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.

Cat of the month:
Frosya Yavorsky from Ukraine

Meet Frosya Yavorsky - an anti-war and anti-stress Cat of Alex and Lena Yavorsky. They live in Lviv, Ukraine and contribute their plant photos to Top Tropicals Catalog. Recently they sent us the beautiful Sunflower field photo that everyone can enjoy now at Top Tropicals home page. Frosya's main job today is psychological support of her parents during this cruel times. Top Tropicals recently sent to this family some proceeds of Kristi's Sunflowers sold at Sunday Event Sale. Frosya, please stay healthy and keep your parents calm and strong. You guys are in our thoughts, prayers, and hearts.

Ukraine direct support:

To support Ukraine, please make your purchase of so-much-needed plant food today: Sunshine Boosters, developed by our Ukrainian Team.
All profits from Sunshine Boosters sales go to Ukraine.
Your help is needed TODAY.

Photo above: Fedor Shabliy with his family - Oksana and Vova - are about to start planting vegetables in their backyard. Fresh start once the freeze is over... Fedor, the author of the Sunshine Boosters formulas, looks into the future with optimism. Staying strong!

How the Willows Came to be Called Pussy Willows?

Pussy Willows are the Symbol of Spring and Easter. But why are they called Pussy Willows?
According to an old Polish legend, many springtimes ago a mother cat was crying at the bank of the river in which her kittens were drowning. The willows at the river's edge longed to help her, so they swept their long graceful branches into the waters to rescue the tiny kittens who had fallen into the river while chasing butterflies. The kittens gripped on tightly to their branches and were safely brought to shore. Each springtime since, goes the legend, the willow branches sprout tiny fur-like buds at their tips where the tiny kittens once clung!
Ever since then, in Spring, the willow gentle velvet buds feel to the fingers like the silky coat of a small cat. These buds are known today as catkins and remarkably, in every country, these soft willow trees are named after cats. Read more about the legend.

Healthy Plants: Q&A from Mr Booster

How to grow a happy Red Jade Vine?

Q: My Red Jade Vine has the leaf tips turning brown. I water this plant four times a week and I am using a half a teaspoon of miracle grow bloom booster 15-30-15 per 2 gallons, every two weeks. In the beginning I had to water this plant off city water in South Fort Myers. Over the last two months I picked up a dechlorinator buggy plus threw that on my hose and I've been watering it with that but it didn't seem to make a difference. I put this plant in the ground last September. It has three shoots that run into the top of the tree, so it is growing but leaves seem to drop off down low at the base of the vine and the brown tipping running into the top of the plant. But not the newest shoot its leaves are solid green all the way at the top. Thanks for any advice.

A: Mucuna benettii - Red Jade vine - is not the easiest plant to grow, and we are glad your vine is growing well. For those who love this plant but not ready to face all challenges, we recommend its cousin - Camptosema grandiflora - Dwarf Red Jade Vine, which is much hardier and easier plant.
We looked at the photos and these are our thoughts.

1) The top of the plant with green fresh leaves definitely indicates that the plant is generally healthy and vigorous.
2) Dry tips of the old leaves may indicate excess salts in soil, in combination with the summer heat that it went through. Based on your feeding program description, that fertilizer may create a problem. Water soluble traditional fertilizers are EDTA-chelated which often causes nutrients lock up in soil and leaf drop. Try to stay away from that fertilizer for a month and let the rains and/or irrigation water flush the soil for a couple of weeks.
3) Red Jade vine is a very sensitive species. Normally, during hot season it is safe to use traditional fertilizers, especially slow-release granulated. However, with this plant we recommend you to switch to more delicate formula and use only liquid fertilizer.
SUNSHINE Megaflor - Bloom Nutrition Booster will be the best. It is safe to use it as frequent as with every watering! It is amino-acid based, and will be totally consumed by the plant without nutrient lockup.
4) Another cause of dry leaf tips may be micro-element deficiency.
Megaflor booster already has all necessary micro-nutrients in it, plus you may apply some extra: SUNSHINE Superfood.
5) You may continue using regular water for watering (including city water) as long as you use amino-acid based plant food and supplements: they improve soil acidity (what tropical plants like is acidic soil, and Florida soils are alkaline). Additionally, to improve soil acidity which can be critical for this Mucuna species, you may add 1" layer of pure peat moss on top of the soil around the plant. Please keep us in loop how the plant is doing. It is pretty rare species in cultivation and we will be happy to help you to keep it thriving.