Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 22 Apr 2025

Low-Maintenance Bloom for Your Patio

Desert  Rose  -  Adenium  in  pot

Q: I'm looking for compact, low-maintenance plants for my patio - something colorful, unusual, and not like the boring crotons. I need several for my lanai, preferably flowering, showy, and easy to care for since I often forget to water. Do such plants even exist?

A: Sounds like you need Adeniums - also known as Desert Roses. They're perfect for patios and lanais, and they check every box: compact, low maintenance, drought-tolerant, and bursting with color. You can grow them in sun or shade, and they don't mind if you forget to water now and then. Plus, they're real conversation pieces - people collect them like art! Adeniums look like living sculptures thanks to their thick, swollen caudex.

At Top Tropicals, we grow over 200 hybrid varieties of Adeniums, and usually have 100+ in stock. You'll find doubles, reds, purples, yellows, even striped, dotted, rainbow, and black flowers. With so many options, you'll want more than just one!

Desert  Roses  -  Adeniums  in  pots

Want that iconic fat base? Here's the trick:

Every time you repot, raise the plant slightly to expose more of the upper roots. This encourages downward root growth and thickens the caudex over time. Just use a well-draining mix, water only when dry, and feed with Sunshine Megaflor Booster to support both blooming and trunk growth.

Adeniums aren't just low-effort - they're living art for your lanai!

The First Video of Exotic Adenium Hybrids

Our Desert roses - Adeniums - were planted in March - and now, at the end of April, they're in full bloom. Just look at these colors in this !

Desert  Roses  -  Adeniums  flowering  different  varieties

Date: 26 Apr 2025

Fun Facts About the Guava Flower

Guava Flower

🌸 Fun Facts About the Guava Flower

  • 🌸 Frilly and Fabulous - Guava flowers may be small, but they're packed with fluffy white stamens that give them a soft, powder-puff look.
  • 🌸 Pollinator Magnet - Bees and butterflies love guava blooms, making them a great addition to a pollinator-friendly garden.
  • 🌸 Scent-sational - The flowers have a light, pleasant fragrance that adds a touch of sweetness before the fruit even arrives.
  • 🌸 Bloom to Fruit - Each flower can turn into a delicious guava fruit, making them both beautiful and productive.
  • 🌸 Part of the Showy Family - Guava (Psidium) belongs to the Myrtaceae family, which also includes eye-catching bloomers like Eucalyptus, Bottlebrush (Callistemon), and the stunning Rose Apple (Syzygium).


📚 More from previous posts about: #Guava

🛒 Shop Guava Trees

#Food_Forest #Guava #Fun_facts

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Date: 28 Apr 2025

How to choose the right Butterfly plants?

How to choose the right Butterfly plants?
Watch Top Tropicals on TV
📺

  • Want to bring more butterflies to your garden? It's simple - plant butterfly-friendly plants!

  • Not sure which plants to choose? Top Tropicals has a wide selection of butterfly attractors ready for you! Visit our nursery or shop online today.

  • Top Tropicals plant expert Kristi will help you to select the best butterfly plants for your yard!


📱 Watch ABC7 Fort Myers News: Butterfly plants with Kristi at Top Tropicals


Shop Now for Butterfly Plants!

#Butterfly_Plants

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Date: 29 Apr 2025

Six-Toed Cats: The Paws That Made History

Six-Toed Cats: The Paws That Made History

🐾 Six-Toed Cats: The Paws That Made History


  • 🐾 What is your favorite place in Florida?
  • Ours is Florida Keys! And what is our favorite place in Florida Keys? Hemingway Museum with Six-Toed Cats!

  • 🐾 Six-toed cats, also known as polydactyl cats, are a unique genetic trait that makes their paws look like they're wearing mittens - sometimes even with a "thumb." Most commonly, they have extra toes on their front paws, though some may have them on their back feet too.

  • 🐾 Ernest Hemingway’s home is famous for housing about 40-50 polydactyl cats, all descendants of a white six-toed cat named Snow White, a gift from a ship captain. The polydactyl gene is passed down, so even cats with the usual number of toes can have six-toed kittens.

  • 🐾 Polydactyl cats can appear in many breeds - Tabbies, Tortoiseshells, Calicos, and more. They're found in all shapes, sizes, and colors, but they share one fascinating feature: extra toes!

  • 🐾 True to Hemingway’s tradition, all of the museum's cats are named after famous people. These cats aren't just cute - they’re smart and can learn to respond to their names, making them extra special!

  • 🐾 So next time you see a six-toed cat, remember you're looking at a piece of literary history with a bit of extra "paw-some" charm!


📚 Learn more:


Hemingway's six-toed cats

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats #Fun_facts

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Date: 28 Apr 2025

Flower of Dinosaurs

Magnolia flower and a cat

Magnolia flower and a cat

Flower of Dinosaurs



Did you know that -
Magnolias are one of the oldest flowering plants, dating back about 95 million years! They actually predate bees, as their flowers are designed to be pollinated by beetles. In fact, magnolias and dinosaurs coexisted during the Cretaceous period, making them one of the oldest living species of flowering plants!

🐈 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats #Fun_facts

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