📅 Mark Your Calendar - Holiday Plant Market

Holiday season in Florida means sunshine, green leaves, and cats on patrol. On Saturday 12/13/25, our PeopleCats are hosting a special Holiday Plant Market at TopTropicals, 9 am to 4 pm. This is not a regular nursery day. This is the one where you grab a donut in one hand, a mango tree in the other, and try not to trip over a cat giving you a tour.

We are bringing out the best plants we grew all year: big fruit trees with real branches, flowering and fragrant beauties, rare collectors plants, and vines that are ready to take off as soon as you get them home. December is perfect planting weather in Florida, so while the rest of the country is scraping frost from windshields, you can be choosing which banana, mango, or jasmine will perfume your yard next summer.

Holiday extras: 30% OFF online prices, free plant with purchase, 5 to 10 dollar specials, mini donuts and holiday treats, iced tea and citrus water, tropical Christmas music, and raffle prizes. If there is enough ripe fruit in the morning, we will set up a tasting table too. Our PeopleCats will be on duty all day, rearranging plants, checking on visitors, and occasionally allowing themselves to be petted between tours.

Event discounts and specials are valid at both locations:

• Ft Myers Garden Center: 13890 Orange River Blvd, Ft Myers, FL 33905
• Sebring Farm: 9100 McRoy Rd, Sebring, FL 33875

Save the date, tell a friend, and plan your plant hunting route now. Come celebrate the holidays the Florida way: sunshine, rare fruit trees, happy cats, and a car full of tropical plants going home with you.

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Learn More About The Holiday Plant Market

❄️Cold-Hardy Avocados and Fruit Trees

Earlier in early February we had a rough stretch at the B-Farm in Sebring. Three nights around 25°F with steady wind. Weather like that quickly shows which plants actually belong in Zone 9 and which ones only look good on paper.

Once things warmed up and we could see the real results, a few clear winners stood out. All of the macadamias handled the cold surprisingly well. The grumichamas stayed solid. And the cold-hardy avocado varieties again proved why gardeners rely on them in borderline climates.

Instead of listing every tropical plant that might survive a freeze, we decided to keep things practical and focus on the ones that actually went through this cold spell and that we currently have in stock.

If you garden in USDA Zone 8b-9, these are the kinds of trees that make winter a lot less stressful.

📖Read the full article: 2026 Freeze Guide: Cold-Hardy Avocados and Fruit Trees.

📚 Learn more:

• ✦ Macadamia Tree Care
• ✦ The Hardiness Report: February 2026
• ✦ Eugenia Cherries
• ✦ The Magic Number 65: when tropicals finally wake and the 7-Day Rule you should know

Add Cold Hardy Avocado Tree to your garden

Variegated Shell Ginger - Alpinia zerumbet

By Onika Amell, tropical plant specialist

Q: I live in Deltona, Florida and hoping to find spreading ginger with interesting foliage to grow in a partially shaded area in my garden under a group of trees. Any suggestions?

A: Variegated ginger Alpinia zerumbet variegata is a clumping ginger valued for its beautiful variegated foliage. The dark, green leaves have striking yellow stripes. This ginger is sought-after, not only for the stunning foliage but also for its beautiful flowers. The flowers are different from other members of the ginger family and appear in drooping racemes from the ends of leafy stems rather than directly from the rhizomes. This ginger is also commonly known as Shell Ginger because the flowers resemble seashells! They are pink-tinged, fragrant and appear in summer. This evergreen perennial grows in upright clumps 3-5 feet tall. You may prune the plant to control size.
It does not tolerate drought or a hard freeze but can take a few hours or light frost (goes dormant in such case). In colder areas, rhizomes should be dug up and stored in a cool room during winter.
This ginger will love a shaded corner in your garden. Plant it in organically rich, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Keep the soil moist but not soggy, and spread a thick layer of organic mulch around the plant for moisture retention. There are no serious insect or disease problems to worry about!
This ginger can be also be grown as a house plant as long as it has bright light and humid conditions. It will grow to around 3-4 feet tall as a houseplant.

Recommended fertilizers:

Broad Leaf Plus - Ginger-Heliconia-Banana Booster
Tropical Allure - Smart-Release Booster

Limited time special offer:
Instant $5 off Variegated Ginger - Alpinia zerumbet

The most desired iconic Chanel flower...

By Onika Amell, tropical flower specialist

Q: I live in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. I'm looking for something fragrant to grow on my porch. I don't have a lot of space and am interested to find something unusual that won't grow too large. Any suggestions? I've heard about Chanel #5 tree and I wonder I can keep it in a pot?

A: The Ylang-Ylang tree, Cananga odorata, emits a fragrance so soft and beautiful it became an essential ingredient of Coco Chanel's iconic and much-loved perfume Chanel No 5. Trouble is, it will grow into a giant. How do you get this kind of magic onto your lanai or porch? Opt for its smaller relative: Dwarf Ylang Ylang, Cananga fruticosa (pronounced ee-lang ee-lang, meaning: flowers of flowers).

The fragrance is a little less intense than its larger cousin, but still wonderful to have around. Let the fragrance drift slowly through the air into your home at night. The scent is strongest from dusk to dawn and it will need warm and humid conditions for a fuller aroma.
Dwarf Ylang-Ylang is ideal for folks with limited space as it can be grown in a container or as a house plant. It's a very unusual and interesting plant to add to your porch, lanai or garden. It's pretty easy to grow and disease resistant too. It will stay compact and in nice tree-like shape. Dwarf Ylang Ylang starts blooming quite young and will continue to bloom year-round with profuse blooming during the spring and summer months.
The tree prefers a high-humidity environment, evenly moist soil, warm temperatures and will grow best in plant hardiness zones 10-11 but can take short periods of cold.
Read more about Chanel No5 Flower...

Dwarf Ylang Ylang is certainly one of the most desired and sought after rare, fragrant plants. Get yours today!