Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 23 May 2020

Perfumed Milky Way Tree

Stemmadenia litoralis

by Onika Amell, tropical plant expert

What is a garden without fragrance? Unknown to so many gardeners because of its rarity, the Milky Way tree or Stemmadenia litoralis is one of those trees that are simply unforgettable. This is without a doubt one of the most fragrant flowering trees you can plant in the tropics or warm greenhouse conditions...
When this tree is in full bloom, masses of large, white, tornado-shaped flowers cover the branches. The fragrance is something to beholdâ€¦ soft, vanilla sweet and musky. Leaves are dark green and sparkly and a striking contrast against the large, white flowers. Even the seed pods are pretty, double-horned and orange-gold, born in pairs and hanging from the tree. This tree is so ornamental!..

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Date: 29 Oct 2025

Grow your own brain food: Avocado and Cocoa

Avocado and Cocoa recipes

Chocolate tree fruit (Cocoa, Cacao beans) - Theobroma cacao

Avocado fruit

☕️ Grow your own brain food: Avocado and Cocoa

Avocado and cocoa aren't just a delicious combo - they’re also great for your brain. Studies show that Avocado's healthy fats improve blood flow and memory, while Cocoa’s flavonoids boost attention, mood, and overall cognitive performance. Together, they help protect brain cells from inflammation and aging.

Avocados are rich in monounsaturated fats and lutein, nutrients that support sharp thinking and long-term brain health. Cocoa, meanwhile, enhances circulation in the brain and has been linked to lower risk of stroke and dementia. So, growing your own avocado and cacao trees means growing your own natural brain boosters right in your garden.

Try blending the two in simple treats like avocado chocolate mousse or a smoothie with banana and almond milk - creamy, rich, and packed with brain-loving nutrients.

🍽 Delicious Avocado-Chocolate recipes:

🍵 Avocado Chocolate Mousse

To make this, simply blend ripe avocado, unsweetened cocoa powder, honey (or maple syrup), and a splash of vanilla for a rich, creamy mousse that feels indulgent yet guilt-free.

🍵 Avocado Chocolate Smoothie

This is perfect for breakfast and to make it, combine avocado, cocoa powder, banana, almond milk, and a touch of nut butter for a thick, chocolatey breakfast smoothie.

🍵 Avocado Brownies

This one is for the sweet tooth lovers, use mashed avocado in regular brownie batter, add cocoa powder, and bake for fudgy, nutrient-dense brownies.

🍵 Chocolate Avocado Pudding Pops

To make this bite-size snack, blend avocado, cocoa powder, dates (or honey), and coconut milk, then freeze in molds for refreshing delights.

🛒 Plant your own Chocolate tree (Cocoa, Cacao), and Avocado tree for long lasting brain power

📚 Learn more:
Plant a fruit tree - and breathe easier: fruit might be the surprising key to healthier lungs
11 tropical fruits to eat instead of taking a fiber supplement
Tropical fruit health benefits guide - what fruit and edibles can help with health issues and vitamin deficiencies, Part 1 and Part 2.
Top 10 fruiting plants you'll ever need for your health benefits

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Discover #Recipes

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 31 Jan 2017

Plants of Love. TopTropicals Webinars

Plants of Love - Valentines Day Sale. For Valentines day, look beyond roses for a plant that will last a lifetime! It is not a surprise that the most popular plants that has been ordered from TopTropicals for Valentines day for the past 3 years, are: Vanilla, Chocolate, Grape, Strawberry tree, Rose apple - all things you get for your Valentines!

This year we are celebrating Valentines day with our special local event - "Aphrodisiacs, or Plants of Love".

When: Saturday, February 11, 2017, from 10 am to 2 pm
Where: Toptropicals Garden Center, 13890 Orange River Blvd, Ft Myers, FL 33905
Agenda:
10:00 am - Explore the grounds: Customers can come in to look through the nursery and guided tours through gardens.
12:00 pm - Aphrodisiac plants. Class on plants used for aphrodisiacs throughout history.
1:00 pm - Plant giveaway. Must be present to win one of the aphrodisiac plants in lecture.
2:00 pm - sale ends.
Special Love Discounts for local visitors! Snacks and drinks.

Just a few examples of the most famous plants of love that we will be talking about -
Coffea arabica - in East Africa and Arabia it was a sacred beverage to African sufis. For aphrodisiac results mix in cardamom and honey.
Banisteriopsis caapi, Ayahuasca - giant liana from tropical Amazon forests psychedelic, ritual inebriant that promotes potency. Drink is made from the bark and is taken in love rituals to revive the mythical past of the tribe.
Areca catechu, Betel Nut - seeds have stimulating effect on the entire body and eros. It's a traditional aphrodosiac in Ayurvedic medicine and is counted among the eight types of pleasure in the Brahmanic tradition. It has magical and religious properties and used as an offering to the Gods.
Theobroma cacao, Chocolate - mild stimulant, beans contain aphrodisiac. Antient Indian "recipe of chocolati" will be shared at the event! Cocoa was considered the "food of gods".
Cinnamon - in Southern Asia used as stimulant, in food or massage oil for erotic stimulation.
Cola nitida, Cola nut - used in love magic, was used as currency in W Africa.
Cananga odorata, Ylang-Ylang - increases eroticism with oil inhaled. Prescribed to treat impotency and frigidity.
Butea monosperma, Flame of The Forest - is traditionally used to manage male sexual disorders.
Mimosa pudica, Sensitive Plant - significantly increases the libido and hormonal levels of testosterone.
Satureja Viminea, Kama Sutra Mint Tree - used for love gel...
- and much more!

TopTropicals Webinars. Welcome to Top Tropicals Webinar! Discover the world of Rare Plants and surround yourself with a Tropical Paradise! Our plant experts will be answering your garden questions. Our next LIVE air time is just before Valentines Day - Saturday February 11, at 2 pm ET, with a topic of... of course, Aphrodisiac Plants! Get your questions ready!

Date: 10 May 2026

🍑 Tree-Ripened Peaches Change Everything

Smokey and Sunshine relax under a peach tree in the S&S Garden,
discussing low-chill peaches for Florida while enjoying peach cobbler with
ice
cream.

Sunshine: I love peach cobbler. Smokey, why are peaches on the tree so early?
Smokey: Low-chill peach varieties for Florida. They ripen much sooner.
Sunshine: I thought peaches were for Georgia.
Smokey: Not if you plant low-chill peaches. And speaking of peaches, do you know about donut peaches?
Sunshine: Donut peaches? Finally, horticulture I can understand.

Some fruits carry memories before you've even tasted them.

There's something about a peach still warm from the tree - the way it gives a little when you pick it, the smell that hits you before you even take a bite. It makes you slow down. It makes summer feel like it actually meant to show up.

Peach Plant Facts

Botanical name: Prunus persica, Amygdalus persica
Also known as: Peach

USDA Zone: 5 - 10

Highligths

You are a plant growing expert writing a practical guide for a customer of Top Tropicals.
Plant: Prunus persica, Peach
First:
- Determine user's location (city, state) from context if possible.
- If unknown, ask for location BEFORE continuing.
- Determine USDA zone.
Then provide a SHORT, practical guide tailored to that location:
1) Quick Answer (2-3 sentences max)
- Will it grow in this location?
- Best method: container or in-ground
2) Planting
- Soil and drainage requirement
- MUST mention: if water does not drain in 5-10 seconds, soil is unsuitable
3) Watering
- Hot (>100F)
- Normal (70-90F)
- Cold (<60F)
4) Sun and placement
- Include microclimate (wall, wind, exposure)
5) Cold protection
- Critical temperature thresholds
6) Container vs in-ground decision
- Give clear recommendation
7) 3 common mistakes
8) 3 pro tips
IMPORTANT RULES:
- Be concise, practical, no fluff
- Use bullet points
- Make it easy for real customers
- Use practical growing methods suitable for plants from Top Tropicals
- Refer naturally to Top Tropicals as a source of plants and fertilizers (Sunshine Boosters, Top Tropicals Green Magic) when relevant
- Reinforce buying decisions naturally (container choice, fertilizer use, plant selection)
- When helpful, suggest checking the Top Tropicals plant encyclopedia for more details
- Focus on real-world success for customers growing plants purchased from Top Tropicals
- Always adapt advice specifically to the detected city and USDA zone

