Last-minute Valentine idea: let them choose!

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Radio Top Tropicals Live Webcast upcoming event: Saturday February 18, at 11 am EST.
Topic: WEED OR WONDER PLANT?
We will explore plants considered invasive species, or weeds, here in Florida, and reveal interesting and not-so-well-known facts about them.
1) Schinus terebinthifolius - Brazilian Pepper, or Florida Holly. This species is essential for migratory birds, bears, and other critters. Berries are used in China for medicine. Used as a spice in Italy, as well as here in the US.
2) Phyllanthus amarus - Seed on the leaf. A scourge of nurseries, it may yet lead to the cure of Hepatitis B & C.
3) Melaleuca leucophylla - Punk tree, Paper tree. One of the finest trees for raising of epiphytes. Tiger Balm brand ointment is made from these trees. An excellent timber source as well.
Our Host Robert Riefer - Florida State Certified Crop Adviser, and Weed Specialist - answering all your gardening questions.

Listen to Radio Top Tropicals, every Saturday, at 11 am EST! You may use our website radio player DURING AIR TIME and see the pictures of plants we are talking about. To ask questions using live chat, you need to log in at Mixlr.com or simply call our office 239-887-3323 during air time!
If you missed a live webcast, you may listen to recording by following Showreel item link.

Check out our upcoming radio shows and get your gardening questions ready!

New Article: Aphrodisiacs of the plant world.
Last Saturday, the topic of our Webcast was Plants of Love - Aphrodisiacs (click to listen to recording).
Today, we are introducing an article by Kristi, our Meet the Gardener host - Aphrodisiacs of the plant world.

Soursops fruiting in Virginia?!

Amazing news - from our customer in Virginia. Not only his ultra tropical plants survive - they thrive, producing multiple fruit in only 2 years despite living in a climate with freezing winter temperatures.

We always like to think of our plants as a challenge. We continually push ourselves to collect, grow and propagate the rarest of the rare. Seeds, plants, and cuttings are ordered from all over the world and continue to challenge us with finicky temperature, humidity, and watering demands.

Naturally, we also get many customers from cooler zones asking which plants they can grow. The answer is any of them! As long as you can give them the requirements they need. Continue reading...

Growing fruit trees in containers

Will it fruit in a pot? YES! Many tropical fruit trees can be grown in a pot. We get many calls from customers in cooler climates asking if our tropical trees can grow and fruit in a pot. The answer is yes!

Several plants fruit well in pots. Blackberries and raspberries, barbados cherries, blueberries and many more start fruiting even in their 1 gallon containers. We are especially excited about our new Pixie grapes, which are heavily laden with grapes even at only a foot long!

While some plants are small and will fruit easily in a container, others are large trees. For the tree type fruits, we recommend growing only non-seedling plants for pot culture. We have cuttings, air layers and grafted plants that are great options. These have the ability to fruit right away, as they are the same age as the parent tree. Some horticulturists recommend removing the first year fruit to allow the plant to focus on growth and establishing. If the plant is being kept in a pot, this is not necessary.

We also have several dwarf varieties of fruit trees that will thrive in a pot. For avocados, we carry the Wurtz variety which is a dwarf tree... read more...

Hot novelty plant for hot Arizona

Q: What plants would you recommend for very hot and dry spot in front of my house that gets full sun all day long? I live in AZ, we recently had a couple good rains but this is going to be it for a long time. It gets so hot during the day that every plant I tried didn't make it. We have a few nice orange trees growing well but I would like to plant something compact, colorful and hopefully fragrant if there is such plant.

A: There is a perfect small size plant for you that is extremely fragrant and yet will be thriving in these conditions. It is the famous Jasmine sambac. It will appreciate dry air of Arizona and will bloom profusely for you in full sun or in partial shade. It doesn't mind heat at all.

For colorful accents, a proven winner is Crown of Thorns - Euphorbia millii. New giant size flower varieties were recently selected in Thailand, and we just received a great selection, look at the colors! These plants don't mind hot sunny location at all. The more sun, the better the bloom! Small plants need regular watering until establish, then once they start developing, they will require less water.

Giant Euphorbia flowers from Thailand are 4-5 times bigger than regular flower euphorbia. Diameter of the flower is around 2". Compare giant flower to normal size - picture on the right.

See full list of plants for hot and dry spots.