Avocado Joey: the hidden world beyond green and black

Joey is a Texas selection prized for its exceptional cold tolerance and dependable production. The small dark-skinned fruit has rich, creamy flesh and excellent flavor despite its modest size. For gardeners pushing the limits of avocado growing, Joey is often one of the first varieties recommended. As a compact grower, it is an excellent choice for container culture.

· Botanical name: Persea americana 'Joey'
· Origin: Guatemala
· Cold hardiness: Among the most cold-hardy avocados; reported to tolerate temperatures around 15°F
· USDA zones: 8b-11
· Flower type: B
· Tree size: Approximately 20 ft x 20 ft in the ground
· Growth habit: Upright, compact, with a well-branched canopy, suitable for container culture with minimal pruning
· Foliage: Mexican-type foliage with a pleasant anise-like fragrance when crushed
· Fruit size: 6-10 oz
· Fruit shape: Pear-shaped
· Fruit color: Purple-black when ripe
· Skin: Thin and smooth
· Flesh: Creamy, buttery, and high in oil
· Flavor: Rich, nutty, and excellent for fresh eating
· Season: September-October
· Best use: Fresh eating, slicing, and premium guacamole
· Special feature: Exceptional cold tolerance combined with rich, high-quality fruit
· Why growers love it: Joey is one of the best choices for gardeners in colder climates who still want excellent avocado flavor. Its ability to withstand winter cold while producing rich, buttery fruit has made it a favorite among avocado enthusiasts across the South. 👉 More

💡 Avocado tip: Protect young trees from cold

A mature avocado may handle a light freeze, but young trees are far more vulnerable. During the first few winters, be ready with frost cloth, blankets, or temporary protection.

🛒 Explore cold hardy Avocado varieties

📚 Learn more:

· Avocado Variety Guide: Snack or Guacamole? Collector's inspiration
· Avocado Fantastic: the hidden world beyond green and black
· Avocado Fantastic Quick Facts
· Cold-hardy avocado survival groups - what the numbers really mean
· How to protect Avocado from cold and how hardy is it?
· Avocado that laughs at frost: Mexicola Grande for cooler climates
· Cold hardy Avocado Joey - you eat it with the skin

📖 Our Book: Avocado Variety Guide, Snack or Guacamole?
· Hard copy · PDF File Download

#Food_Forest #Avocado #Discover

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💲 Fruit Tree Hacks: 5 High-Yield Fruit Trees You Can Buy for Under $50

Starting a home orchard doesn’t have to cost a fortune. While high-end grafted Mangoes or Avocados can easily set you back $100 or more, there is a "secret category" of fruit plants that are affordable, fast-growing, and perfect for beginners. If you have a $40-50 budget and a small sunny spot, these five options provide the best "bang for your buck" in terms of growth speed and flavor.

1. Dragon Fruit: The Vertical Speedster

Dragon Fruit is the ultimate budget win. Because it grows from cuttings easily, nursery prices stay low.
The Payoff: It grows incredibly fast. In a single season, a small pot can turn into a massive climbing cactus.
Space Saver: It grows vertically on a post or trellis, making it perfect for side-yards or balconies.
👉 More...

2. Peanut Butter Fruit (Bunchosia)

This is the ultimate conversation starter for your garden.
The Flavor: The fruit has a dense, sticky texture that tastes exactly like sweet peanut butter.
Why it’s a Bargain: It stays naturally compact (shrub-sized) and often begins fruiting in its second or third year - much faster than traditional fruit trees.
👉 More...

3. Blackberry Jam Fruit (Randia formosa)

If you love gardening in containers, this is your best friend.
The Experience: You don't pick a bucket of these; you enjoy them as a garden snack. The pulp inside is black and gooey, tasting remarkably like high-quality preserves.
The Price Point: Because it is technically a woody shrub, you can often find "ready-to-fruit" sizes for very reasonable prices compared to large-canopy trees.
👉 More...

