Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 31 May 2024

Top 5 favorite Mango varieties
and Top 10 Condo Mango trees

How to chose the right variety of a Mango tree?

Q: The most Frequently Asked Question about fruit trees: What is your favorite Mango variety? Which mango varieties are the best? Help me to make a choice!

A: As we mentioned on our Introduction to Mango Varieties page, there are thousands of named mango cultivars available. Similar to the classification of avocados (see our Avocado Variety Guide), mango trees can be selected based on your specific needs. These needs can include tree size and growth habit, disease resistance and hardiness, and most importantly, fruit characteristics such as taste, texture, size, color, storage ability, juice and sugar content.

We are currently working on a comprehensive Mango Variety Guide and will be sharing it with you soon. In the meantime, below are a few tips on selecting the right mango tree.
NOTE: all of the Mango varieties we offer are FIBERLESS!

Top 5 Favorite Mango we just love!

1. Alphonso - the best Indian cultivar in terms of sweetness and flavor. One of the rarest varieties and sought after - sweet large juice fruit. Coconut-like flavor.
2. Maha Chinook - Many consider it the best mango had ever tasted. Very rare mango variety from Singapore. This variety is semi-dwarf and great for pot culture. Nam Doc Mai close relative.
3. Fralan - Super reliable producer and hardy tree. Green fruit, sweet and juicy. Fralan means "Thunder" - as the fruit cracks when peeled.
4. Fruit Cocktail - Flavor is an amazing palette of different fruit, with citrus, pineapple, and guava notes.
5. Nam Doc Mai - It's not just us, everyone loves this Mango! The most popular variety: semi-dwarf and great for pot culture. Eaten green or ripe, a Thailand favorite. It is hands down the most sought after of the Asian mangoes and for good reason.

Top 10 Dwarf "Condo" Mango

1. Mallika - condo mango native to India. Among the best of the new generation of Indian dessert mangos. Intensely sweet, rich and highly aromatic flavor with hints of citrus and melon.
2. Ice Cream - far and away the most popular of the "condo mangoes." Flavored like the name. The tree can easily be maintained at a height of just six feet (!) making it ideal for container growing.
3. Julie - the most popular variety in Jamaica and many other Caribbean islands because of its rich, sweet, coconut/pineapple-like flavor. It is a dwarf cultivar, great for containers, but keep in mind it's very cold sensitive, don't plant it in the ground if you get freeze in winter.
4. Okrung - Thai compact cultivar, fruit eaten while green. The fruit is traditionally served in Thailand in combination with sticky rice. One of the most popular varieties in Thailand. The fruit is very sweet, with the highest sugar content.
5. Pickering - great for pot culture. It has a bushy, compact growth habit, and can be maintained in a container at just six feet (!). The fruit has a firm flesh with a fantastic coconut/mango flavor.
6. Nam Doc Mai - The most popular variety for pot culture, we already mentioned in our favorites above.
7. Cogshall - an ultra compact grower. Suitable for container growing on a balcony, or planting in a suburban backyard. It can easily be maintained at just eight feet tall, and it will still produce a good size crop year after year. The fruit is very colorful and has a mild, sweet flavor. It is also fungus resistant.
8. Carrie - the flavor is by far the most outstanding. It has absolutely no fiber and extremely rich in flavor, sweet, aromatic and a pure pleasure to eat. You will savor every mouthful! Its compact size makes it an excellent dooryard tree.
9. Diamond - It has a great taste very similar to Nam Doc Mai. Very compact, of a dwarf habit, great as condo mango.
10. Keitt - the best all-around late mango. It is very productive, good-flavored, and disease resistant. It also has a very long and late season. The compact tree is semi dwarf that bears 4-5 pound goliath fruit!

Photo above: Pim Seng Mun mango tree is a reliable and heavy producer.

Top 5 recommended vigorous growers and reliable producers

1. Glenn - Excellent eating quality, consistent production, and effortless to grow.
2. Pim Seng Mun - extremely productive mango.
3. Sweet Tart - New patented variety - exclusive offer.
4. Fruit Punch - Multi fruit flavor, delicious!
5. Orange Sherbet - One of the best new varieties for backyard growing. Flavor is sweet citrus-orange and less lemony than Lemon Meringue mango. The tree is moderately vigorous.

