Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 30 Oct 2025

Before you open a bottle of wine,

Jaboticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora)

🍷Before you open a bottle of wine, meet the Secret Wine Tree from Brazil
  • 🍷Jaboticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora) grows grapes right on its trunk! It's one of Brazil’s most fascinating and beloved native fruits. Its name alone sounds exotic, but wait until you see it in fruit: shiny, grape-like berries bursting straight from the bark!
  • 🍷 Jaboticaba is the source of the famous Brazilian wine Vinho Tinto de Jabuticaba. The fruits are small, dark purple, with a thick skin and a sweet, melting pulp that tastes a lot like black currant. They can be eaten fresh, made into jams, or fermented into homemade wine with an incredible aroma and rich color.
  • 🍷 Jaboticaba tree is slow-growing and compact, often used as a bonsai because of its small leaves and graceful shape. But patience pays off - mature trees covered in purple fruits are absolutely stunning! The fruiting habit, called cauliflory, means the fruits grow directly from the trunk and main branches, creating a truly one-of-a-kind look.
  • 🍷 Jaboticaba trees can handle some cold (down to mid-20's once mature), don't mind wet rainy seasons and can be grown in containers in cooler areas. They make beautiful landscape trees and conversation starters wherever they’re planted.
  • 🍷 If you've ever dreamed of making your own wine from fruit grown in your backyard, this is the tree for you. Jaboticaba isn’t just a plant - it's an experience, a piece of Brazil's culture, and a living work of art that rewards patience with magic.


🛒 Grow your own wine from Jaboticaba Tree

📚
Learn more:


#Food_Forest #Nature_Wonders #Container_Garden
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Date: 8 Nov 2025

It smells like bananas but its a magnolia!

Magnolia figo, Banana Magnolia

🍌 It smells like bananas… but it’s a magnolia!
  • 🌸 Magnolia figo, or Banana Magnolia - is in bloom! It is now filling the air with its unbelievably sweet fragrance! Its creamy, cup-shaped flowers smell like fresh bananas mixed with fine perfume - you have to smell it to believe it.
  • 🌸 This compact evergreen shrub grows only about 5-6 ft in a container, making it perfect for small gardens, patios, or even near an entryway where you can enjoy the scent up close. Glossy green leaves, elegant shape, and that irresistible aroma - it’s pure charm in a pot.
  • 🌸 Cold tolerant, heat tolerant, sun or shade - this little magnolia doesn’t ask for much but gives so much back.


🛒 Plant Banana Magnolia

📚 Learn more:


#Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Trees

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Date: 8 Dec 2025

Floridians, mark your calendar: December 13, 2025 - Holiday Plant Market!

🎉 Floridians, mark your calendar: December 13, 2025 - Holiday Plant Market!


  • 🔴 Welcome to the Holiday Plant Market, proudly hosted by the #PeopleCats of TopTropicals.

King is on gate duty (checking every car, as usual).
Paisley is rearranging plants for the tenth time this morning because he wants them perfect.
Snitch is already relaxing in a chair, supervising with a cup of iced tea.
Persephone is under the tables, greeting guests from the Underworld.
Sushi and Loki are grooming - getting ready for the guided tours.
Together they invite you to stroll the gardens, snack on a donut, enjoy holiday music, and pick out something tropical and beautiful to take home.

  • 🔴 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.

  • 🔴 What makes this event special


We bring out the biggest, rarest, most impressive plants we grew all summer.
Trees with developed branches, vines ready to take off, fragrant blooms that stop people mid-walk.
Everything looks better by December in Florida, and this is the day we put it all on display!

🔴 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
- Fruit tasting table (subject to enough ripe fruit in the morning!)

  • 📱 Event discounts and specials valid at both locations:


Ft Myers Garden Center: 13890 Orange River, Ft Myers, FL
Sebring Farm: 9100 McRoy Rd, Sebring, FL

🎁 Learn more about this Event, Holiday deals and extras

📱 Watch this bird-eye video from the past events:



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

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Date: 25 Dec 2025

Do not throw out your poinsettia - 4 simple tips how to keep it alive for next Christmas

Poinsettia - Euphorbia pulcherrima veriegated leaves

Poinsettia - Euphorbia pulcherrima veriegated leaves

Poinsettia - Euphorbia pulcherrima - white, pink and red

Poinsettia - Euphorbia pulcherrima - white, pink and red

Poinsettia - Euphorbia pulcherrima - white and red

Poinsettia - Euphorbia pulcherrima - white and red

Poinsettia - Euphorbia pulcherrima - in a pot

Poinsettia - Euphorbia pulcherrima - in a pot

🎄 Do not throw out your poinsettia - 4 simple tips how to keep it alive for next Christmas



Poinsettias - Euphorbia_pulcherrima - are tender perennials, not one-season plants. After the holidays they naturally fade, rest, and regroup. With a few simple care tweaks, a healthy plant can live all year and rebloom next winter.
  • 🎄 1. Let it rest after the holidays


  • ✦ Flowering ends naturally - faded bracts and some leaf drop are normal.
  • ✦ Prune when bracts fall: cut stems back by 1/3 to 1/2, leaving 4-5 inches.
  • ✦ Wear gloves - the sap can irritate skin.
  • ✦ Move to a cooler, bright spot for 4-6 weeks.
  • ✦ Ideal temp: 55-60°F
  • ✦ Reduce watering.
  • ✦ Water only when the top 2 inches of soil are dry.
  • ✦ Avoid soggy soil.


🎄 2. Repot in late spring

  • ✦ New growth usually starts in late spring.
  • ✦ Repot at this stage to refresh nutrients and give roots space.
  • ✦ Use a well-draining, slightly acidic potting mix.
  • ✦ Choose a pot only slightly larger, with drainage holes.
  • ✦ Loosen roots gently and remove old compacted soil.
  • ✦ Water lightly, then place in a bright, warm spot.
  • ✦ Resume regular watering and light feeding through spring and summer.


🎄 3. Adjust care during the growing season

  • ✦ Increase temperature gradually to 64-68°F.
  • ✦ Water more often once growth resumes.
  • ✦ Wilted or curling leaves signal thirst.
  • ✦ Water thoroughly and evenly.
  • ✦ Bright light is key, but avoid harsh direct sun.
  • ✦ Use sheer curtains or a grow light if needed.
  • ✦ Fertilize periodically with a balanced houseplant fertilizer.
  • ✦ Pinch back new shoots in late spring for a fuller, bushier plant.


🎄 4. Preparing for winter color

  • ✦ In fall, poinsettias need long nights to bloom.
  • ✦ Provide 12-14 hours of complete darkness nightly for 6-8 weeks.
  • ✦ This triggers colorful bracts in time for the holidays.


❓ Quick FAQ



Can it go outside?
Yes, in warm months only. Bring it indoors before temps drop below 50°F.

Winter outdoors?
No - poinsettias are cold-sensitive and must stay inside.

🎄 Poinsettias don't die after Christmas - they just take a nap. Give them rest, light, and patience, and they will reward you next year.

✍️ Expert reference: Homes and Gardens

🛒 Explore plants for containers

📚 Learn more:

Ponsettia Plant Facts

Euphorbia pulcherrima
Ponsettia, Poinsettia, Christmas Plant, Poincettia
USDA Zone: 9-11
Large shrub 5-10 ft tallSemi-shadeShadeModerate waterOrnamental foliageIrritating plantSeaside, salt tolerant plant

#How_to #Container_Garden

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