Garden Blog - Top Tropicals
Date: 4 May 2026
How to cut a Mango
How to cut a Mango
🔸1. Cut down along each side of the pit to remove the cheeks.
🔸2. You will have two cheeks and the pit.
🔸3. Score the flesh in a grid pattern, being careful not to cut through the skin.
🔸4. Turn each cheek inside out to pop up the cubes.
🔸5. Slice or scoop out the cubes and enjoy!
🛒 Explore Mango varieties
📚 Learn more:
· Mango Tree - Mangifera indica - in Plant Encyclopedia
· #Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try
#Food_Forest #Mango #How_to
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals
Date: 4 May 2026
🍲 Where the Garden Becomes the Kitchen
A lot of plants that thrive in Florida heat have deep roots in Mexico, and not just as ornamentals. Think coral vine or flame vine climbing a fence in summer, or bird of paradise sitting at the edge of a patio like it owns the place. These are not plants that need coaxing. They grow fast, full, and unapologetically. Then there are the plants you actually eat: peppers, prickly pear , sweetleaf, and fruit trees like avocado, guava, and sapodilla. They do not just decorate the yard. They change how the yard works, and how the kitchen feels all year.
That is the part that sneaks up on you. Gardening stops being about having a pretty yard and starts becoming a way of living. Mango tacos taste different when you picked the mango yourself. Everything does.
🍀Mexican Plants That Thrive With Minimal Effort
by Tatiana Anderson, Top Tropicals Garden Expert
These Mexican plants are surprisingly easy to grow if you give them what they expect: sun, heat, and good drainage. Most of them are built for tough conditions and will grow fast with minimal care once established.
The one rule that matters: fill the planting hole with water. If it does not drain in 5-10 seconds, plant on a mound or use a container.
Flowering vines will take off quickly, edibles like peppers and sweetleaf lippia are very forgiving, and cactus types prefer to be left alone rather than overwatered.
For full, step-by-step growing tips and plant-specific advice, read our blog
- we break everything down in practical, real-world terms.
🌮 Sunshine’s Mango Taco 😺
This is not cooking. This is assembly.
What you need
- Tortillas
- 1 ripe mango (diced)
- Something warm (sweet potato, chicken, or leftovers)
- A little onion (optional)
- Lime (or bottled lime juice)
- Sour cream or yogurt
- Salt and pepper
How Sunshine does it
- Heat whatever you have in a pan
- Put mango in a bowl, add lime and a pinch of salt
- Mix sour cream with lime (this is your sauce)
- Put everything into a tortilla
- Enjoy with a margarita
Sunshine's rules
- No measuring
- No recipes
- If it tastes good, it is correct
Want this to be normal?
Start with a mango tree. That is usually how it begins.
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Still deciding? A gift card is the easiest option. With our bonus, it is also the best value.
Date: 4 May 2026
🎉 Work First. Celebrate Anyway. That Is the Plan.
Cinco de Mayo has a way of sneaking up the right way. The weather settles, the evenings stretch a little longer, and suddenly everything moves outside - plants, people, and whatever happens to be for lunch. It is the kind of day where you stay out longer than planned, something cold is sweating on the table, and dinner becomes whatever sounds good.
This year, it was mango tacos. Not a recipe we planned - just a few ripe mangoes that needed a purpose and the kind of lazy inspiration that shows up around 5pm in the garden. Nothing complicated. Just something warm from the pan and a quick assembly that somehow feels like a celebration.
It's funny how a good meal can send you down a rabbit hole. One bite of something fresh and you start wondering where it came from, whether you could grow it yourself, and how much better it might taste if you did.
That is really the point. A small shift from planning to picking, where the line between the garden and the kitchen starts to blur. If you are growing fruit, or thinking about it, this is your reminder: the best meals usually start about ten feet from your back door.