Top 5 exotic varieties for rare fruit collection

Now that you have decided to collect them all but have limited space, these are the top 5 of the most interesting rare cultivars:

1. Kar Lon Long - rare and unusual, native to India. Fruits that can weigh up to 5 lbs each! The unique flavor that has been described as being a cross between a mango and a pineapple.
2. Mun Kun Si - similar to Nam Doc Mai but much bigger. Rare variety, very popular among Thai and Vietnamese people. The fruit are extremely sweet, fiberless and somewhat crunchy ("Mun" means crunchy). Very late producer, fruit may still be on a tree as late as January.
3. Pina Colada - very sweet, has rich flavor with a hint of coconut and pineapple.
4. Ugly Betty - awesome mango, great sweet flavor, while the fruit is real ugly! Slightly mis-shaped at the top - hence the name.
5. Giselle - from Zill's breeding program and was a seedling of a mango called Tower. It was described as a juice mango and is named after Gary's wife.

Shop Mango Trees

Date: 23 Apr 2024

What is the best perfume tree for container culture? Dwarf Chanel No 5 Tree

Cananga fruticosa - Dwarf Ylang-Ylang, Chanel No5 Tree

⚜️ What is the best perfume tree for container culture? Dwarf Chanel No 5 Tree!

Cananga fruticosa - Dwarf Ylang-Ylang, or Chanel No5 Tree - is the most desired and sought after perfume plants.

🔅 Elegant pendant flowers are a piece of art.
🔅 Easy to grow, stays compact and in nice tree-like shape. Flowers smell as great as full size Ylang Ylang tree.
🔅 Needs warm and humid conditions for a full aroma.
🔅 Perfect container plantand a house plant, but keep in mind it requires bright light for profuse flowering.

📚 Learn more about Chanel No5 Ylang Ylang Tree

🛒 Order online

#Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Trees

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 29 Nov 2020

Cold protection of tropical container plants

Q: I am long time customer of yours, I live in San Diego California and while the summer and Fall temperatures are warm to mild, the winter temperatures dip to a point where some tropicals die off. We are experimenting with different variations of way to heat and insulate the pots we have the tropicals planted in as a way to keep them alive during the colder winter months. I was wondering if you knew of the ideal soil temperature for these tropical in order to look their best year round. All of the heaters we have installed have thermostats and temperature adjustments so we can now keep the soil anywhere between a range of between 65-75 degrees. Any advise you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

A: This is a very interesting concept you are working with. Indeed, keeping pots/roots warm, may help a lot! We've been experimenting with cold protection for a long time - for the above-ground plant parts. For sure keeping roots protected (even with a thick layer of mulch) will benefit tropical plants during winter. In case with container plants, this may help dramatically.
The guideline is, tropical plants slow down or stop their metabolism at 65F. As long as you can keep soil above that temperature - this should work great. Of course, the higher the better.
Optimum temperature for growing tropical plants in general - 70-85F. Above 90F, metabolism stops too, unless it's a heat tolerant, desert plant.

More information on winter cold protection of tropical plants and zone pushing:

Greenhouse in Virginia
Plumeria cold protection
Ghost Cold Protection
Seven rules of cold protection for tropicals
About Cold Protection
Cold protection - winter action for your plant collection
Tropical Treasures articles on zone pushing.

Date: 21 Oct 2025

Compact Bauhinias - everblooming container trees

🌈 Compact Bauhinias - everblooming container trees

📸 Pictures for the previous post, Bauhinias:

Bauhinia madagascariensis - Red Dwarf Orchid Tree. Blooms from winter through fall, up to 10 months a year. The most cold-hardy of all.
Bauhinia blakeana - Hong Kong Orchid Tree. A large tree in the ground, but compact in pots if trimmed. Grafted trees flower right away. Winter bloomer, cold hardy to light frost.
Bauhinia tomentosa - Yellow Orchid Tree. Flowers from Winter through Summer, cold hardy to light frost.
Bauhinia monandra - Napoleon's Plume Orchid Tree. Almost everblooming with the longest flowering period (less cold hardy than the first three).
Bauhinia acuminata - Dwarf White Orchid Tree. Blooms from summer through winter (also less cold hardy than the first three).

