Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 20 Aug 2025

Avocado cacao mousse: Quick-n-Fun exotic recipes

Avocado cacao mousse

Avocado cacao mousse

🍴 Avocado cacao mousse: Quick-n-Fun exotic recipes

  • 🟢Blend ripe avocado with cocoa powder, honey, and a splash of vanilla.
  • 🟢Chill and serve like chocolate pudding.
  • 🟢Nobody will guess the secret ingredient!
  • 🟢Healthy and tasty!


🛒 For all-home-grown ingredients you will need:


Avocado tree fruit
Chocolate tree fruit
Vanilla Orchid Beans

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Avocado

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Date: 10 Sep 2025

Pitaya vs Dragon fruit - what is the difference and how to grow it?

Pitaya vs Dragon fruit - what is the difference and how to grow it?

🌵 Pitaya vs Dragon fruit - what is the difference and how to grow it?

Both names refer to climbing cacti in the genus Hylocereus. The word pitaya is more common in Latin America, while dragon fruit is the name used in Asia and English-speaking countries. They come in different types: white-fleshed (Hylocereus undatus), red-fleshed (Hylocereus costaricensis), and yellow-skinned (Hylocereus, or Selenicereus megalanthus). All share the same growth habit and care needs. Pitaya or dragon fruit - whichever name you use, it's one of the easiest exotic fruits to grow at home.

  • 🍉 How to grow Dragon Fruit


  • Get a desired variety or start from a cutting - let the cut end dry for a few days before planting to prevent rot.
  • Plant in well-draining soil with lots of sun.
  • Give it a strong support to climb on - it's a vining cactus.
  • Water deeply but let the soil dry between waterings.
  • Flowers open at night and need pollination - some types are self-fertile, others need cross-pollination.
  • With care, you can enjoy fruit in 1-2 years. Remember to ferilize!


🍉 Dragon fruit varieties


  • 🔴 ⚪️ Red skin, white flesh (Hylocereus undatus) - The most popular type, and the biggest fruit. Mildly sweet, refreshing, and often compared to a kiwi crossed with a pear.
    • Varieties: David Bowie, Delight, Hana, Lake Atitlan, Seoul Kitchen, Vietnamese Jaina, Hana

  • 🔴🔴 Red skin, red flesh (Hylocereus costaricensis) - Sweeter, juicier, and more intense in flavor. The deep red juice can stain, but it’s loaded with antioxidants.
    • Varieties: American Beauty, Bloody Mary, Eureka Red, Costa Rican Sunset, Mac Edwin, Halleys Comet, Mac Edwin, Makisupa, Mega Red, Physical Graffiti, Sweet Red

  • 🔴🟣 Red flesh, purple/magenta flesh (Hylocereus x costaricensis) - Hybrids, usually between red and white varieties.
Varieties: Cosmic Charlie, Edgar's Baby, Halleys Comet, Natural Mystic, Physical Graffiti, Purple Haze, Tricia, Voodoo Child, Zamorano

🟡⚪️ Yellow skin, white flesh (Hylocereus, or Selenicereus megalanthus) - Smaller fruit, but the sweetest of all. Crisp, juicy, and tropical with notes of pineapple or honey.
Varieties: Amarilla (Kirin), Colimbiana, Godlen Dragon, Palora, Thai Gold (Hawaiian)

Each type looks stunning and tastes slightly different, but all are easy to grow once you give them sun, support, and patience.

🛒 Explore and collect Dragon Fruit varieties

📚 Learn more:


#Food_Forest #How_to #Dragon_Fruit

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Date: 13 Sep 2025

Watch this before cooking with black pepper!

Black pepper (Piper nigrum)

🍃 Watch this before cooking with black pepper!



Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is famous for its berries, but the leaves are edible too, and in some regions they’re used just like betel leaves or bay leaves. Here are a few ways you can use them:
  • Cooking wrap: Fresh leaves can be used to wrap fish, meat, or rice before steaming or grilling, similar to banana or betel leaves. They add a mild peppery aroma.
  • Flavoring curries and soups: Whole leaves can be simmered in curries, broths, or stews to infuse a gentle peppery note, then removed before serving (like bay leaves).
  • Herbal teas: Fresh or dried leaves can be steeped with ginger, turmeric, or lemongrass to make a warming tea traditionally used for digestion and colds.
  • Chutneys and pastes: In South India, young pepper leaves are ground with coconut, tamarind, and chilies to make a tangy chutney.
  • Medicinal uses: Folk remedies use the leaves for coughs, sore throats, and as a poultice for muscle aches.


🍛 Black pepper leaf chutney

  • ♨️Lightly saute 6-8 pepper leaves in a little oil.
  • ♨️Blend with 1/2 cup grated coconut, 2 green chilies, tamarind, salt, and cumin.
  • ♨️Optional: top with a quick tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves.
  • ♨️Serve with rice or dosa.


