Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 25 May 2025

Another Musk from Africa that came before Elon: the true Healer from Zulu

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - flowers

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - leaves

Musk Bush - Iboza riparia, Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush - leaves

🚀 Another Musk from Africa that came before Elon: the true Healer from Zulu.

🚀 This African Musk has less hype and more goodness: it won't buy Twitter but it might cure your cough!

🚀 Musk Bush (Iboza riparia) - also called Misty Plume Bush, or Ginger Bush, is a highly aromatic shrub with a long tradition of healing use in African herbal medicine. Its soft, velvety leaves release a sweet ginger-like scent when crushed and are packed with medicinal value.

🚀 Medicinal uses



💚 Respiratory relief: The Zulu people traditionally use Iboza as an inhalant for coughs, chest congestion, and even malaria. Crushed leaves are often inhaled or made into a steam bath to clear the lungs.

💚 Natural relaxant: Often used alongside Psychotria viridis for calming effects, this plant is prized for its gentle sedative properties.

💚 Headache and digestive aid: Inhaling the fragrance can ease headaches, and teas or infusions are used to soothe stomach aches.

🚀 Plant facts



💚 Growth: Fast-growing (up to 3 ft/year), up to 6 ft tall, with a full, bushy habit.

💚 Leaves: Bright green, heart-shaped, covered in sticky aromatic hairs.

💚 Flowers: showy mist-like white to lilac spikes hang in beautiful, fragrant dense clusters.

💚 Fragrance: Leaves are scented like ginger with a musky twist - especially fragrant after light pruning.

🚀 Growing tips



💚 Best in full sun or partial shade

💚 Likes rich, well-drained soil and regular summer water, drought tolerant once established.

💚 Prune hard after flowering to keep it compact and boost future blooms.

💚 Grows well in pots in cold climates.

🛒 Order Musk Bush - natural remedy for body and mind

#Food_Forest #Remedies

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Date: 19 Jul 2025

National treasure of Thailand: Golden Shower Tree

Cassia fistula - Golden Shower Tree

🌞 National treasure of Thailand: Golden Shower Tree



☀️ Cassia fistula - Golden Shower Tree is known as the national flower of Thailand. It is one of the most spectacular flowering trees for tropical and subtropical gardens.

☀️ From late spring through summer, it puts on a breathtaking display of golden-yellow flower clusters that hang in long, pendulous chains, often over a foot long. When in full bloom, the entire tree appears drenched in gold.

☀️ This deciduous tree drops its leaves in the dry season, allowing the brilliant flowers to take center stage. The leaves re-emerge after flowering, followed by long, dark brown seed pods that can reach up to two feet.

☀️ Cassia fistula is fast-growing, typically reaching 20-30 feet tall, and thrives in full sun with well-drained soil. It prefers a dry season to initiate heavy blooming and is tolerant of drought once established.

☀️ Aside from its beauty, the tree has cultural and medicinal significance in Asia in Ayurvedic medicine.

☀️ Fun facts:


In Thailand, it’s called Ratchaphruek and symbolizes royal identity.
Its golden flowers are often used in local festivals and ceremonies.
It attracts bees and butterflies and provides seasonal shade.

🛒 Shop showy Cassia trees

📚 Learn more:


Compact and showy flowering trees: Rainbow Cassias.

#Butterfly_Plants #Trees

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Date: 6 Oct 2025

The hot Guyanese secret to perfect skin

Biquinho Pepper (Capsicum annuum x chinense) and Wiri Wiri Pepper (Capsicum frutescens)

❗️ The hot Guyanese secret to perfect skin 💥

🌶 Who said Peppers can't be cute? These two little fireballs prove otherwise! They might look small, but they’re full of personality, flavor, and heat.

🌶 Biquinho Pepper (Capsicum annuum x chinense)
This heart-shaped hottie is an ancient hybrid between bird pepper and habanero is as beautiful as it is flavorful. Each tiny 1-inch red pepper packs a fruity, tangy punch with just enough heat to make your taste buds dance. Perfect for container gardens, Biquinho peppers decorate the plant like tiny red ornaments – and they’re just as tasty in pickles, salsas, or fresh salads.

🌶 Wiri Wiri Pepper (Capsicum frutescens)
From the kitchens of Guyana comes a true legend - the Wiri Wiri pepper. These little berry-shaped peppers turn from green to orange to bright red, bursting with intense heat and flavor. Guyanese chefs swear by it - it's the secret behind their famously spicy, flavorful dishes. Locals even say it’s the reason they live long, have glowing skin, and look amazing… it's not just spice, it's magic!

🌶 Fun facts:


· Both peppers belong to the same botanical family as potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants.
· What makes them special isn't just the heat - it's the flavor!
· True pepper lovers know that great peppers are about depth, aroma, and the fruity fire they bring to every meal.

🌶 Growing tips:
Feed your peppers with Sunshine C-Cibus plant booster for abundant crops and extra flavorful fruits. These compact plants thrive in containers and bring tropical flair to patios, balconies, or edible gardens.

💥 These two peppers are a must for spice lovers - intense fruity habanero flavor packs quite a bang!
Extremely showy, these ornamental peppers have culinary benefits and are great for container garden.

🛒 Add the flavor of Hot Peppers to your garden and kitchen

📚 Learn more:

Yellow Lantern Chili Plant Facts

Botanical name: Capsicum chinense
Also known as: Yellow Lantern Chili
USDA Zone: 9 - 11
Highligths Small plant 2-5 ftSemi-shadeFull sunWatering: Regular. Let topsoil dry slightlyWhite, off-white flowersSpice or herb plantIrritating plant
Get personalized tips for your region

Hot-hot-hot HEART! How hot is it?
Wiri Wiri Pepper: how to live long and have a great skin.
📱 How to grow the hot Wiri Wiri and Biquino Peppers

#Food_Forest #Container_Garden

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 25 Apr 2024

Top Tropicals is now in Telegram!

Cat  texting  telegram

Welcome to our new Telegram Channel!
We finally did it, and excited to connect with all of you on this amazing platform. After using Telegram for a few years for both business and personal communications, we realized it is a winner of the modern Social Media!

In Top Tropicals Telegram Channel you will find much more than on our website or Newsletter: Fun Plant Facts, Nature Wonders, Amazing Plant Videos, Gardening How-to Tips, Exotic Recipes, Contests, Sweepstakes, Give-aways and so much more. Plus, of course, your favorite PeopleCats!

Telegram is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security, it's super-fast, simple and free. You can use Telegram on all your devices at the same time - your messages sync seamlessly across any number of your phones, tablets or computers. It's perfect for sharing your comments, photos, videos, even making calls.

You can watch news, browse your interest, message to friends and colleagues, save your files, create groups, make phone calls, and the most amazing thing - Telegram works where nothing else works, no WiFi or cell service! It proved to be more reliable than any other apps and (surprise!) even works in airplane without wifi connection - proved!

The platform has its own cloud and offers limitless storage. And the last and not least - it's ad-free! Telegram is free and will stay free - no ads, no subscription fees, forever. It's a clean, clear and easy to use for all ages and applications. Try it yourself and discover how easy and pain-free it is!

Telegram is for everyone who wants fast and reliable messaging and calls.
See you in Telegram!

Date: 21 Jun 2022

Grow Your Own Food...
Affordable for everyone!

Grow  your  own  food

Grow Food Not Lawns - this is the theme for our Garden party. But it's much more than that. It's a philosophy and a state of mind. One that more and more people are adopting as the world's food supply continues to dwindle and get more expensive...
Like all things plant and garden related, each of us can adopt this state of mind at whatever level we're capable of and comfortable with. Many of our customers just want to start small and see what it's all about. After all, the world of tropical plants can be more than just beautiful, it can be sustaining as well!

Growing your own food is more than just about price, it's also about quality, choices and availability. As you watch the choices, and quality of store bought food go down and prices continue to go up, maybe it's time to grow more of your own food?

Fun Facts

- A mature mango tree can produce 200 to 300 fruit per year
- A single avocado tree is capable of producing 500 avocados in one year
- A mature papaya plant can produce as many as 100 fruits per growing season
- One longevity spinach plant can provide you with a fresh supply of healthy spinach leaves all the time!

At Top Tropicals we offer a wide selection of fruit, including mango and avocado, and even spinach to get you started and to continue down the road on your own self sustaining journey. Even better, to help you with your food project, we have not only added to our varieties, but we have reduced prices on many items to make it even more affordable and enjoyable!

Who is cutting prices in today's world?! - We are, because...

...it's important that we do what we can to make it easier for our customers!

We have Avocados starting at only $49.95 and Mangos as low as $79.95, with dozens of varieties in stock! Use our discount coupons to save even more, and if you're local or in Fort Myers, stop by our Garden Center and save even more!

Mango  fruit