Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 1 Oct 2018

Information on new exotic fruit variety:
Artocarpus x integer (Jackfruit x Chempedak), Cheena cv. TopTropicals

TopTropicals.com

FRESH SEEDS! Grow exotic Chempedak from seeds and you will have the trees for only $1 each!

Check out a short video of the opened fruit.

Cheena is a natural hybrid between jackfruit and chempedak. Comes true from seed. This highly recommended variety has grown in TopTropicals garden from a seedling of Cheena (Jackfruit x Chempedak) that fruited within 3 years from planting. The fruit (20-25"size) is probably the best we ever tasted! It is super sweet, crunchy and has a rich, pleasant, excellent flavor. It has very little latex which makes it easy to handle when cutting up. The tree produces at the very base of the trunk, so you can prune it as short as you want. Our tree survived light frosts as well as 48 hours of 3ft flooding, with no damage!
The tree has an open, low and spreading growth habit and can be maintained at a height and spread of 8 ft with annual pruning. It is very easy to grow and is not as cold hardy as we thought for a Jackfruit x Chempedak types of plants. The only two recommendations are - good fertilу soil with a high content of compost and regular watering.
Cheena is a consistent producer. The fruit is up to 5 lbs, long, narrow and uniform in size and shape. The skin is green, with blunt spines that yellow and open slightly upon maturity.

Check out Chempedak Cheena seeds - FRESH - FRESH - FRESH
Check out Chempedak Cheena plants - special offer $30 OFF!

Date: 24 Jun 2018

White Sapote from under graft

Q: My super sweet white sapote died back all the way to the roots but it's growing back from the roots and I'm wondering if that's just the rootstock growing back or if that's good fruiting wood that's going to make a nice healthy super sweet tree?

A: The "super sweet" White Sapote, or Casimiroa edulis, was probably variety Young Hands, Super Sweet White Sapote. It was grafted on seedling of White Sapote that has a pleasant somewhat-sweet flavor. The grafted variety you had is a little sweeter than that. So to answer your question, it is worth to give the tree a second chance as far as fruit quality is concerned, although it won't be the a grafted variety, if the new growth coming from under the graft point. The only problem is, non-grafted tree may take longer until it fruits. Grafted trees may fruit right away, seedlings may take a few years.

We suggest to use SUNSHINE-Sweet to enhance flavor of your White Sapote fruit, and make them sweeter, better tasting!

Date: 24 Jun 2018

TopTropicals

Winter Flowering Plants

Take advantage of the late season tropicals! Brighten up your winters with spectacular flowers and winter producing fruit trees!

Many Floridians move up North during hot summer months, our snow-bird season usually starts late September and ends by Mother's Day in May. Many of our local seasonal customers planting those flowering and fruiting species that they can fully enjoy while staying in Florida. Below you will find a few specials that are in bloom right now.
Check out full list of winter bloomers and late season plants, and download a PDF chart of the most interesting tropical plants that will flower and fruit for you in Fall, Winter and early Spring. Some of them are ever-blooming, others are late- or early season.
Visit our Garden Center in Ft Myers FL and see those blooming specials right now at our front office display!

Date: 27 Jan 2026

🌸 Adenium, Coffee, and Donuts

Smokey  and  Sunshine  with  a  blooming  adenium  desert  rose  on  a  worktable,
    surrounded  by  potted  adeniums  in  the  background.
Smokey: Desert rose. One caudex. Multiple grafts. Different flowers.
Sunshine: So it is a team plant. Everyone blooms, nobody agrees.
Smokey: Yet it grows just fine.
Sunshine: That is the secret. Coffee and donuts.

🌸Featured Adeniums

Recommended by our Horticulturist, Tatiana Anderson

Moung Kusuma Moung  Kusuma  adenium  flower  with  deep  magenta  velvety  petals  and  dark 
 edging

Deep magenta flowers with a velvety look and a darker, almost black edge. A bold, elegant adenium that stands out immediately.

Sunshine Adenium  Sunshine  flower  with  pink  and  white  petals  and  bright  color 
 contrast

Bright yellow and mauve swirls across layered petals create a warm, cheerful bloom that lives up to its name.

White Rabbit Adenium  White  Rabbit  flower  with  white  petals  and  bright  pink  streaks. Clean white petals brushed with playful pink streaks. A reliable bloomer with soft ruffled flowers.
Thong Samsee Adenium  Thong  Samsee  flower  with  creamy  yellow  petals  and  soft  pink 
 edges

Known for its three-color effect, shifting from yellow to pink to nearly white on the same plant.

Candy Adenium  Candy  flower  with  creamy  white  petals  and  soft  pink  edges

Cheerful yellow petals dipped in cherry red with bold ruffled layers. Bright, playful, and impossible to miss.

Black Sheep Adenium  Black  Sheep  flower  with  nearly  black  petals  and  deep  red 
 highlights

Nearly black petals with a glowing red center. Dark, dramatic, and different.

Free Adenium (Desert Rose) Shipping
Plant now, bloom soon. Get select Adenium (Desert Rose) varieties shipped to you with FREE S&H.
Offer valid through 02/06/2026. Limited quantities. While supplies last.
Free shipping applies to qualifying Adenium items only. Excludes other items and prior orders.

✍️ Learn About Adeniums

🎥 Watch Adenium Videos

🛒 Shop Adeniums

Date: 21 Aug 2025

🍒 Tropical Cherries – Eugenias

Two  cats  enjoy  Grumichama  fruit  indoors  —  a  tuxedo  cat  picks  berries  from  a  potted  tree  while  an  orange  fluffy  cat  smiles,  sitting  by  tea  cups  and  plates  of 
 fruit.

Tropical Tea Time with Grumichama

Eugenias have earned a spot in many Southern gardens because they’re easy, dependable, and surprisingly versatile. These small trees and shrubs grow well in the ground or in containers, and they don’t waste time before setting fruit.

15% Off Eugenias – Limited Time

Use code EUGENIA15 at checkout.
Excluding S/H. Offer expires 08/28/2025

👍 Popular Choices:

What Makes Eugenia Cherries Stand Out

  • Start producing fruit in just a couple of years
  • Compact size — easy to keep 6–12 ft tall, smaller in pots
  • Low-care — tolerant of most soils and resistant to common pests
  • Strong in hot weather, yet can handle a light frost down to the mid-20s °F
  • Plenty of fruit for people and birds alike

Close-up  of  Grumichama  tree  branches  with  clusters  of  small  white  flowers  among  glossy  green 
 leaves. Grumichama Tree in Bloom – Eugenia brasiliensis

Growing & Care

Outdoors

  • Best in USDA Zones 9–11
  • Sun or partial shade; more sun usually means sweeter fruit
  • Plant in well-drained soil; avoid heavy, wet spots
  • Withstands summer heat and humidity, and can take a light freeze

Container / Indoor

  • Do well in 5–10 gallon pots on patios or balconies
  • Need bright light indoors — a sunny window or grow lights
  • Can flower and fruit in containers if kept warm and well lit
  • In cooler zones, bring plants indoors for winter and back out in spring

General Care

  • Water: Keep soil evenly moist; drought-tolerant once established but best yields with regular watering
  • Soil: Use good potting mix - LINK TO SOIL
  • Fertilizer: Balanced slow-release LINKL TO FERTILIZER Sunshine Boosters
  • Pruning: Light trimming keeps plants bushy and productive
  • Pollination: Self-fertile; one plant will fruit on its own

Read Garden Blog about Tropical Cherries

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