4. The "Eugenia" Group (Surinam, Grumichama, Rio Grande)

Professional landscapers love this family of plants because they double as "Edible Hedges."
Surinam Cherry: Extremely tough. It handles poor soil and neglect while producing star-shaped, ribbed fruits.
Grumichama: Often called the "Brazilian Cherry," it produces a fruit that looks and tastes strikingly like a true Bing cherry but grows in warm climates where cherries usually fail.
Cherry of the Rio Grande: A beautiful, upright grower with attractive peeling bark. It produces dark purple, teardrop-shaped fruits that are among the best tasting of all the tropical cherries. The tree is the most cold hardy of all eugenias.
👉 More...

5. Mulberries

While not on every list, a Mulberry is a budget powerhouse. They are often sold in small 3-gallon pots for $30-40 and will literally start popping out berries the same week you plant them.
👉 More...

👉 Pro Tip: How to Save Even More

To keep your costs down, look for these plants in 3-gallon containers.
Why? 3-gallon plants are the "sweet spot" for value. They are large enough to be established and hardy, but they haven't reached the premium price point of 7 or 15-gallon "instant landscape" trees.

🛒 Shop Budget-Friendly Fruit Trees

📚 Learn more:

· Eugenia cherries in Plant Encyclopedia
· 3 Best Trees for a "Fast-Fruit" Garden
· 10 best fruit trees to grow in Florida and Southern landscapes
· Top 10 fast-fruiting trees
· 5 fast-growing fruit trees and shrubs for quick, low-effort harvests (Top Tropicals experts for Martha Stuart)

#Food_Forest #How_to #Discover

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Avocado Fantastic Quick Facts

Fantastic has earned a reputation as one of the most cold-hardy avocados available. Reportedly surviving temperatures near 10°F in Texas and showing excellent performance during Florida freezes, it offers peace of mind for growers in cooler regions. The small fruit features paper-thin skin, creamy flesh, and a rich nutty flavor, while the tree remains relatively compact and attractive.

· Botanical name: Persea americana 'Fantastic'
· Origin: Texas selection
· Cold hardiness: One of the most cold-hardy avocados known; reported to survive near 10°F and tolerate about 15°F with minimal damage
· USDA zones: 8-11
· Flower type: A
· Tree size: Approximately 25 ft x 25 ft in the ground
· Growth habit: Upright, relatively compact, manageable for home landscapes and container culture
· Foliage: Refined Mexican-type foliage with an anise-like fragrance when crushed
· Fruit size: 6-8 oz
· Fruit shape: Pear-shaped
· Fruit color: Green skin that darkens with maturity
· Skin: Extremely thin, paper-thin
· Flesh: Smooth, creamy, buttery, and rich
· Flavor: Nutty, rich, and highly regarded for fresh eating
· Season: August-October
· Best use: Fresh eating, spooned directly from the shell
· Special feature: Exceptional cold tolerance combined with excellent fruit quality
· Why growers love it: Fantastic proves that avocados can be grown in places where many people assume it is impossible. Its remarkable cold hardiness makes it one of the most sought-after varieties for adventurous gardeners; for them, this discovery is simply Fantastic. 👉 More

💡 Avocado tip: Plant on a mound, not in a hole

Avocados hate wet feet. In Florida and other rainy climates, planting on a mound 10-15 inches high can make the difference between a thriving tree and a declining one.

📚 Learn more:

· Avocado Variety Guide: Snack or Guacamole? Collector's inspiration
· Avocado Fantastic: the hidden world beyond green and black
· Cold-hardy avocado survival groups - what the numbers really mean
· How to protect Avocado from cold and how hardy is it?
· Avocado that laughs at frost: Mexicola Grande for cooler climates
· Cold hardy Avocado Joey - you eat it with the skin

📖 Our Book: Avocado Variety Guide, Snack or Guacamole?
· Hard copy · PDF File Download

#Food_Forest #Avocado #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Avocado Fantastic: the hidden world beyond green and black

Most people think avocados come in two colors - green and black. Maybe they've heard of Hass. But the hidden world of avocados is far more diverse, filled with giant fruits, unusual shapes, red-skinned varieties, and even trees that can handle surprising cold.