Date: 3 May 2026
3 Olive Trees Worth Planting in Your Yard Right Now
3 Olive Trees Worth Planting in Your Yard Right Now
Olive trees aren’t just for the Mediterranean anymore. In warm parts of the U.S. - including much of Florida - certain varieties handle heat, humidity, and even occasional cold better than people expect. If you’ve been thinking about adding something useful, low-maintenance, and long-lived to your garden, olives deserve a spot on your list. Here are three varieties that actually make sense to grow.
1. Arbequina: Compact, Productive, and Beginner-Friendly
Arbequina is one of the easiest olives to grow, especially if space is limited. It is naturally compact, which makes it great for containers or small yards. It starts producing early compared to other olives, handles heat well, and adapts to different soils. The fruit is mild, buttery, and excellent for oil. If you want an olive tree that behaves well and produces without much fuss, this is the one. More...
2. Coratina: Bold Flavor and Strong Growth
Coratina is a completely different type of olive - vigorous, tough, and known for intense flavor. It is fast-growing and very hardy once established, and it produces heavily under the right conditions. The fruit is high in oil content with a flavor that is strong and peppery, making it prized for premium olive oil. This is a great choice if you want a more traditional, high-performance olive tree with character. More...
3. Leccino: Reliable and Cold-Tolerant
Leccino is known for consistency and is one of the most widely planted olives for a reason. It is more cold-tolerant than many other varieties and is a reliable producer year after year. It has a medium growth habit that is easy to manage, and the fruit works well for both oil and curing. If your area gets occasional cold snaps, Leccino is a safer bet. More...
Why olives make sense in your garden
Olives check a lot of boxes most fruit trees don’t. They are drought-tolerant once established and don’t need rich soil; average or even poor soil is fine. They are long-lived trees that can produce for decades and have low pest pressure compared to many tropical fruits. They’re not high-maintenance, and they don’t demand constant attention.
What to know before you plant
A few practical points make all the difference. Full sun is non-negotiable, and drainage matters because if water sits, the roots suffer. Light pruning keeps trees productive and manageable. Some varieties produce better with cross-pollination. In Florida conditions, airflow and avoiding overly wet soil are key.
If you want a tree that looks good, produces something useful, and doesn’t need babysitting, olives are hard to beat. Choose Arbequina for small spaces and ease, Coratina for strong growth and bold oil, or Leccino for reliability and cold tolerance. Plant one - or plant all three - and you’ll start to see why olive trees have been grown for thousands of years.
Shop Olive trees
"Learn more:
Olea europea - Olive Tree - in Plant Encyclopedia
Grow your own Olive Oil
Marinated green olives: quick-n-fun exotic recipes
How to grow your own Olive
Shop Olive trees
#Food_Forest #How_to #Discover
Date: 3 May 2026
Mango Rainbow: a miniature Angie
Mango Angie
🥭 Angie mango is a South Florida selection named after Angie Whitman, wife of the legendary mango collector Bill Whitman and a trustee of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
🥭 It is prized for its rich, complex flavor in the Alphonso class, with deep sweetness and layered apricot notes. The fruit is oblong, about 1 lb on average, with smooth yellow to orange skin and an Indian-orange blush on sun-exposed shoulders. The flesh is deep tangerine orange, fiberless, and intensely flavorful.
🥭 Trees are semi-dwarf, good as Condo Mango, highly manageable with pruning, and known for excellent disease resistance. Its early season is another major advantage in South Florida, often allowing fruit to mature before the heavy summer rains. More 👉
🛒 Shop Mango varieties
📚 Learn more:
Mango Tree - Mangifera indica - in Plant Encyclopedia
#Mango_Rainbow - varieties you should try
How big does the Condo Mango grow?
Forget the Tropics: These 5 "Condo Mango" Varieties Thrive in Your Living Room
Mango varieties and Condo Mango
Yes, you can grow a mango tree on your patio - here is how to do it right
Mango Tree for Zone 5: top 15 Condo Mango for growing in cold areas
#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow
🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals