Top Tropicals

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Top Tropicals Rare plants for home and garden WE GROW HAPPINESS! Top Tropicals is more than an online plant store. Some supervise plants. Some inspect boxes.
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We are a tropical plant encyclopedia, a garden blog, a certified nursery, and a real place you can visit in Florida. Our online store ships tropical plants nationwide and worldwide, including fruit trees, flowering plants, rare cultivars, spices, and fragrant plants. Our Plant Encyclopedia features over 5,000 tropical and subtropical plants with 50,000+ photos, helping gardeners identify plants and learn how to grow them. Our Garden Blog shares practical tips, plant stories, and nursery life. Visit us in person:
- Garden Center in Fort Myers, Florida
- Plant Farm in Sebring, Florida
Yes, we have cats. Some lead cat-guided tours. Subscribe for rare plants, news, and sales:
https://toptropicals.com/html/toptropicals/misc/maillist.htm

10/15/2026

🎀A CACTUS THAT TRADED THORNS FOR RED RIBBONS!

No desert. No prickly spines. Just cascading ribbons of red! 🌵❤️

Meet Red Rhipsalis (Rhipsalis ramulosa) — a tropical cactus that grows in forests, not deserts. Its long, flat stems spill over the edges of hanging baskets like living ribbons, shifting from green to bronze, crimson, and deep reddish-purple in bright, filtered light.

And the surprises don't stop there!

🌿 It grows on trees in nature — without stealing nutrients from them.

🤍 Tiny flowers can appear along the stem edges, followed by delicate, translucent white berries.

🎀 In a hanging basket, those branching stems create a living waterfall of color.
Give it bright, filtered light, an airy, well-draining mix, and moderate watering. Think tropical forest, not desert conditions!

🌿 Discover the surprising world of Red Rhipsalis, read more on our Garden Blog:
https://toptropicals.com/gardenblog/1792080322.htm

🛒Bring home your own waterfall of red ribbons:
https://toptropicals.com/store/item/5670.htm

10/14/2026

🐾Daily Cat Lesson:
Cats vs. Shadows: Who Will Win?

A shadow moves across the curtain.
You see - a shadow.
Your cat sees PREY.
Cats are extremely sensitive to movement. Their hunting instinct can be triggered by tiny, quick changes - a shadow, reflection, flickering light or something moving behind a curtain.

🐾Does the cat know there's nothing there?
Not necessarily at first. Cats investigate with several senses. Something that moves like prey gets attention, but once there's no smell, sound or satisfying object to catch, many cats eventually lose interest.

🐾Is chasing shadows good play/exercise?
Sure! It's mental and physical stimulation. But unlike a toy, a shadow can never actually be caught. If your cat gets intensely frustrated, finish the game with a real toy he can stalk, pounce on and finally capture.

Meanwhile, Pelmen has discovered something moving suspiciously on the curtain.
The household is safe. The Shadow Monster is being dealt with.

🐈📸 Pelmen the Sphynx cat - a friend of TopTropicals PeopleCats Garden.

🐈‍⬛ Stay with us for your Daily Dose Of Cat!
https://peoplecats.garden/

🌎🥭ONEFRUIT. A WORLD OF TRADITIONS.🥭 In India, mango season is an event. 🥭 In Thailand, ripe mango meets creamy coconut s...
10/14/2026

🌎🥭ONEFRUIT. A WORLD OF TRADITIONS.

🥭 In India, mango season is an event.
🥭 In Thailand, ripe mango meets creamy coconut sticky rice.
🥭 In Mexico, sweet mango gets a kick from lime and chili.
🥭 In Pakistan, a beautiful box of mangoes can be a gift worth waiting for.

💥And of course, there’s the classic: eating a juicy mango over the kitchen sink because dignity is optional when mangoes are this good. 😄

Different countries, different customs — but the same love for this extraordinary fruit.
Behind every beloved mango variety is a story of flavor, place, and generations of people who chose to preserve it.

🌱 Growing an unusual or heirloom mango isn't just about enjoying delicious fruit. It's a way to keep a little piece of mango history alive.

🥭 Take a delicious trip around the world and discover the traditions behind this remarkable fruit!

📖 Read the full story:
https://toptropicals.com/gardenblog/1791993915.htm

🛒 Explore mango varieties:
https://toptropicals.com/store/group/mango.htm


🌺 Fairy Dancer: The Surprise Wasn't Just the Flower!When we first saw the dangling red blooms of Hibiscus 'Fairy Dancer'...
10/13/2026

🌺 Fairy Dancer: The Surprise Wasn't Just the Flower!

When we first saw the dangling red blooms of Hibiscus 'Fairy Dancer', we fell in love with the flowers. How could we not? They look like tiny tropical dancers suspended in midair! 💃

But after growing this unusual hybrid for several years, we discovered something even more exciting.

Fairy Dancer grows fast AND branches!

🌿 Its parent, Hibiscus schizopetalus, grows vigorously but can become tall and lanky.

🌿 Hibiscus grandidieri has a naturally compact, bushy structure, but grows more slowly and can be fussy about overwatering.

🌺 Fairy Dancer seems to have inherited the best of both: vigorous growth, generous branching, and a surprisingly full, attractive shrub.

Even the flowers fall somewhere between its parents in size — approximately 2 inches across — with bright red, deeply divided petals and an extraordinarily long staminal column that dances beneath each bloom.

And our current plants? Big, full, beautifully branched specimens in 3-gallon containers, with some already carrying buds and flowers!

We originally fell for the flowers.

Now we love the whole plant. 🌺

📖 Read the full story on our GardenBlog: https://toptropicals.com/gardenblog/1791904654.htm

🛒 Meet Fairy Dancer: https://toptropicals.com/store/item/6635.htm

✂️ When Should I Prune My Peach × Plum Tree?A plant consultation with Smokey & Sunshine 🐈‍⬛🐈🐈Sunshine: Smokey, this tree...
10/12/2026

✂️ When Should I Prune My Peach × Plum Tree?
A plant consultation with Smokey & Sunshine 🐈‍⬛🐈

🐈Sunshine: Smokey, this tree is tall and skinny. What does it need?

🐈‍⬛Smokey: More sunshine. Sunlight, Sunshine. Not more of you. Pruning in late winter, repotting in spring.

🐈Sunshine: And some coffee and donuts?

🐈‍⬛Smokey: Those are for the gardener, Sunshine. Not the tree. 😹

A real customer asked us:
“My Peach × Plum tree is growing beautifully. When should I prune it? Which branches should I cut? And with nighttime temperatures dropping to 51°F in North Carolina, does my baby need a grow light or heat lamp?”

🐾Smokey & Sunshine's consultation begins!

☀️More sunshine now.
Long, thin branches and sparse foliage can mean the tree needs more light. Aim for 6–8 hours of direct sun daily.

✂️Prune later.
In North Carolina, late February or early March is generally a good time, while the tree is dormant. But because this is a low-chill variety, watch the buds and weather rather than following the calendar blindly.

🌿What to cut?
Shorten the tall central shoot, reduce the two longest side branches by about one-third, remove dead/damaged/crossing branches, and keep healthy branches to build an open, vase-shaped canopy.

🪴 Repot only when the roots need it.
If roots are tightly circling the container, move up just 2–4 inches in pot size. Good drainage is essential.

❄️And 51°F? No heat lamp!
Peaches and plums are deciduous. Cool weather is part of their natural winter cycle. Some leaf yellowing and drop are perfectly normal.

🐾Final verdict:
More sunshine now. Pruning in late winter. Bigger pot when needed.
And don't panic when the leaves fall.
Your tree isn't dying. It's taking a winter vacation!🍂😸

📖 Read the full consultation on our GardenBlog:
https://toptropicals.com/gardenblog/1791821108.htm

🛒 Shop Low Chill Peach Trees:
https://toptropicals.com/store/findname/prunus.htm

🛒 Shop Tropical Fruit Trees:
https://toptropicals.com/store/group/fruit.htm

10/11/2026

🐾Daily Cat Lesson: Is Your Cat Too Fat? ⚖️

A chubby cat may look adorable. Unfortunately, those extra pounds aren't just cosmetic.

🐾What is a healthy weight?

There isn't one magic number. A small-framed cat and a big Maine C**n obviously shouldn't weigh the same. Body condition matters more than the scale. At an ideal weight, you should be able to feel the ribs easily under a thin layer of fat and see a waist from above.

A hanging belly isn't automatically obesity - the normal primordial pouch can fool you! It is the normal flap of loose skin and fat hanging along a cat’s lower belly - it can swing when they walk and doesn’t mean the cat is overweight.

🐾Can cats really become obese?

Absolutely. And obesity increases the risk of diabetes, arthritis and mobility problems, and can make grooming and other health problems harder to manage. Cats can also develop high blood pressure, although obesity isn't its only - or necessarily primary - cause.

🐾Food-motivated vs. food-obsessed

Some cats eat what they need and walk away. Others hear a can opening three rooms away and appear by teleportation.
Food motivation varies with personality, habits, activity and past experience.

Cats that once experienced unreliable access to food may remain particularly interested in the next meal even when food is now plentiful.

🐾Should an overweight cat go on a diet?