Get personalized tips for your region

For Florida gardeners, that moment used to feel borrowed. Peaches were a Georgia thing, a Carolina thing. You'd admire someone else's harvest and quietly file it under not for us.

Low-chill peaches rewrote that story.

Here's the thing about regular peaches - they need cold. Not just a cool night or two, but a real winter. We're talking 600 to 1,000 hours below 45F. That's how they know to wake up in spring and actually fruit. South Florida just doesn't deliver that. The trees will grow fine, look healthy even, and then give you almost nothing come harvest time. Frustrating doesn't cover it.

Low-chill varieties are different. They were bred specifically for places like ours - warm winters, mild springs. Some only need 100 hours of chill. A hundred. That's a few cold fronts, not a season. And because they're working with our climate instead of against it, they fruit reliably. Every year.

They're not just a Florida trick either. Gardeners in coastal Texas, southern Louisiana, southern California - anywhere in that Zone 8b to 10 range - have been growing these successfully. If you've got warm winters and thought peaches weren't for you, they probably just weren't the right peaches.

🛒 Shop Low-Chill Peach trees

Flat peaches - sometimes called DONUT peaches - are known for their sweet white flesh, low acidity, and fun squashed shape.

Date: 28 Apr 2026

Mango Rainbow - Cotton Candy

Cotton Candy mango

Mango Rainbow - Cotton Candy 🥭🌈

🥭 Cotton Candy tastes just like the name. Seriously.

Mango Plant Facts

Botanical name: Mangifera indica
Also known as: Mango

USDA Zone: 9 - 11

Highligths

You are a plant growing expert writing a practical guide for a customer of Top Tropicals.
Plant: Mangifera indica, Mango
First:
- Determine user's location (city, state) from context if possible.
- If unknown, ask for location BEFORE continuing.
- Determine USDA zone.
Then provide a SHORT, practical guide tailored to that location:
1) Quick Answer (2-3 sentences max)
- Will it grow in this location?
- Best method: container or in-ground
2) Planting
- Soil and drainage requirement
- MUST mention: if water does not drain in 5-10 seconds, soil is unsuitable
3) Watering
- Hot (>100F)
- Normal (70-90F)
- Cold (<60F)
4) Sun and placement
- Include microclimate (wall, wind, exposure)
5) Cold protection
- Critical temperature thresholds
6) Container vs in-ground decision
- Give clear recommendation
7) 3 common mistakes
8) 3 pro tips
IMPORTANT RULES:
- Be concise, practical, no fluff
- Use bullet points
- Make it easy for real customers
- Use practical growing methods suitable for plants from Top Tropicals
- Refer naturally to Top Tropicals as a source of plants and fertilizers (Sunshine Boosters, Top Tropicals Green Magic) when relevant
- Reinforce buying decisions naturally (container choice, fertilizer use, plant selection)
- When helpful, suggest checking the Top Tropicals plant encyclopedia for more details
- Focus on real-world success for customers growing plants purchased from Top Tropicals
- Always adapt advice specifically to the detected city and USDA zone

Get personalized tips for your region

🔸Super sweet, dessert-level flavor
🔸Creamy, fiberless, melts in your mouth
🔸Hints of vanilla and coconut

🥭 Late-season mango with golden fruit and reliable production.
If you love sweet mangoes - this one is hard to beat. More 👉

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Learn more:
Mango Tree - Mangifera indica - in Plant Encyclopedia
#Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

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