Avocado Joey: the hidden world beyond green and black

Joey is a Texas selection prized for its exceptional cold tolerance and dependable production. The small dark-skinned fruit has rich, creamy flesh and excellent flavor despite its modest size. For gardeners pushing the limits of avocado growing, Joey is often one of the first varieties recommended. As a compact grower, it is an excellent choice for container culture.

· Botanical name: Persea americana 'Joey'
· Origin: Guatemala
· Cold hardiness: Among the most cold-hardy avocados; reported to tolerate temperatures around 15°F
· USDA zones: 8b-11
· Flower type: B
· Tree size: Approximately 20 ft x 20 ft in the ground
· Growth habit: Upright, compact, with a well-branched canopy, suitable for container culture with minimal pruning
· Foliage: Mexican-type foliage with a pleasant anise-like fragrance when crushed
· Fruit size: 6-10 oz
· Fruit shape: Pear-shaped
· Fruit color: Purple-black when ripe
· Skin: Thin and smooth
· Flesh: Creamy, buttery, and high in oil
· Flavor: Rich, nutty, and excellent for fresh eating
· Season: September-October
· Best use: Fresh eating, slicing, and premium guacamole
· Special feature: Exceptional cold tolerance combined with rich, high-quality fruit
· Why growers love it: Joey is one of the best choices for gardeners in colder climates who still want excellent avocado flavor. Its ability to withstand winter cold while producing rich, buttery fruit has made it a favorite among avocado enthusiasts across the South. 👉 More

💡 Avocado tip: Protect young trees from cold

A mature avocado may handle a light freeze, but young trees are far more vulnerable. During the first few winters, be ready with frost cloth, blankets, or temporary protection.

🛒 Explore cold hardy Avocado varieties

📚 Learn more:

· Avocado Variety Guide: Snack or Guacamole? Collector's inspiration
· Avocado Fantastic: the hidden world beyond green and black
· Avocado Fantastic Quick Facts
· Cold-hardy avocado survival groups - what the numbers really mean
· How to protect Avocado from cold and how hardy is it?
· Avocado that laughs at frost: Mexicola Grande for cooler climates
· Cold hardy Avocado Joey - you eat it with the skin

📖 Our Book: Avocado Variety Guide, Snack or Guacamole?
· Hard copy · PDF File Download

#Food_Forest #Avocado #Discover

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Avocado Brogdon: the hidden world beyond green and black

Brogdon is one of Florida's most popular cold-hardy avocados. The fruit develops attractive purple-black skin and contains exceptionally rich, buttery flesh with a high oil content. The tree is vigorous, productive, and capable of tolerating temperatures around 20°F, making it a favorite for gardeners who want excellent flavor without sacrificing cold tolerance.

· Botanical name: Persea americana 'Brogdon'
· Origin: Mexican hybrid (Florida selection)
· Cold hardiness: Tolerates temperatures around 20°F and is considered one of the most cold-hardy avocados for Florida
· USDA zones: 9a-11
· Flower type: B
· Tree size: Approximately 30 ft x 20 ft
· Growth habit: Vigorous, upright, and productive with a dense canopy
· Foliage: Glossy green leaves with the characteristic fragrance of Mexican-type avocados when crushed
· Fruit size: 7-20 oz
· Fruit shape: Pear-shaped
· Fruit color: Purple-black when ripe
· Skin: Thin, smooth, and easy to peel
· Flesh: Deep yellow, creamy, buttery, and high in oil
· Flavor: Rich, nutty, and often considered among the best-tasting cold-hardy avocados
· Season: September-October
· Best use: Fresh eating, slicing, guacamole, and gourmet dishes
· Special feature: Combines excellent cold hardiness with premium fruit quality and attractive dark skin
· Why growers love it: Brogdon is often considered the avocado that proves cold-hardy varieties do not have to sacrifice flavor. Its rich buttery flesh, beautiful purple-black fruit, and dependable performance have made it one of the most popular avocados for home gardeners in the Southeast. 👉 More

💡 Avocado tip: Don't overwater

More avocado trees die from too much water than too little. Water deeply, then allow the soil to partially dry before watering again.

🛒 Explore cold hardy Avocado varieties

📚 Learn more:

· Avocado Variety Guide: Snack or Guacamole? Collector's inspiration
· Avocado Joey: the hidden world beyond green and black
· Avocado Fantastic: the hidden world beyond green and black
· Avocado Fantastic Quick Facts
· Cold-hardy avocado survival groups - what the numbers really mean
· How to protect Avocado from cold and how hardy is it?
· Avocado that laughs at frost: Mexicola Grande for cooler climates
· Cold hardy Avocado Joey - you eat it with the skin

📖 Our Book: Avocado Variety Guide, Snack or Guacamole?
· Hard copy · PDF File Download

#Food_Forest #Avocado #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Five most popular Avocado varieties

❓ "What is the best variety of Avocado?"
"Do you have the one with small black fruit and bumpy skin?"
"I have avocado with very large green fruit, what variety is it?"

These are frequently asked questions we get from our customers. This basic "classification" by black/green doesn't encompass all the wonderful qualities avocados have to offer. There are numerous hybrids in cultivation, and once you plant your first tree and taste the REAL fruit (not from the grocery store), you'll be eager to explore other varieties. While it's true that avocado fruit can vary in "butter" content, most superior varieties are equally delicious.

✅ We will guide you through Avocado varieties like we did with Mango varieties in earlier posts. First comes first -

🏆 The most popular Avocado varieties:

1. Brogdon - red-purple pear-shaped fruit, 7-15 oz. Skin is very thin, yellow buttery flesh. Fruit ripens in late summer-fall. Very cold hardy.

2. Hass - probably the most popular, but this tree prefers drier climate (Florida is humid, so we plant adaptable Florida Hass here). The fruit is dark-colored with a rough and bumpy skin, turns black when ripe.

3. Fuerte - a dwarf and a very cold hardy variety. Everybody's favorite "Condo Avocado": perfect for container culture and small yards. The mature tree in the ground is under 15 ft; 6-7 ft in containers.

4. Oro Negro - Oro Negro means "black gold" in Spanish, which is an incredibly appropriate name for this fruit. This Monroe hybrid (with big size fruit) is crossed with a Mexican type which would explain the black skin. The flesh is rich and buttery with a creamy texture.

5. Winter Mexican - one of most cold hardy varieties, Guatemalan x Mexican origin. Mature trees may withstand temperatures in the mid 20s. Oblong fruit, 12-18 oz, thick green skin. Very vigorous tree, bears heavily and regularly in December-January.

📚 Learn more: Avocado Variety Guide - check this out for interactive chart of Avocado varieties and sort them by flower type A or B, tree habit, fruit shape and quality, cold hardiness, origin, season and more!

🛒 Shop Avocado Trees

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Avocado leaf tea: island secret for a calm heart and blood pressure

🍃 You see that Avocado tree in your yard? Don't just love it for the fruit - the leaves carry magic too! Old folks in the tropics will tell you - never throw away the avocado leaves. They’ve been used for generations to brew a tea that helps steady the heart and ease high blood pressure.

🍃 When life gets busy and your heart starts beating too fast, this tea helps it find its rhythm again. The leaf holds flavonoids and quercetin - fancy words for what nature been doing all along: keeping the blood flowing smooth and the body at peace. Folks say it also helps with digestion and keeps the liver happy.

🍃 Avocado leaf tea

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 fresh avocado leaves
• 2 cups water
• Optional: honey, lemon, or cinnamon stick

Instructions

1. Rinse the avocado leaves well.
2. Place them in a small pot with 2 cups of water.
3. Bring to a gentle simmer and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
4. Strain the tea and add honey, lemon, or cinnamon if desired.
5. Sip slowly and enjoy the calm, earthy flavor.

🍃 They say it helps the belly, calms the mind, and keeps the liver strong. Maybe that’s science, maybe it’s just island truth - but it surely does the body good! Some call it bush medicine, others just call it good sense. Either way, it’s a simple garden remedy that’s been soothing hearts long before pills and prescriptions came around.

🛒 Plant an Avocado tree and help your body stay healthy

📚 Learn more:

Tropical fruit and plants that help keep blood pressure in balance, Part 1, and Part 2.

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Avocado Fantastic: the hidden world beyond green and black

Most people think avocados come in two colors - green and black. Maybe they've heard of Hass. But the hidden world of avocados is far more diverse, filled with giant fruits, unusual shapes, red-skinned varieties, and even trees that can handle surprising cold.

One of the most remarkable is Fantastic.

💚 The avocado that wasn't supposed to survive

Avocados are often considered tropical and tender. Fantastic challenges that idea. This unusual variety gained a following in Texas, where it reportedly survived temperatures near 10F around San Antonio. Mature trees can tolerate temperatures around 15F for short periods, making it one of the most cold-hardy avocados available.
For gardeners in cooler regions, Fantastic has become something of a legend - proof that growing avocados is not limited to the tropics.

💚 A survivor of Florida's historic freeze

During Florida's historic February 2026 freeze, temperatures at our Sebring nursery dropped to 25F with several nights of prolonged freezing. While many tropical plants suffered damage, Fantastic came through without noticeable injury - remarkable performance for a tropical fruit tree.

💚 More than just a tough tree

Fantastic would not be worth growing if cold hardiness were its only claim to fame. Fortunately, it also produces excellent fruit.
The avocados are relatively small, typically weighing 6 to 8 ounces, with very thin green skin that darkens as the fruit matures. Inside is smooth, creamy flesh with a rich, buttery texture and pleasant nutty flavor.
The skin is so thin that many people simply cut the fruit in half and scoop it out with a spoon, or even it it with the skin. This is the kind of avocado often enjoyed fresh rather than turned into guacamole.

💚 A handsome, manageable tree

Fantastic is a Mexican-type avocado, and it shows many of the characteristics that make this race so appealing.
The tree has an attractive upright growth habit and tends to remain more compact than many large Florida avocado varieties. Rather than becoming an enormous shade tree, it often develops into a narrower, more manageable specimen that fits comfortably into a home landscape.
The foliage is elegant and refined, giving the tree a lighter appearance than many broad-leaved avocados. Like other Mexican-type varieties, the leaves release a pleasant anise-like fragrance when crushed - a surprising feature that many gardeners discover by accident.

💚 Why Fantastic deserves more attention

Many avocado collectors spend years searching for unusual varieties. Some are chasing flavor. Others want larger fruit or longer harvest seasons.
Fantastic offers something different: confidence.

It gives gardeners in cooler climates a chance to grow a fruit that many people assume is impossible outside the tropics. Even in warmer regions, its remarkable cold tolerance provides peace of mind when winter weather turns unpredictable.

In a world where most shoppers only see green avocados and black avocados at the grocery store, Fantastic is a reminder that the hidden world of avocados is far richer, more diverse, and far more interesting than most people realize.

And for many growers, that discovery is simply Fantastic. 👉 More

🛒 Explore cold hardy Avocado varieties

📚 Learn more:

· Avocado Variety Guide: Snack or Guacamole? Collector's inspiration
· Cold-hardy avocado survival groups - what the numbers really mean
· How to protect Avocado from cold and how hardy is it?
· Avocado that laughs at frost: Mexicola Grande for cooler climates
· Cold hardy Avocado Joey - you eat it with the skin

📖 Our Book: Avocado Variety Guide, Snack or Guacamole?
· Hard copy · PDF File Download

#Food_Forest #Avocado #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals