🐲 The taste you will never forget

If you only know dragon fruit from the grocery store, you probably think it looks pretty but tastes bland. That is because most commercial fruit is picked early, shipped far, and loses its sweetness. The truth? Homegrown dragon fruit is juicy, sweet, and full of flavor. The best of all is the yellow variety, Palora (Selenicereus megalanthus), a cactus fruit from Ecuador that bursts with tropical taste.

🌵 Pitaya or Dragon fruit – what is the difference?

Both names describe the same climbing cactus. In Latin America it is called Pitaya, while Asia and English speakers say Dragon fruit. There are three main kinds:

• Red skin, white flesh (Hylocereus undatus)
• Red skin, red flesh (Hylocereus costaricensis)
• Red skin, purple or pink flesh (Hylocereus x costaricensis hybrids)
• Yellow skin, white flesh (Selenicereus megalanthus)

Some hybrids give purple or magenta flesh. All are beautiful, all are easy to grow at home.

⚡️ Do red, white, and yellow taste different?

Yes. White types are mild and refreshing. Reds are sweeter and juicier. Yellows are the sweetest of all.

⚡️ Flowers from a fairy tale

Dragon fruit flowers are among the most spectacular in the plant world. They open at night, glowing under moonlight, with pale petals and a sweet fragrance. Each flower can be a foot wide. Seeing one bloom feels like stepping into another world.

⚡️ Top Dragon Fruit Health Benefits

• High in fiber for digestion and gut health
• Low in calories but full of vitamins
• Great for weight management
• Adds color and freshness to smoothies and salads

🍹 Dragon Fruit Smoothie recipe

Blend together:

• 2 dragon fruits, peeled
• 1/2 cup mango pulp
• 1 banana
• 1 cup milk of your choice
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp lime juice
• Ice cubes to taste

Top with mint for a refreshing tropical treat.

Watch Dragon Fruit short videos:

💲 Special Offer – 25% off Dragon Fruit Pitaya Plants!

Get 25% OFF Pitaya plants with code

DRAGON2025

Min order $100. Excluding S/H, valid online only, cannot be combined with other offers.

Hurry, offer expires September 29, 2025!

Explore Dragon Fruit varieties

Guava: The Healthiest Fruit You Can Grow

Guava varieties: Pink flesh (upper left quarter), White flesh and Cas (upper right quarter), Red Cattley Guava (bottom left quarter) and Golden Cattley (bottom right quarter).

Let’s talk Guava. Few fruits check as many boxes: flavor, productivity, health, and adaptability. We’ve grown guava trees at Top Tropicals for years here in Florida, and it never fails to surprise people with how easy it is — and how quickly it rewards you.

🌿 Health Benefits

We know the first question:"Why guava in addition to all the other fruit trees I could plant?"Because guava is one of the healthiest tropical fruits you can eat and grow — and it produces faster than almost anything else.

• Vitamin C powerhouse — guava has four times more vitamin C than oranges. One fruit covers your daily needs and then some.
• Potassium and fiber — good for balancing blood pressure and keeping your heart strong.
• Antioxidants like lycopene and vitamin C — these keep your skin glowing and help protect your cells from damage.
• Dietary fiber — aids digestion and helps keep blood sugar steady.
• Guava is a true"food as medicine"tree you can plant right in your backyard or in pot.

♥️ Our Favorite Varieties are Available Now

We currently have a DOZEN excellent guava varieties in stock selected by our plant expert Tatiana Anderson — something special for every garden. Our top picks are:

Pink Guavas

• Barbie Pink – Yellow pear-shaped fruit with thick pink flesh, sweet and juicy. Cold hardy for a tropical fruit. The best seller.
• Hong Kong – Large, round, smooth pink fruit. Sweet flavor, very few seeds, and very productive.
• Tikal – Our top pick. Fast-growing, disease-resistant, and produces the sweetest pink guavas with very few seeds.

White Guavas

• Indonesian White – Aromatic, classic white-fleshed guava with an excellent tropical flavor.
• Kilo White – Giant fruit up to 2 lbs (1 kilo) each! Few seeds, creamy white flesh, and fruits even in containers.

Compact/Dwarf

Dwarf Guava Hawaiian Rainbow

• Dwarf Hawaiian Rainbow – Stays under 6 ft, perfect for patios and pots, yet produces full-sized fruit.

Specialty Varieties

Cas Guava with zero sugar for Costa Rican Agua de Cas drink

• Cas Guava – Bold, tangy, almost zero sugar. The traditional Costa Rican Agua de Cas drink comes from this fruit. Cold hardy.
• Hawaiian Gold, Yellow Strawberry Guava – The sweetest Strawberry Guava, golden fruit, great for fresh eating and drinks.
• Brazilian Araca Pera – Rare hybrid used for Guava Wine in Brazil. Tart, concentrated juice makes excellent wine, sorbet, or jelly. Learn more...
• Pineapple Guava, Guavasteen – Feijoa sellowiana. Strongly perfumed fruit, best enjoyed when the pulp is mixed with sugar – like forest strawberries. Cold-hardy, tolerates freeze, and doubles as a great windbreak. Learn more...