One of the most remarkable is Fantastic.

💚 The avocado that wasn't supposed to survive

Avocados are often considered tropical and tender. Fantastic challenges that idea. This unusual variety gained a following in Texas, where it reportedly survived temperatures near 10F around San Antonio. Mature trees can tolerate temperatures around 15F for short periods, making it one of the most cold-hardy avocados available.
For gardeners in cooler regions, Fantastic has become something of a legend - proof that growing avocados is not limited to the tropics.

💚 A survivor of Florida's historic freeze

During Florida's historic February 2026 freeze, temperatures at our Sebring nursery dropped to 25F with several nights of prolonged freezing. While many tropical plants suffered damage, Fantastic came through without noticeable injury - remarkable performance for a tropical fruit tree.

💚 More than just a tough tree

Fantastic would not be worth growing if cold hardiness were its only claim to fame. Fortunately, it also produces excellent fruit.
The avocados are relatively small, typically weighing 6 to 8 ounces, with very thin green skin that darkens as the fruit matures. Inside is smooth, creamy flesh with a rich, buttery texture and pleasant nutty flavor.
The skin is so thin that many people simply cut the fruit in half and scoop it out with a spoon, or even it it with the skin. This is the kind of avocado often enjoyed fresh rather than turned into guacamole.

💚 A handsome, manageable tree

Fantastic is a Mexican-type avocado, and it shows many of the characteristics that make this race so appealing.
The tree has an attractive upright growth habit and tends to remain more compact than many large Florida avocado varieties. Rather than becoming an enormous shade tree, it often develops into a narrower, more manageable specimen that fits comfortably into a home landscape.
The foliage is elegant and refined, giving the tree a lighter appearance than many broad-leaved avocados. Like other Mexican-type varieties, the leaves release a pleasant anise-like fragrance when crushed - a surprising feature that many gardeners discover by accident.

💚 Why Fantastic deserves more attention

Many avocado collectors spend years searching for unusual varieties. Some are chasing flavor. Others want larger fruit or longer harvest seasons.
Fantastic offers something different: confidence.

It gives gardeners in cooler climates a chance to grow a fruit that many people assume is impossible outside the tropics. Even in warmer regions, its remarkable cold tolerance provides peace of mind when winter weather turns unpredictable.

In a world where most shoppers only see green avocados and black avocados at the grocery store, Fantastic is a reminder that the hidden world of avocados is far richer, more diverse, and far more interesting than most people realize.

And for many growers, that discovery is simply Fantastic. 👉 More

🛒 Explore cold hardy Avocado varieties

📚 Learn more:

· Avocado Variety Guide: Snack or Guacamole? Collector's inspiration
· Cold-hardy avocado survival groups - what the numbers really mean
· How to protect Avocado from cold and how hardy is it?
· Avocado that laughs at frost: Mexicola Grande for cooler climates
· Cold hardy Avocado Joey - you eat it with the skin

📖 Our Book: Avocado Variety Guide, Snack or Guacamole?
· Hard copy · PDF File Download

#Food_Forest #Avocado #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🌹 Flowers are the music of the ground

"Flowers are the music of the ground. From earth's lips they speak to us - if we only pause long enough to listen and breathe them in." - Edwin Curran

✂️ Did you know that tropical blooms can make great cut flowers beyond heliconia and ginger?

In the vase (can you spot them all?):
Russelia
Plumbago
Erythrina variegated leaves
Hibiscus
Megaskepasma
Canna
Cassia
Tecoma
Quisqualis
Jatropha
Allamanda

Tiny vase:
Magnolia champaka Alba

🛒 Explore tropical blooms

#Quotes #Hedges_with_benefits

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