Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 17 Sep 2023

NEW VIDEO:
How to properly cook Akee - quick recipe

Akee is a close relative of Lychee, Longan, and Rambutan. You can find delicious akee meals only in Jamaican restaurants! But no need to search for it - grow your own tree, it can't be easier. It will start fruiting for you the next season, you don't have to wait long. Sometimes it fruits twice a year! However, the fruit is used as a vegetable, and is not eaten raw. It must be picked after the fruit has opened naturally. After the fruit has "yawned", the arils are parboiled and lightly fried in butter. Then they are really delicious! Watch the QUICK RECIPE provided by our PeopleCats!

The Akee tree - scientific name Blighia sapida - is easy in cultivation, fast growing and can be maintained compact. It is not bugsy or picky about soil/water conditions, and is relatively cold tolerant for being a tropical tree. Now it's the perfect time to plant it!

Ackee,  Akee  fruit  -  Blighia  sapida,  and  a  cat

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Ackee,  Akee 
 fruit

Date: 30 Aug 2019

LadyBugs guarding your plants!

Q: I have a bunch of Ladybugs in my garden, I wonder if they eating my plants? Do I need to get rid of them?

A: Ladybug (Harmonia axyridis) is, in fact, one of the best insects you can find in your garden, it is a natural predator that takes care of many bad bugs, including aphids. Keep them happy and bring them to your garden. Ladybugs actually are cultivated as natural pest control, and you can even buy them for your yard, instead of chemicals!

Ladybug larvae eating aphids:

The wonderful insects that dine only on landscape pests and don't harm good bugs or plants are called 'beneficials', and ladybugs definitely fall into this category, but not the way many people think. It's the ladybug's larvae that are voracious predators of soft-bodied problem insects, especially aphids.

Photo below:

One of our PeopleCats, "Innocent" Ladybug (a.k.a. Bug) is wondering who else she can bug next...

Date: 22 Jun 2024

Have a happy Summer and stay cool!

Timo  Cat  on  the  couch

"Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. So relax."
- Bryant McGill -

Date: 9 Dec 2025

When will the war end?

Cat fight

🔥 When will the war end?
Sound on
🎤

Find out exactly when the war will end - at the end of this video!

🐈📸 Starring:


Orange Cat Zhyrdyay (Cherkassy, Ukraine)
'Paper' Tiger Cat (intruder from occupied Luhansk, trying to take Zhyrdyay's land)

🎥 Filmed by:Vasiliy Sarana, Wildlife Explorer and Film Director, Ukraine.
🔛 Subscribe to Vasiliy's YouTube Channel: Wildlife Adventures Ukraine

#PeopleCats

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 13 Jun 2022

Secret Garden - 50% OFF
The point of your Garden

Secret  Garden

"...A garden always has a point..."
- Elizabeth Hoyt, The Raven Prince -

Let our Secret Garden selections help you make the point of your Garden!
Each week we add a variety of plants to our Secret Garden with special savings of

50% off and more!

Check back often to find new the Secret Garden selection! Find new specials of the month from our Newsletters.

And for local customers, come visit our Garden Center for an even larger Secret Garden selection. Ask our sales reps about full list of Secret Garden plants available for local pick up!

Trachelospermum  asiaticum  Ogon  Nishiki  Gold 
 Brocade

Photo above: Trachelospermum asiaticum Ogon Nishiki Gold Brocade (tri-color), very undemanding plant, can be used as an eye catching groundcover.