Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 1 Jun 2025

Golden and White Champaka side-by-side

💻 Golden and White Champaka side-by-side



Comparison of the 2 varieties of Champaka trees for the previous post 👆

⚪️ White Champaka - Magnolia (Michelia) x alba (in the center) has darker leaves

🟡 Golden Champaka - Magnolia (Michelia) champaca (left and right) has lighter-colored leaves: salad-green, chartreuse or lemon-lime.

🎥 The tree on the left is 3 years old, and the other two are 4 years old.

#Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Trees

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Date: 29 Jul 2025

Strawberry Guava for best Margaritas - the easiest fruit tree youll ever grow!

Strawberry Guava, Cattley Guava - Psidium littorale

🍓 Strawberry Guava for best Margaritas - the easiest fruit tree you'll ever grow!

  • 🍓 If you're looking for a cold-hardy tropical fruit tree that thrives on neglect, you’ve found it: Strawberry Guava, or Cattley Guava (Psidium littorale). It's our favorite Guava at Top Tropicals!
  • 🍓 This fast-growing, evergreen small tree or dense bush doesn’t mind poor soil, limestone, or salt. It’s hardy to the low 20s F, drought-tolerant once established, and can even handle short-term flooding. Great as a hedge, windbreak, or container specimen, it also adds beauty year-round with glossy green leaves, peeling reddish bark, and soft red new growth.
  • 🍓 You’ll get round, tangy-sweet fruit from spring through fall - perfect for snacking, jams, or jellies, juices, and adding to all kinds of drinks, especially Margaritas and Mojitos! 🍸
  • 🍓 The red and yellow types are both tasty, with the yellow often a bit larger and sweeter. The sweetest and the most flavorful Cattley Guava variety is Hawaiian Gold - Psidium littorale var. Lucidum. This one is our favorite for eating out of hand!
  • 🍓 Cattley Guava is productive, low-maintenance, and ornamental - one of the easiest tropical fruit trees to grow in poor or alkaline soils.


🛒 Add a sweet guava hedge to your yard

📚 Learn more:


#Food_Forest #Guava

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Date: 8 Aug 2025

Why your gut is begging for papaya

Papaya fruit and trees (Carica papaya)

🍊 Why your gut is begging for papaya

  • 🌴Papaya (Carica papaya) is more than just a tasty tropical fruit - it's a natural remedy for your gut. Thanks to an enzyme called papain, it helps with digestion, bloating, and even supports immune health with high levels of vitamin C and A.
  • 🌴But here's what makes papaya a must-have in every garden: it's fast, space-saving, and super productive. Many trees start fruiting within a year!
  • 🌴Dwarf varieties only reach 6-8 feet but still give you full-sized fruit that's easy to harvest.
  • 🌴Grow it in the ground or in a container - it thrives in sun, handles light freezes, and even stands strong in high winds.
  • 🌴Low effort, high reward. Sweet fruit, strong plant. What more do you need?


📚 Learn more from previous posts:



🛒 Your gut will thank you - plant Papaya

#Food_Forest #Papaya
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Date: 14 Aug 2025

Homegrown coffee - the journey begins

Coffee tree - Coffea arabica

☕️ Homegrown coffee - the journey begins!

Coffee trees (Coffea arabica) that you saw blooming at Top Tropicals in May with fragrant, gardenia-like flowers, now in August - they are loaded with fruit! We will update on them once they turn red and ripe...

🛒 Start your own coffee harvest

📚 Learn more:


#Food_Forest #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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Date: 21 Aug 2025

One bite, your whole day of vitamin C: Barbados Cherry that outdoes oranges!

Malpighia glabra - Barbados Cherry, Acerola

🍒 One bite, your whole day of vitamin C: Barbados Cherry that outdoes oranges!

  • 🍒 Malpighia glabra - Barbados Cherry, or Acerola has 65 times more vitamin C than an orange! Just a single berry-sized fruit can provide your entire daily vitamin C needs, along with vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, carotenoids, and bioflavonoids. In short, this little cherry is one of the most powerful antioxidant fruits in the world.
  • 🍒 But it isn’t just about nutrition. Barbados Cherry is a compact, fast-growing shrub or small tree that starts fruiting young, often within its first year. It produces crops several times a year, and the bright red cherries are as beautiful as they are useful. The fruit is tangy-sweet and makes excellent juices, smoothies, jams, and jellies. It also freezes well without losing its vitamin content.
  • 🍒 Gardeners love this plant not only for its fruit but also for how easy it is to grow. Unlike many tropicals, it tolerates alkaline soils, is drought-resistant once established, and can handle light freezes. That makes it a surprisingly tough choice for a tropical fruit tree. Birds enjoy the fruit too, so planting one is also a gift to your local wildlife.
  • 🍒 It's also a beauty in the garden, covered in pretty pink flowers and bright red fruit, often both at the same time.
  • 🍒 If you are short on space, the dwarf variety Nana is a perfect choice. With tiny leaves, compact growth, and smaller fruit, it works well in containers, borders, or even as a bonsai. It's both ornamental and productive.
  • 🍒 Whether you want a reliable vitamin boost, a wildlife-friendly garden addition, or just a cheerful little tree with bright red fruit, Barbados Cherry has you covered.


📚 Learn more from previous posts:

🛒 Add this vitamin C tree to your garden

#Food_Forest #Discover #Remedies

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