Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 28 Dec 2023

Cats in the Garden.
Cat Breed: The Norwegian Forest Cat - Skogkatt

Norwegian Forest Cat - Skogkatt on a cat tree

By Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

Meet the cats around us - they're our friends, protectors, and magical mascots. They keep us healthy and can even save us in emergencies...
Winter brings a special time called the Solstice. It's when the earth pauses its yearly cycle and starts a new one. This magical moment marks the beginning of something enchanting...
Let's begin with the Norwegian Forest Cat. It's a mysterious and northern feline friend, also called Skogkatt. It's like the wildcats in Scandinavian fairy tales...

Norwegian Forest Cat - Skogkatt with flowers

Skogkatt's favorite flower

What's Skogkatt's favorite flower in their homeland? Viking Poms, small yellow daisies. But in more southern regions, Daisy Trees - Montanoa - serve as substitutes, reminding them of their distant Northern homeland.

Montanoa atriplicifolia - Tree Chrysanthemum, Tree Daisy

Montanoa atriplicifolia - Tree Chrysanthemum, Tree Daisy - one of the most impressive winter bloomers.

Montanoa atriplicifolia - Tree Chrysanthemum, Tree Daisy, flowers

Date: 15 Jul 2024

Five most useful edibles for your Food Forest

Tropical Food Forest collage

Tired of mowing a boring lawn? Use your yard instead of being used by your yard - grow edible landscape! Below are several plants that made our life happier and meals healthier. Besides, these are fun to grow! Try them out:

Hibiscus sabdariffa - Flor de Jamaica, Karkade Sorrel

1. Hibiscus sabdariffa - Flor de Jamaica, Karkade Sorrel - Flowers are used to make a tea "Agua de Flor de Jamaica". Medical studies show that it lowers blood pressure and has diuretic effects. The pleasant flavor is on the tart side similar to a cranberry juice. We make this cold tea every day - perfect for hot summer. Full sun.

Gynura procubens - Longevity Spinach, Cholesterol spinach

2. Gynura procubens - Longevity Spinach, Cholesterol spinach - one of the Superfoods, and there are many claims that it lowers cholesterol. We use it in our cooking all the time and so far we are all alive! Full sun.
See recipe >>

Cymbopogon citratus - Lemon grass

3. Sauropus androgynus - Katuk, Tropical Asparagus. Delicious young shoots, one of the most popular leaf vegetables in Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, people cook it in stews and soups. It is among only a few flora containing vitamin K. Full sun or semi-shade.
Learn more >>

Cymbopogon citratus - Lemon grass

4. Cymbopogon citratus - Lemon grass: Versatile performer in the kitchen where it can be used in teas, beverages, herbal medicines, Eastern inspired soups and other dishes. Full sun or semi-shade.

Lippia dulcis - Aztec Sweet Herb, Sweetleaf

5. Lippia dulcis - Aztec Sweet Herb, Sweetleaf: Mexican herb with incredibly sweet leaves that can be eaten from the plant like candy or tossed into fruit salads for an unusual addition. It has been used since the time of the Aztecs for coughs and colds. Tastes great, can be used by diabetic patients. We add this herb to Karkade or Mint tea as a sweetener. Shade or semi-shade.

Date: 18 Jan 2025

Forest wilderness

Forest wilderness
🍑 Forest wilderness

"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."
- John Muir

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#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Date: 20 Jan 2024

Cat of the Month:
Winter Adventure of Lisa the Cat

Norwegian Forest Cat - Skogkatt Lisa on the table

After publishing the story about Skogkatts - Norwegian Forest Cats, we received inquiries about Lisa, if she is available for adoption? Luckily, Lisa now has her wonderful sweet home in Sweden, so unfortunately for those who fell in love with her, she is not adoptable. But Lisa's life story wasn't all that sweet and simple! Rather thrilling and adventurous. So we decided to share her story with you...

By Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

"...Lisa, who illustrated our story about Skogkatt Cat Breed, lives with my daughter Vanda, along with her family: husband Vitaly and two children - Max and Maria. They live in Sweden. Lisa is 13 years old now. About 10 years ago, Lisa had a heartbreaking adventure almost ended with a tragedy... But luckily, she made it through. However, since then, she can't jump high and sometimes walks funny, sways and limps... And here's what happened..."

Norwegian Forest Cat - Skogkatt Lisa with girl Maria

Date: 26 Jan 2022

Don't miss this one:
PodCast Premiere!

Episode 1
How to Protect Tropical plants in Winter: Q & A

Featuring Horticulturist Mark Hooten

...We are introducing our new Series: Top Tropicals Podcast. Growing tropicals and pushing the limits. Watch the first episode:

How to Protect Tropical plants in Winter

...Who doesn't like tropical beauty? Everyone wants tropical plants. But not everyone lives in a warm climate. Is it possible to grow tropicals outside of Tropics?
Top Tropicals horticulturist Mark Hooten, who is well known to many gardeners as the Garden Doc with his Saturday Plant Clinic, is answering gardeners' questions about how to prepare and protect tropical plants during winter...

Premiere scheduled:
Thursday, January 27, 8:00 AM

More about cold hardiness and cold protection:

Cold hardy tropical fruit trees
Growing Stephanotis and cold protection
Cold protection of tropical container plants
Plumeria cold protection
Ghost Cold Protection
Seven rules of cold protection for tropicals
Improving cold hardiness before winter: fertilizer and micro-elements
3D garden ideas and winter cold protection
Cold protection - winter action for your plant collection
About Cold Protection

Date: 4 Feb 2021

PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Month: Moishe, the Google Intern with a Sweet Tooth

Just a few months ago we introduced our new Little Purrrson Jim II that we got as a "toy" for intellectual Google the Cat, to cheer him up after he lost his friend Jim I... Jim II, the fluffy goofball, grew up in no time and in his turn, requested entertainment, since Google bored him with his technical lectures... So we got a toy for Jim-the-toy... and he turned out to be - another mini-Google!
Moishe is very busy young individual, spending his day solving math equations and discovering laws of physics... Google appreciates the new generation's input. Jim II is simply glued to the little guy. He follows Moishe everywhere, including boring seminars by Google. Jim loves his new little brother with all his heart!
Moishe's favorite things are - gravity experiments, reading scientific manuscripts, and eating JAM for breakfast! No toast required.

TopTropicals PeopleCat Club and Zoo

Thank you for supporting us in helping PeopleCat Community!
Make your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us! Every little bit helps. Thank you and God bless you and your pets!

In the photo: Moishe the Scientist and Jim the Hopeless Romantic

Date: 17 Jun 2020

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the day: Google the Cat says Happy Fathers Day!

Google the Cat is joining Fathers Day celebration as a Founding Father of TopTropicals (along with Jim the Founder). Google just turned 13 years old - pretty senior age for a cat, and although he is still full of energy (and Brainpower), he spends most of his day managing the business, setting the goals, and knowing everything. This is Because, and this is Why - he is the Google!

TopTropicals PeopleCat Club and Zoo

Thank you for supporting us in helping PeopleCat Community!
Make your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us! Every little bit helps. Thank you and God bless you and your pets!

Date: 25 Dec 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Day: Klaksa - the Mini Cat

Klaksa is a miniature 6 lb cat that lives together with Jim and Google. You can see all three of them wishing you Merry Christmas at the top of this Newsletter. Klaksa is the tiniest Purrson and yet she is the most energetic one. It is almost impossible to take a picture of her because she never stops moving for a second!
Klaksa came in 2016 as a little kitten, but she never grew up since! She saw Google and Jim and said she could be a good addition to this "Man in Black" team. So she stayed.
Klaksa likes to attach/cling to someone. The boys can't avoid her company even if they wanted too! But who can say no to woman's attention?

Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.

Date: 18 Mar 2025

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
😘 Happy Birthday!

🎉Today is the birthday of one of our PeopleCats - Google (a.k.a. Gutalin). 🎈
He is one of the Founding Fathers of TopTropicals.

Happy Birthday, Gu! Wishing you 9 more lives 🍾

🔠 PeopleCats.Garden 
#PeopleCats

🔴 Join 👉 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.