Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 23 May 2025

How to grow cold-hardy avocados and how cold-hardy are they?

Cat is growing cold-hardy avocados

Cat is growing cold-hardy avocados

How to grow cold-hardy avocados and how cold-hardy are they?



Growing avocados in colder regions is possible with the right variety and care. By selecting Cold Hardy varieties, ensuring proper care, and taking protective steps during cold spells, you can successfully grow avocados outside of tropical climates.

The more established your tree, the better it will tolerate colder weather.

🌡 What is Avocado cold hardiness?



Avocados are sensitive to freezing temperatures but some Mexican varieties are cold-hardy, surviving temperatures as low as 15F once established. With proper care, some can endure brief cold snaps down to 10F.
  • 👉 Cold hardiness depends on several factors, including:


  • 🟢 Duration of cold: How long the tree is exposed to freezing temperatures.
  • 🟢 Sun exposure: Trees with more sunlight tend to handle cold better.
  • 🟢 Wind protection: Wind can make cold weather more damaging.
  • 🟢 Tree health: Proper care, including fertilization, can improve cold tolerance.


❄️ How to protect avocados from cold



If you're growing avocados in a cooler climate, it's essential to protect them from harsh cold. Here are some tips:
  • 🟢 Bigger is Better: Larger, more established trees are generally more cold-tolerant than young ones.
  • 🟢 Wind Protection: Cold winds can be more damaging than the temperature itself. Plant your avocado in a sheltered spot, such as on the south or southeast side of a building, where it’s protected from strong winds.
  • 🟢 Good Fertilization: A healthy tree is more likely to withstand cold. Make sure your avocado receives regular fertilization throughout the growing season to keep it strong.
  • 🟢 Watering: Avocados need regular watering, but during winter, they require much less water. Avoid overwatering, as this can lead to root rot in cold conditions.


✍️ Specific protection for young plants

  • 🟢 Covering and mulching: When a freeze is expected, mound mulch around the trunk to insulate the roots and cover the tree with a blanket for warmth. For extra protection, use Christmas lights or a small heater under the cover, following safety precautions.
  • 🟢 Microclimates matter: Plant your tree closer to a building for better cold protection. Placing it in the warmest part of your landscape will help it get more heat during winter.
  • 🟢 With proper care and protection, you can enjoy fresh avocados even in cooler climates!


🛒  Shop Cold Hardy Avocados

📚 Learn more:


#Food_Forest #Avocado #How_to

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Date: 6 Jun 2025

How to grow Dragon Fruit

🐉 How to grow Dragon Fruit


  • 🌵 Selenicereus megalanthus - Yellow Pitaya, Dragon Fruit Palora, is the best tasting Dragon Fruit in the world that is not only sweet, it has a great flavor (unlike most pitayas that are pretty watery).

  • 🌵This particular species of Dragon fruit doesn't mind regular water and rains but is also drought-tolerant. Watch a short video how to grow it:

📱

📚 Learn more:



🛒Grow your own Tasty Dragon Fruits

#Food_Forest #How_to #Dragon_Fruit

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Date: 7 Jul 2025

Learn more:

Chonemorpha fragrans - Frangipani vine

💎 What is better than Plumeria? Only climbing Plumeria!
  • 💮 It's in bloom again at Top Tropicals Garden! Over and over, from Spring through Winter! Almost year around non stop. What a vigorous vine, and the perfume flowers never stop coming.
  • 💮 Imagine Plumeria's wild cousin climbing your fence: Chonemorpha fragrans, the Frangipani vine, is a tropical liana with jumbo 12-inch leaves and creamy white flowers that fill the air with that unmistakable Plumeria scent.
  • 💮 This beauty doesn’t grow like a tree - it climbs! Perfect for fences, trellises, or pergolas, it brings vertical drama and sweet, Plumeria-like fragrance to sunny or lightly shaded spots.
  • 💮 Give it some support and a little fertilizer, and your garden will bloom into a lush, fragrant escape that smells like a Hawaii vacation!


🛒 Grow your own wall of perfume

📚 Learn more:


#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

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Date: 10 Jul 2025

Instant rainforest for your yard - tropical vibes made easy!

Cyathea cooperi - Australian tree fern

🌴 Instant rainforest for your yard - tropical vibes made easy!

  • 🌴 How to create your own jungle retreat quickly? Bring a touch of the tropics to your yard with the Australian tree fern!
  • 🌴 Cyathea cooperi - Australian tree fern - grows fast and looks like it came straight from a Hawaiian rainforest.
  • 🌴 Its giant, lacy fronds can reach up to 8 feet long.
  • 🌴 It takes bright shade or sun, as long as it stays moist.
  • 🌴 The baby fronds of the Australian tree fern unfurl like little furry scrolls, each one slowly unrolling like a curious creature’s tail coming to life. They look almost animated!
  • 🌴 Even in windy spots, this fern holds its own and adds instant jungle vibes. Create your own jungle retreat!


🛒 Yes, I want tropical vibes! Add to my paradise

#Nature_Wonders #Trees #Shade_Garden

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Date: 15 Aug 2025

Climbing 10 feet for Vanilla Beans!

Vanilla Bean Orchid - Vanilla planifolia

⭐️ Climbing 10 feet… for Vanilla Beans!

  • ⚡️ One of our Vanilla Bean Orchids at TopTropicals has big ambitions - it's already climbed 10 feet up a pine tree! We’re waiting (impatiently!) for those elegant yellow-green flowers, which will hopefully turn into vanilla beans.
  • ⚡️ Vanilla Bean Orchid (Vanilla planifolia) is the plant behind that sweet, comforting vanilla flavor we all love. It starts off like any potted orchid, but soon sends out aerial roots and becomes a climber, wrapping itself around trees or trellises. In its natural habitat, it grows high into forest canopies, but in the garden it will happily scale any sturdy support you give it.
  • ⚡️ Once established, it flowers and sets the long green pods we call vanilla beans. Growing your own is a lesson in patience - from flower to dried bean can take month - but nothing beats harvesting your own vanilla for the kitchen.


📚 Learn more:



📱How to produce your own vanilla: secrets of hand-pollination.

🛒 Climb toward your own beans

#Shade_Garden #Container_garden #Food_Forest

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