☕️ Pepper leaf tea - when you feel under the weather

  • Boil 2-3 leaves with a cup of water.
  • Add a slice of ginger and a pinch of turmeric (optional).
  • Simmer 5 minutes, strain, and sweeten with honey.

Both recipes give a warm, peppery aroma without being too spicy. Pepper leaves are milder than the berries, so you’ll get aroma more than heat.

🛒 Grow your own Black Pepper plant - spice and vegetable!

📚 Learn more:


#Food_Forest #Recipes

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Date: 31 Jan 2017

Plants of Love. TopTropicals Webinars

Plants of Love - Valentines Day Sale. For Valentines day, look beyond roses for a plant that will last a lifetime! It is not a surprise that the most popular plants that has been ordered from TopTropicals for Valentines day for the past 3 years, are: Vanilla, Chocolate, Grape, Strawberry tree, Rose apple - all things you get for your Valentines!

This year we are celebrating Valentines day with our special local event - "Aphrodisiacs, or Plants of Love".

When: Saturday, February 11, 2017, from 10 am to 2 pm
Where: Toptropicals Garden Center, 13890 Orange River Blvd, Ft Myers, FL 33905
Agenda:
10:00 am - Explore the grounds: Customers can come in to look through the nursery and guided tours through gardens.
12:00 pm - Aphrodisiac plants. Class on plants used for aphrodisiacs throughout history.
1:00 pm - Plant giveaway. Must be present to win one of the aphrodisiac plants in lecture.
2:00 pm - sale ends.
Special Love Discounts for local visitors! Snacks and drinks.

Just a few examples of the most famous plants of love that we will be talking about -
Coffea arabica - in East Africa and Arabia it was a sacred beverage to African sufis. For aphrodisiac results mix in cardamom and honey.
Banisteriopsis caapi, Ayahuasca - giant liana from tropical Amazon forests psychedelic, ritual inebriant that promotes potency. Drink is made from the bark and is taken in love rituals to revive the mythical past of the tribe.
Areca catechu, Betel Nut - seeds have stimulating effect on the entire body and eros. It's a traditional aphrodosiac in Ayurvedic medicine and is counted among the eight types of pleasure in the Brahmanic tradition. It has magical and religious properties and used as an offering to the Gods.
Theobroma cacao, Chocolate - mild stimulant, beans contain aphrodisiac. Antient Indian "recipe of chocolati" will be shared at the event! Cocoa was considered the "food of gods".
Cinnamon - in Southern Asia used as stimulant, in food or massage oil for erotic stimulation.
Cola nitida, Cola nut - used in love magic, was used as currency in W Africa.
Cananga odorata, Ylang-Ylang - increases eroticism with oil inhaled. Prescribed to treat impotency and frigidity.
Butea monosperma, Flame of The Forest - is traditionally used to manage male sexual disorders.
Mimosa pudica, Sensitive Plant - significantly increases the libido and hormonal levels of testosterone.
Satureja Viminea, Kama Sutra Mint Tree - used for love gel...
- and much more!

TopTropicals Webinars. Welcome to Top Tropicals Webinar!

Date: 27 Aug 2016

Plant Horoscope. Virgo Zodiac lucky plants: Jacaranda and Assai palm

Virgo - 8/23-9/22. Virgo is an EARTH sign ruled by the planet Mercury, which also rules Gemini.

Virgo is traditionally the Goddess of the Grain, and is associated with autumn. Her plants often have finely divided leaves or stems, subtle odors, or small, brightly-colored flowers. The most beneficial plants for Virgo are high in potassium and help to calm the nerves.

In its rulership of Virgo, Mercury governs the abdomen and the lower intestinal tract and the entire digestive process. Herbs associated with Virgo assist in digestion (as do Cancer herbs) and help to reduce flatulence. The relaxing, calming scents help Virgo release stress and worries.

Virgo Zodiac lucky plants: Amorphophallus, Anethum graveolens (Dill), Barringtonia, Bolusanthus, Dioscorea, Grewia asiatica (Falsa), Hibiscus sabdariffa (Karkade), Iboza riparia, Lagerstroemia speciosa (Queens Crape Myrtle), Laurus nobilis (Bay Leaf), Lippia, Melissa, Catnip, Mint, Arugula, Piper betle, Piper sarmentosum, Psychotria, Syzygium aromaticum (Clove), Banisteriopsis, Papaya, Mesua ferrea (Ironwood), Momordica, Euterpe oleracea (Assai Palm), Jacaranda,  Magnolia officinalis, Pimenta dioica (Allspice), Osteospermum, Petrea, Plumbago, Clitoria, Eranthemum, Litchi, Cashew, Pecan, Nut trees, Cherries, Lavender, Myrtles, Sansiveria, Aloe vera, Blackberry, Honey suckle, Satureja, Vitex, Mulberry, Elaeocarpus, Clausena lansium (Wampi), Feronia elephantum (Bel Fruit).

For other signs information, see full Plant Horoscope

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