Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 21 Aug 2025

🍒 Tropical Cherries – Eugenias

Two  cats  enjoy  Grumichama  fruit  indoors  —  a  tuxedo  cat  picks  berries  from  a  potted  tree  while  an  orange  fluffy  cat  smiles,  sitting  by  tea  cups  and  plates  of 
 fruit.

Tropical Tea Time with Grumichama

Eugenias have earned a spot in many Southern gardens because they’re easy, dependable, and surprisingly versatile. These small trees and shrubs grow well in the ground or in containers, and they don’t waste time before setting fruit.

15% Off Eugenias – Limited Time

Use code EUGENIA15 at checkout.
Excluding S/H. Offer expires 08/28/2025

👍 Popular Choices:

What Makes Eugenia Cherries Stand Out

  • Start producing fruit in just a couple of years
  • Compact size — easy to keep 6–12 ft tall, smaller in pots
  • Low-care — tolerant of most soils and resistant to common pests
  • Strong in hot weather, yet can handle a light frost down to the mid-20s °F
  • Plenty of fruit for people and birds alike

Close-up  of  Grumichama  tree  branches  with  clusters  of  small  white  flowers  among  glossy  green 
 leaves. Grumichama Tree in Bloom – Eugenia brasiliensis

Growing & Care

Outdoors

  • Best in USDA Zones 9–11
  • Sun or partial shade; more sun usually means sweeter fruit
  • Plant in well-drained soil; avoid heavy, wet spots
  • Withstands summer heat and humidity, and can take a light freeze

Container / Indoor

  • Do well in 5–10 gallon pots on patios or balconies
  • Need bright light indoors — a sunny window or grow lights
  • Can flower and fruit in containers if kept warm and well lit
  • In cooler zones, bring plants indoors for winter and back out in spring

General Care

  • Water: Keep soil evenly moist; drought-tolerant once established but best yields with regular watering
  • Soil: Use good potting mix - LINK TO SOIL
  • Fertilizer: Balanced slow-release LINKL TO FERTILIZER Sunshine Boosters
  • Pruning: Light trimming keeps plants bushy and productive
  • Pollination: Self-fertile; one plant will fruit on its own

Read Garden Blog about Tropical Cherries

Shop Tropical Cherries

Date: 24 Jun 2018

Adenium: a Rose by any Other Name

New article by Jane Jordan.
"...The famous quote is often used to imply that the names of things do not affect what they really are, in the case of The Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) it is not a rose at all, rather a succulent that thrives in hot, dry and sunny conditions. These spectacular plants have no relation to the rose family, they are a species of flowering plant from the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. The naming of this plant is partly correct as they originate in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, where they can grow into large trees with huge swollen trunks..."
Continue reading...

Date: 13 Feb 2017

New Video. Radio Top Tropicals.

New Video: 10 plants that will make you happy, Plant #2 - Candle Tree.

We continue your series about Ten Plants That Will Make You Happy. Today's story is about Candle Tree... one of the most fascinating ornamental and fruit trees in cultivation. This unusual plant will be a conversation piece of your plant collection. Happy candles will help you to cope with a cold and will definitely make you happy.
Visit our Facebook, YouTube Channel and stay happy!

Check out this video: 10 plants that will make you happy. Plant #2 - Candle Tree.

Stay updated with TopTropicals Videos by subscribing to our channel at YouTube.com/TopTropicals and get our latest video news of what's fruiting and blooming!

Radio Top Tropicals - every Saturday 11 am! Introducing Radio Top Tropicals. Our first live webcast last Saturday was a success.
The topic was Plants of Love - Aphrodisiacs.

The webcast followed our Valentine's Day local sale.
We are extending this sale for 2 days, from local customers, to those who live in other states. Hurry up and take advantage of this generous 25% off on Plants of Love - Aphrodisiacs! Sale ends end of Valentines day, Tuesday, February 14.

Our next air time: Saturday February 18, at 11 am.
Topic: WEED OR WONDER PLANT?
We will explore plants considered invasive species, or weeds, here in Florida, and reveal interesting and not-so-well-known facts about them. Our Host Robert Riefer - State Certified Crop Adviser, and Weed Specialist - answering all your gardening questions.

Listen to Radio Top Tropicals, every Saturday, at 11 am! You may use our website radio player DURING AIR TIME and see the pictures of plants we are talking about. To ask questions using live chat, you need to log in at Mixlr.com or simply call our office 239-689-5745 during air time!

Check out our upcoming radio shows and get your gardening questions ready!

Date: 7 Feb 2017

After Super Bowl Sale

Chill out and relax by planting a tree! We just watched the most exciting Super Bowl ever... What a game! It was the greatest comeback in Super Bowl in history. Now it is time to let Top Tropicals help give your garden a great comeback too. Relax, have some peaceful happy time, and nothing can be better than planting a tree!

The best tree ever, by many features is a Mango tree. Here at least 5 reasons why:
1. Mango tree is good for beginners since it has low maintenance requirements, including low water needs.
2. Mango tree is easy to ship.
3. Mango tree is a great present.
4. Mango tree is a rewarding fruit tree that will produce fruit for you the same or next year - all our varieties are grafted and ready to bloom.
5. Mango tree produces the most delicious fruit in the world. The sweetest, flavorful, fiberless varieties can be only tasted from home gardens - they simply are not available from grocery stores due to transportation reasons (only fiborous low quality fruit can be safely shipped and stored).

Take advantage of this generous 25% off offer and get yourself a mango tree:
- Dwarf varieties, "Condo" mangoes, great for containers: Carrie, Cogshall, Ice Cream, Julie, Lancetilla, Lemon Meringue, Mallika, Nam Doc Mai, Pickering.
- Large, fast growing, vigorous trees that will quickly create shade and comfort in your garden: Bailey's Marvel, East Indian, Haden, Jakarta, Philippine, Southern Blush, Valencia Pride.
- Exotic collectibles that are hard to find and almost nobody has, be a proud owner of delicious exotic flavors: Alampur Baneshan, Alphonso, Choc Anon (Miracle), Heidi, Maha Chinook, Pim Seng Mun.

Happy planting, end enjoy your fruit soon! See all varieties (for backorder items, add to your wishlist and you will be notified when available, very soon!)

Hurry up, WHILE THE STOCK LASTS! Offer is valid 2 days only, and expires February 9. Offer not valid for previous purchases.

Date: 4 Feb 2017

Groundhog Day Feb 2

On Groundhog Day Feb 2: Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Thursday morning, predicting six more weeks of winter during Groundhog Day festivities at Gobbler's Knob, a small hill just outside Phil's hometown.
According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then the spring season will come soon; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its den, and winter weather will persist for six more weeks.
Phil promised long winter, however, we should not cry in despair but starting to get ready for Spring!

Spring Check List:
- Make sure min temperatures are above 45F before you start bringing potted plants outside.
- When active new growth appears from buds, after-winter pruning can be done.
- You may start weekly fertilizing as soon as night temperatures raise above 55F.
- Start planting in the ground as soon as there are no more chances of frost, until then keep newly arrived plants in pots so they get better established.
- Low chill cold hardy fruit trees including Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, Apples, Mulberry, Loquats go in the ground first, so you can enjoy their blooms and early fruit set. Plant Pomegranates, blueberries and cranberries, raspberries and blackberries, grapes.
- Water as needed, still keeping on dry side until afternoons get hot and plants start using more water.
- Start seeds indoors. The sooner the better, to give seedlings more time to establish before planting out in the ground.

Overwintering Magnolia (Michelia)

Michelia alba Question: I have a question about Michelia alba. My Michelia alba leaves turning yellow and losing leaves. When I brought it inside for the winter, after the leaves falling off new one grow back not all of them grow back and now the new the branches start to die. I water once a week.

A: Whenever moving a plant in or out of the home it is always best to do it gradually. Moving a plant all in one day will cause stress to the plant due to environmental changes such as, new humidity levels, new light levels and new watering requirements. Michelias usually loose their leaves once in the spring and once before winter but grow them back right away. Now that your plant is inside with less humidity, light and leaves, you only need to water once the soil as almost dried out. You will need to stick your finger in the soil to see if it is still wet as the top layer dries before the under layer. If the branches are starting to die at the tips this usually means too much water. Move the plant to a bright light window, decrease water and you may want to also use a humidifier.