Pineapple Guava, Guavasteen – Feijoa sellowiana

Every one of these thrives here in Florida or in warm climate. Some are better in pots, some as landscape trees, but all produce generously.

🎥 Watch short videos about Guava:

💲 Special Offer – 20% off Guava Fruit Plants!

Get 20% OFF already discounted Guava plants with code

GUAVA2025

Min order $100. Excluding S/H, valid online only, cannot be combined with other offers.

Hurry, offer expires October 02, 2025!

Explore Guava Fruit Plants

Plants that make you feel better

Researchers are claiming that gardening can be much more than just a hobby, and that honing those green-finger skills could actually have many benefits, including making us healthier! The presence of plants has been found to be helpful in many different settings, according to results of several experimental studies:

At school and work:
1. Improve your learning abilities
2. Improve reaction times, attentiveness, and attendance
3. Increase energy and your performance, purpose and motivation
4. Raise productivity and job satisfaction

At home
1. Relax and feel closer to nature while indoors
2. Make you feel needed
3. Have a clean air
4. Improve relationships and increase compassion.

In recovery:
1. Lower blood pressure (systolic)
2. Improve well-being
3. Lower levels of anxiety during recovery from surgery
4. Accelerate healing process

See full list of Rare Tropicals that are great house plants.

Get a plant, feel better, be needed and loved!

Winter mulching in Southern landscapes

"My rule of green thumb for mulch is to double my initial estimate of bags needed, and add three. Then I'll only be two bags short." (Author unknown)

Q: What is the best time for mulching in Florida? What type of mulch do you recommend and how much should I use?

A: Every gardener knows that spreading mulch in the garden helps to protect the soil in general, prevents weeds from growing, plus it has specific benefits during harsh winter conditions. A layer of mulch will keep the soil insulated, roots protected from possible freezing, so you'll also end up with better results in spring by laying down mulch in the cold months.
When? We lay mulch in our Florida garden right now. It is cool so we work twice more efficient. After rainy summer-fall season, most of mulch around plants had broken down and in many areas soil is exposed: easy target for weeds.
In general, in warm climates Fall and Winter mulching is the most effective. Mulch creates an insulating barrier between the soil and air, thereby protects plant roots from rapid fluctuations in soil temperature.
How much? There is never too much mulch. Just make sure to put it 2-3 inches away from the trunk to prevent rotting and mold.
What kind? Different types of mulch can be used, including wood chips, shredded leaves, straw and hay. Yes, leaves and hay too! Remember all green parts of a plant (= your leaves and grass) are full of Nitrogen so important for plant vigor, it eventually will go back into the soil as extra benefit. Unless you want to spend a fortune on a fancy red or cypress mulch, you may use these natural materials that are handy in every garden. After raking leaves, pile them up and in couple weeks of drying and breaking down leaves will become a perfect, soft mulch that is best to use around fragile and herbaceous plants. After mowing your lawn, save the cut grass and use the hay as mulch. It always works the best in our garden, keeps weeds away better than wood chips, and in spite of a common belief that cut grass is full of weed seeds, we never seen grass or weeds sprouting from that hay.
Happy mulching and stay warm!

Secrets of perfect mulch

Poor man's mulch... or natural solution? With warmer weather weeds started spreading around the garden... pulling, spraying, mulching them... that helps. Here are a few tips about natural mulch based on our own experience.

1) Do not rake dry leaves and pine needles, use them as natural mulch. A leaf is a part of a plant with the highest nitrogen content which is a major plant nutrient. After breaking down, leaves will work as a fertilizer. If you prefer to have a fancy mulch, put it on top of those leaves.

2) Do not dispose cut grass. Spread it around trees and shrubs. Hay is one of the best mulching materials. It has at least 2 exceptional benefits: a) after couple rains it becomes dense, creating perfect protection from sprouting weeds, and b) grass is actually also a leaf - so it had built up lots of nitrogen too, and works as a fertilizer.

3) Be careful with "bulk mulch" that sometimes offered by local tree service companies (usually for free). It often contains bugs, plant parts that are infested with bad insects, or simply fleas. Natural mulch from your own garden is always the best choice, proven organic and safe solution.

4) A few layers of newspaper (or even better - cardboard from your endless Amazon deliveries) placed underneath the mulch work as a great weed barrier and will make your mulching work results last 4-5 times longer. Water drains through them, and paper products are ecologically safe and biodegradable.