Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 8 Jan 2026

Root beer leaf wraps: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

Root beer leaf wraps

Root beer leaf wraps

Piper auritum - Root Beer Plant

Piper auritum - Root Beer Plant

🍴 Root Beer Leaf Wraps

Ingredients

  • 6 to 8 large fresh Root Beer leaves (Piper auritum)
  • 1 lb ground meat or firm tofu
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Optional: chili flakes, paprika, or cumin
  • Lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions

  1. Rinse the Root Beer leaves and pat dry. Trim thick stems if needed.
  2. In a bowl, mix ground meat or tofu with onion, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, and spices.
  3. Place a portion of filling onto each leaf and roll tightly into wraps.
  4. Grill over medium heat until the leaves are lightly charred and the filling is cooked through.
  5. Serve warm with lemon wedges or dipping sauce.

☘️ About the plant:


Piper auritum - Root beer plant, also known as Acuyo or false Kava-Kava, is a large-leaved tropical herb native to Central and South America and also grown in the South Pacific. It belongs to the same family as Kava-Kava and black pepper. The leaves are prized for their bold, aromatic flavor, often described as root beer, anise, or clove-like. Traditionally, the leaves are chopped for seasoning or used whole as natural wrappers for meats, fish, and tamales.

🌱 In the garden:


Piper auritum is easy to grow in warm climates and forms a lush, fast-growing perennial. Its huge, soft leaves - often over a foot long - make it both edible and ornamental. It prefers warmth, moisture, and partial shade and is often mistaken for Kava-Kava due to its similar appearance and close relation.

🛒 Plant the beautiful Root Beer Plant - it always will be with you

📚 Learn more:

Root Beer Plant Facts

Botanical name: Piper auritum
Also known as: Root Beer Plant, Mexican Pepperleaf, Hoja Santa , Veracruz Pepper, False Kava-Kava, Sacred Pepper
USDA Zone: 8 - 11
Highligths Large shrub 5-10 ft tallSmall plant 2-5 ftSemi-shadeShadeFull sunWatering: Regular. Let topsoil dry slightlyKeep soil moistInvasive plantSpice or herb plantEthnomedical plant. Plants marked as ethnomedical and/or described as medicinal, are not offered as medicine but rather as ornamentals or plant collectibles. Ethnomedical statements / products have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. We urge all customers to consult a physician before using any supplements, herbals or medicines advertised here or elsewhere.Irritating plantSubtropical plant. Mature plant cold hardy at least to 30s F for a short time
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Piper auritum - Root Beer Plant in Plant Encyclopedia
How to always have your own Root Beer
How to grow your own Pepper plants. Five most valuable 'Pipers'

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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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
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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

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Date: 18 Oct 2016

Checklist - preparing for winter in subtropical areas.
Watering. Start reducing the amount you water your plants in early fall, once the temperature drops below 65 °F. Avoid watering your plants during cool nights, as this may cause serious root rot.
Mulch. When a plant is protected by a thick layer of mulch, the root system stays healthy.
No Pruning. Avoid pruning, trimming, or pinching branch tips altogether during the fall and winter which encourages new shoots that are soft, tender, and very cold sensitive.
No Fertilizer. Avoid fertilizers during the winter. The main reason being the same as above for pruning: fertilizing promotes growth of the upper plant parts which should be avoided during the winter months.

Time to clean your yard!
In the South. It's getting cooler in subtropical areas, and garden work becomes even more enjoyable. Your garden now is in the most perfect shape after summer vigorous growth. It is the best time now to run the last trim before winter, as well as last fertilizer application. Clean up your yard without sweating off, add mulch to help plants to survive through possible winter chills. Don't forget to start reducing watering! Remember once temperatures drop below 65F, tropical plants slow down or stop growing and go into winter dormancy sleep.

Up North. When temperatures drop below 45 °F, start bringing sensitive plants indoors or into protected areas. Prepare/cover greenhouse, check availability of covers (sheets, plastic) and condition of heaters. Plants indoors will experience environment change, may drop leaves, and need different care than out in the sun. Reduce watering, check for insects once a week, and stop fertilizing until spring. Remember to pick the brightest spots for overwintering your tropical plants!

Enjoy cooler weather, fresh air, and thank yourself for a wonderful work you have done in your yard!

Date: 19 Aug 2016

Growing Mexican Flame Vine as an annual

Q: While down in Fort Myers a few years ago, I saw this plant - Senecio confusus or Mexican Flame Vine, growing over chain-link fencing. At any rate, I fell in love with the plant then and there, only to later see it up here in Wisconsin, albeit down in Madison at The Centennial House, a noted botanical garden. This has led me to believe it may be possible to use this plant up here in the north as an annual. I could really use the orange coloration in mixed containers, etc. What I would like to try to find out is, will it grow and flower sufficiently within one of our growing seasons up here to make the choice worthwhile? Again, seeing it at Centennial House at least leads me to believe it may be possible. China where the flower was admired for its beauty and believed to have medicinal properties that promoted good health and long life. The Japanese Emperor was so smitten with the kiku flower that he adopted it as his personal crest, and it remains the insignia of the imperial family today. The art of growing and displaying Kiku for the Emperor's garden represented by amazing Imperial styles: Ozukuri, Ogiku, Kengai... Imagine growing out of one stem a single chrysanthemum trained to produce hundreds of simultaneous blossoms in a massive, dome-shaped array.

A: Mexican Flame vine is a good candidate to be grown as annual, thanks to these features:
- extremely fast growing
- it flowers in small size and young age
- long flowering period (2-3 months depending on conditions), throughout early Spring into Summer, sometimes it has a second blooming season by end of Summer.
- we keep large mature plants in stock year round, so you can have blooming size specimen as early as spring once your temperatures reach 65F so the plant will feel comfortable and develop quickly.
- easy to propagate - more plants can be made for next year season.

In winter, a potted plant can be cut back and kept in semi-dormant state indoors - garage, enclosed patio, with temperatures around 50F and above. Some gardeners from North prefer to plant a tropical specimen with a pot into the ground (make sure to add extra drainage holes), and when winter comes, it makes it easier to dig it out and save till warm season.

Date: 14 May 2016

Top Tropicals Video: Ambarella - delicious June Plum

Golden Apple, or June Plum - Spondias cytherea.

This exciting fruiting plant will amaze you with its ability to flower and fruit at a young age. It fruits in winter and holds the fruit up to 6-8 months, long after the leaves have dropped. The fruit appears in pairs and will turn a brushed-golden color as it ripens. Its feel and juiciness resembles that of a mango but with completely different flavor. The Golden apple is used both in sweet and savory dishes depending on its ripeness. When green, the fruit is commonly eaten as is (with or without skin just like green mangoes) with salt and other salty/spicy dips, made into salsas, chutneys, and into juices and smoothies. When fully ripe, the Golden Apple will be deep yellowish-orange in color. When yellow, the fruit is eaten just like an apple or stewed with sugar to make an applesauce-like dessert.

Check out this video: ...

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