🛒 Explore Bauhinias (Orchid Trees)

#Container_Garden #Trees

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 29 Jan 2026

How to make Sapodilla fruit profusely?

Sapodilla - Manilkara or Achras zapota, the Brown Sugar Fruit

🍊 How to make Sapodilla fruit profusely?

Sapodilla - Manilkara or Achras zapota), the Brown Sugar Fruit is a warm-climate evergreen fruit tree that can produce a lot of fruit once conditions are right. So why do so many sapodilla trees grow beautifully, flower heavily, and still refuse to set fruit?

Sapodilla Fruit Production - What Really Matters

1. 🌳 Choose the Right Tree
Grafted or air-layered trees fruit much sooner - typically in 1-2 years - and more reliably than seedlings, which may take 6–8+ years.
Some varieties are more profuse producers than others. For example, Silas Woods is virtually everbearing, Hasya is commercial prolific producer, Oxkutzcab (or Ox) -is also heavily productive (learn more about varieties).

2. ☀️ Environment: Heat, Sun & Water Balance

Temperature and Humidity
Excessive heat above 90F and low humidity can cause flowers to dry up and fall before setting fruit.
Solution: Provide filtered light or shade during the hottest part of the day to reduce heat stress on blossoms.

Water
Sapodillas are drought tolerant, but consistent moisture during flowering and fruit set improves fruit retention.
Avoid waterlogged conditions - soggy soil can stress roots and reduce yield.

Sun Exposure
Full sun is best for growth and flowering - but for hot climates, protection during peak afternoon heat helps reduce flower drop.
Young trees can also suffer sunburn.

3. Fertilization: Feed for Fruit, Not Just Foliage
Good nutrition is critical for flowers to turn into fruit. Apply a routine feed through the growing/flowering season - contolled-release (Green Magic) or liquid (Sunshine C-Cibus) both work.
Balanced fertilizer with trace elements like Boron (B), Molybdenum (Mo), Iron (Fe), and Copper (Cu) is essential for fruit set and development. Boron & Molybdenum deficiency as a frequent cause of flower/fruit drop in container-grown trees (nutrients get depleted quickly in pots).
Micro-nutrient sprays 2-3 times per year help improve fruit retention and quality. Some growers use sugar boosters (Sunshine Honey) or micronutrient blends that include Mo & B to help fruit set (Sunshine Superfood).

4. 🐝 Pollination - Often Overlooked
Sapodilla flowers are small and often require pollinators for best fruit set.
In some regions, small insects like thrips are key pollinators.
In places with low insect activity, hand pollination dramatically increases fruit set - brushing pollen from one flower to another with a small paintbrush during peak bloom times can help.
Placing fruit scraps (apple peels/banana peels) under the tree to attract beetles is an inexpensive way to boost insect activity.

5. ✂️ Pruning and Tree Structure
Moderate pruning can help open the canopy for better light penetration and air circulation, which supports flowering and reduces stress. Training young trees promotes a strong branch structure that can carry more fruit later. Sapodilla flowers on young growth (tips of the branches).

6. Pot vs Ground: Size Matters
If your sapodilla is in a container, root bound trees struggle with fruit set because roots run out of space and nutrients - stepping up to a larger container or planting in the ground can help.
Root-bound trees often bloom but fail to develop fruit.

7.

📅 Patience & Timing

Even healthy trees can take years to start fruiting well.
Trees often flower repeatedly but only set fruit when environmental conditions and pollination align - especially important for young or newly planted trees.

📌 Summary Checklist for Better Sapodilla Fruiting

✔️ Choose a grafted variety (faster, more reliable fruit).
✔️ Manage heat & humidity - shade during hot hours.
✔️ Water consistently but avoid waterlogging.
✔️ Fertilize balanced NPK + micronutrients (include B & Mo).
✔️ Encourage pollination

🛒 Grow your own Sugar Fruit

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest