Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 2 Jan 2026

Velvet Nopal tacos: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

Velvet Nopal tacos

Velvet Nopal tacos

Opuntia cochenillifera - Velvet Nopal Cactus, Prickly Pear

Opuntia cochenillifera - Velvet Nopal Cactus, Prickly Pear

🍴 Velvet Nopal Tacos

Ingredients

  • 2 to 3 tender velvet nopal pads (Opuntia cochenillifera)
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 small tomato, diced
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • Salt to taste
  • Corn tortillas

Instructions

  1. Remove spines from nopal pads and slice into strips.
  2. Boil the sliced nopal for 5 minutes, then drain well.
  3. Heat oil in a pan and saute onion until soft.
  4. Add tomato and cooked nopal, season with salt, and saute until tender.
  5. Serve warm in corn tortillas.

🌵 About the plant:


Nopal Opuntia (prickly pear cactus pads) is a cornerstone vegetable in Mexican cuisine and a long-standing staple across Central and South America. It is valued both as food and medicine. Traditionally eaten sauteed, grilled, or stewed, nopal is rich in fiber, minerals, and antioxidants. It is especially well known for its role in blood sugar management - many people who eat it regularly report significant improvement in diabetes control.

🌱 In the garden:


Prickly pear is a fast-growing, tough desert plant with showy red flowers. It thrives on neglect, tolerates drought, and also handles Florida rain surprisingly well. Easy to grow, productive, and edible, it is one of the most practical food plants you can add to your landscape.

🛒 Add Nopal Cactus to your kitchen garden

📚 Learn more:

Cochineal Cactus Plant Facts

Botanical name: Opuntia cochenillifera, Nopalea cochenillifera, Opuntia nuda
Also known as: Cochineal Cactus, Warm hand, Velvet Opuntia, Nopales Opuntia, Nopal Cactus
USDA Zone: 8 - 11
Highligths Large shrub 5-10 ft tallSemi-shadeFull sunWatering: Moderate. Water when top soil feels dryRed, crimson, vinous flowersEdible plantSubtropical plant. Mature plant cold hardy at least to 30s F for a short time
Get personalized tips for your region

Opuntia cochenillifera - Velvet Nopal Cactus, Prickly Pear in Plant Encyclopedia
Edible cactus with health benefits that your tortoise will love too

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Remedies

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 9 Jan 2026

Mango Tree for Zone 5: top 15 Condo Mango for growing in cold areas

Mango Tree for Zone 5

🥭 Mango Tree for Zone 5: top 15 Condo Mango for growing in cold areas



🥭 Can you grow a mango tree in Zone 5? Short answer - yes! The trick is - containers!
Mango trees are tropical plants but they do great in pots when you choose the right varieties.

🥭 Compact types stay short, respond well to pruning, and produce in containers.
You can grow them on a patio, balcony, even move them indoors in your condo for winter. That is why they are called condo mangoes!
During warm months, they live outside.
When cold weather hits, they come inside.

🥭 With good light, proper watering, fertilizing, and some patience, these trees can reward you with real mangoes. Not a farm harvest, but enough to enjoy and share.

🏆 Most popular Condo Mango varieties:


Baptiste
Carrie
Cogshall
Diamond
Fairchild
Ice Cream
Julie
Keitt
Lancetilla
Lemon Meringue
Mallika
Nam Doc Mai
Okrung
Pickering
Venus

🛒 Discover Condo Mango

📚 Learn more:
What are the Condo Mangos - a practical guide
Top 10 Dwarf "Condo" Mango, great for container culture
 Best tropical fruit and edibles to grow in Zone 5 and anywhere outside the Tropics

#Food_Forest #How_to #Discover #Mango

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 16 Dec 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Jim the Founder

Jim is the oldest cat of Top Tropicals. In fact, he is one of the Founders. In 2004 a tiny kitten showed up at first TopTropicals Nursery - a small quarter acre in Ft Lauderdale... Jim looked very important and confident and told us that he wants to stay with us because he sees a great future for TopTropicals... and he was right. Since then, Jim traveled with us through all nursery locations we ever had!

Jim used to lay on top of a warm monitor and help with our first website designs... if you look at his favorite monitor in the picture, you now can imagine how old this cat is!
In spite of his age, Jim is very active and likes to eat a lot. He believes that a good meal is key to a healthy living, and prefers variety. He eats everything: meat, fish, soup, pasta, pizza, veggies, cucumbers, salad... eats well and stays healthy!
Jim happily participates in all costume parties. Yes, it is him in a Santa costume greeting you at the top of this newsletter!

Don't miss out: Loquat Big Jim - we only have 4 plants, they all named after Jim!

Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.

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: 24 Jun 2018

Choosing the right Mango for your garden

Q: Do the mango trees you sell already have fruit? Or how long does it take to get fruit? Are they tricky to keep up? I live locally and have been interested in getting a few!

A: Some of our mangos in both 3 gal and 7 gal pots have fruit on them. All our mango trees are grafted which means they are ready to produce fruit. So if not the same year, you should get fruit the next year.
Mangoes in general are easy to grow plants. They are not picky about soil and water, however they need full sun for fruiting. When you are lucky to live in tropical or subtropical climate, your mango will thrive in a ground, and within 2-3 years you will have a mature tree, and a crop every year (those who have cold winters, still can grow a mango tree in a pot, and move it indoors for colder period). Visit our garden center for a tour of our Mango Gardenthat is only 3 years old and is full of fruit! Tasting table available :) We offer over 100 varieties, and our experts can help you to make the right choice for your garden. To start your own mango tree collection, depending on space available, you may begin with the following varieties:
Nam Doc Mai - one of the most popular and delicious Asian mango
Carrie - very compact grower, reliable producer with great taste
Cogshall and Ice Cream - dwarf varieties for small yards, excellent taste
Alphonso - considered one of the best tasting

See full list of our mango varieties, all fiberless and great sweet flavors.

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