit ship more safely in cool weather without overheating stress.
Winter is also ideal for subtropical and cold-tolerant plants, dormant or deciduous plants like plumeria and adenium, orchids - including ground orchids and vanilla orchids, and winter bloomers that flower their best right now. Winter care is simple: water less, use gentle liquid amino-acid fertilizers like Sunshine Boosters, and monitor insects.
In mild climates, many tropicals can be planted anytime, while extra-tender plants can stay potted until spring. Winter is a perfect time to bring tropical warmth indoors and enjoy greenery when you need it most.
🌿Learn more: easy plants for Winter shippingDate: 18 Feb 2026
By Tatiana Anderson, Horticulture Expert at Top Tropicals
Every new year carries its own energy.
2026 is the Year of the Horse - a year of movement, fire, momentum, and bold decisions. It is not a quiet year. It pushes us forward.
When fellow gardeners ask me what to grow in a year like this, my answer
is simple:
Grow something that balances strength with grace.
For me, that plant is Jasmine Sambac.
In many cultures, Sambac represents devotion, purity, and deep affection. In the Philippines it is the national flower - Sampaguita - woven into garlands for weddings and sacred ceremonies. In Hawaii, it becomes leis - a symbol of welcome and connection - Pikake. In India, it perfumes temples and homes.
This is not just a fragrant shrub.
It is a plant tied to love, loyalty, and continuity.
The Horse runs forward.
Jasmine anchors the heart.
In a fiery year like 2026, I believe we need both.
And that is why I always return to Jasminum sambac.
Over the years I have grown thousands of plants, but very few have the staying power of Jasmine Sambac.
It is not just fragrant. It is intensely, unmistakably fragrant. One open flower can perfume an entire patio. In the evening, the scent becomes deeper and richer.
But what makes Sambac truly special is its adaptability.
It can grow as a compact patio shrub, a flowering hedge, or a climbing vine. It performs beautifully in containers. It tolerates both full sun and partial shade. The more light you give it, the more flowers it rewards you with.
And unlike many tropicals, Sambac does not bloom just once. With proper care, it flowers in cycles throughout the warm season.
For gardeners, that combination is rare: beauty, perfume, flexibility, and repeat bloom.
That is why it has remained one of the most wanted fragrant plants in cultivation.