Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 1 Jul 2025

Starry fruit and rusty leaves: the tropical tree full of surprises

Chrysophyllum cainito - Caimito, Star Apple

🌟 Starry fruit and rusty leaves: the tropical tree full of surprises



Is it Star Apple, Star Fruit, Cainito or Caimito? Are you lost? Don't be - and here is the truth:
  • ⭐️ Don't confuse Chrysophyllum cainito (Caimito) with Pouteria caimito (Abiu), or Averrhoa carambola (Star Fruit) - which are all different fruit entirely!
  • ⭐️ The Star Apple tree - Chrysophyllum cainito, also known as Caimito, is a tropical treasure admired for both its fruit and foliage. It is related to Sapote and Sapodilla and produces round, glossy fruit that comes in stunning purple and green varieties.
  • ⭐️ When sliced open, the juicy flesh reveals a star-shaped pattern - hence the name "Star Apple"!
  • ⭐️ The flavor is mildly sweet, often described as a mix of grape, lychee, and apple with a hint of caramel.
  • ⭐️ The tree also features lush green leaves with a striking rusty-red underside, making it as beautiful as it is bountiful.
  • ⭐️ Caimito thrives in warm climates and is popular in the Caribbean, Central America, and Southeast Asia.


🛒 Plant your own exotic Star Apple tree

📚 Learn more:


#Food_Forest #Nature_Wonders

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Date: 28 Jun 2025

Bright, bold, and edible: Variegated Chaya

Leaves of Variegated Maya Spinach Tree

Leaves of Variegated Maya Spinach Tree

Variegated Maya Spinach Tree growing in pot

Variegated Maya Spinach Tree growing in pot

🌱 Bright, bold, and edible: Variegated Chaya

  • 🌿 Cnidoscolus aconitifolius variegatus, known as Chaya "Jatropha" or Variegated Maya Spinach Tree, is a rare gem for gardeners who crave both beauty and function. On top of health benefits of regular Chaya we mentioned earlier, this one is also a rare spectacular ornamental!
  • 🌿 With its striking, creamy-splashed fan-shaped leaves and sculptural form, this plant brings dramatic texture to sunny landscapes or large containers. And as a bonus, it sends up charming clusters of white flowers!
  • 🌿 More than just a looker, it's a productive perennial too - its leaves, once cooked, are a nutritious green similar to spinach. Just don't eat them raw.
  • 🌿 This drought-tolerant shrub thrives in sun, asks for little more than space to grow, and rewards you with year-round color and character. Whether you grow it for food, flair, or both, the Variegated Chaya is an unforgettable addition to your garden.


🛒 Add rare beauty and purpose to your garden

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Chaya's health benefits: a must-have tropical leafy vegetable for sustainable gardening

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Discover

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Date: 27 Jun 2025

This is what we discovered inside Jackedak - the biggest fruit on earth!

🍈 This is what we discovered inside Jackedak - the biggest fruit on earth!


  • 🍐Meet Jackedak - the superstar of the jackfruit world!

  • 🍐Originally grown from a seedling of Cheena (Jackfruit x Chempedak, Artocarpus x integer), this TopTropicals hybrid fruited in just 3 years and blew us away with its flavor.

  • 🍐Each massive fruit (20-25 inches!) is super sweet, crunchy, and rich, with hardly any latex - making it easy to prep and impossible to resist.

  • 🍐 Jackedak is also a garden hero: it fruits low on the trunk, so you can keep it short and tidy, and it's survived both light frost and 48 hours under 3 feet of floodwater during hurricane Irma in 2017, without breaking a sweat.

  • 🍐 If you want the best-tasting jackfruit hybrid we've ever tried, Jackedak is the one!


📚 Learn more from previous posts:



🛒 Buy Jackedak Cheena Tree - Delivered to Your Door

#Food_Forest #Jackfruit

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 27 Jun 2025

This is what we discovered inside Jackedak - the biggest fruit on earth!

Cheena - Jackfruit x Chempedak (Artocarpus x integer)

🍈 This is what we discovered inside Jackedak - the biggest fruit on earth!

  • 🍐Meet Jackedak - the superstar of the jackfruit world!
  • 🍐Originally grown from a seedling of Cheena (Jackfruit x Chempedak, Artocarpus x integer), this TopTropicals hybrid fruited in just 3 years and blew us away with its flavor.
  • 🍐Each massive fruit (20-25 inches!) is super sweet, crunchy, and rich, with hardly any latex - making it easy to prep and impossible to resist.
  • 🍐 Jackedak is also a garden hero: it fruits low on the trunk, so you can keep it short and tidy, and it's survived both light frost and 48 hours under 3 feet of floodwater during hurricane Irma in 2017, without breaking a sweat.
  • 🍐 If you want the best-tasting jackfruit hybrid we've ever tried, Jackedak is the one!


📚 Learn more from previous posts:



🛒 Buy Jackedak Cheena Tree - Delivered to Your Door

#Food_Forest #Jackfruit

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 26 Jun 2025

Wise Mango - a smart choice for flavor lovers: sweet, juicy, and Florida-tough

Wise Mango

Wise Mango - a smart choice for flavor lovers: sweet, juicy, and Florida-tough.
Mango Rainbow🌈

🥭 Mango Wise is a forgotten gem from the golden age of mango breeding in South Florida. Originating in Miami during the post-1930s boom of cultivar development, it was once part of a wave of exciting new introductions. Over time, many of these excellent varieties faded from commercial propagation, despite having outstanding eating qualities. Wise stands out with its nearly round fruit, minimal to no fiber, and rich, juicy sweetness. It's a smart, flavorful choice that deserves a comeback in Florida gardens.

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Previous posts: #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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