Yes - but never a crash diet. Cats that suddenly stop eating or lose weight too rapidly can develop dangerous hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease). Weight loss should be gradual, ideally with your vet helping establish a target weight and calorie intake.

For the permanently hungry customer: measure the entire day's food, divide it into several small meals, use puzzle feeders or food-dispensing toys, increase play and don't let persuasive acting automatically earn extra calories. In multi-cat homes, feed separately if one professional food thief finishes everybody else's dinner.

💡Begging is evidence that your cat wants food. It is not necessarily evidence that your cat needs food. 🍗

🐈📸 TopTropicals rescued cats Wesley and Timo are not on a diet at PeopleCats Garden.
https://peoplecats.garden

🐈‍⬛ Stay with us for your DailyDoseOfCat!

10/11/2026

🌿 Monstera pinnatipartita: The Plant That Changes Its Look

Some plants show you their true character right away. Monstera pinnatipartita doesn’t.

As a young plant, it can look surprisingly modest — solid green leaves with prominent veins and a slightly quilted texture. But give it something to climb, and everything changes.

With a trellis, moss pole, or tree trunk for support, the leaves become larger and deeply divided, developing that spectacular tropical, feather-like appearance.

And there’s a fascinating reason for this: climbing is part of the plant’s natural growth strategy.

Our original plant came from a tiny two-node cutting collected in Colombia. It seemed to do almost nothing at first. Then, once it started growing, it took off — eventually becoming a giant in a 7-gallon container in just one Florida summer.

🌿 The lesson? Don’t judge a climbing tropical plant by its juvenile leaves. Sometimes the most spectacular version of the plant is still waiting to appear.

📖 Read the full story on our Garden Blog:
https://toptropicals.com/gardenblog/1791734732.htm

🛒 Get your Monstera pinnatipartita – start small, grow spectacular:
https://toptropicals.com/store/item/6425.htm

🌿 Collect more rare Monstera plants:
https://toptropicals.com/store/findname/monstera.htm

🥭 What Is the Best Mango for Florida?Ask mango lovers which variety is best, and you'll get plenty of opinions.But if yo...
10/10/2026

🥭 What Is the Best Mango for Florida?
Ask mango lovers which variety is best, and you'll get plenty of opinions.

But if you're actually planting a mango tree in Florida, taste is only part of the decision.

Florida's warm, humid climate makes anthracnose resistance important. Productivity matters too — especially if you only have room for one or two trees.

And then there's the tree itself.
Some mangoes stay relatively manageable with pruning. Others have a mind of their own. 😄

Coconut Cream, for example, produces phenomenal fruit but can develop a rather wild growth habit if you don't keep up with pruning.

Harvest season matters as well. Planting early-, mid-, and late-season varieties can spread your mango harvest instead of giving you a mountain of fruit all at once.

So what's the best mango for Florida?
There isn't just one.
The right choice is a balance of flavor, productivity, growth habit, harvest timing, and disease resistance.

And don't automatically reject a variety because it is more susceptible to anthracnose. With good growing conditions and proper disease management, Florida gardeners can successfully grow a huge range of mangoes.

📖 Read the full article on our GardenBlog:
https://toptropicals.com/gardenblog/1791647997.htm

🛒 Explore Mango varieties:
https://toptropicals.com/store/group/mango.htm

🐉🌺 Dragon Fruit Is Beautiful. But What Do You DO With It?Dragon fruit looks spectacular — but its flavor can be surprisi...
10/09/2026

🐉🌺 Dragon Fruit Is Beautiful. But What Do You DO With It?

Dragon fruit looks spectacular — but its flavor can be surprisingly mild.

So don't ask dragon fruit to do all the work. 😄

Instead, pair its gorgeous color and juicy texture with flavors that wake it up:

🍋 lime in a refreshing sorbet
🥥 coconut + banana in a creamy smoothie
🌶️ mango, jalapeño and lime in a sweet-spicy salsa
🍓 yogurt and fruit in frozen pops
🍹 lemon or lime for a spectacular pink drink

And if you're feeling adventurous, try Dragon Fruit Jam with Lime.

The secret is simple:

Dragon fruit brings the color. The other ingredients bring the personality.

Tart, creamy, spicy or strongly aromatic flavors can turn this mild tropical fruit into something genuinely delicious.

We put together 7 quick and fun ways to use Dragon Fruit — from breakfast to dessert and everything in between.

📖 Read all 7 recipes in our GardenBlog:
https://toptropicals.com/gardenblog/1791558918.htm

🛒 Collect Dragon Fruit varieties:
https://toptropicals.com/store/findname/pitaya.htm

🏡 Dwarf Mulberries: Big Harvest, Small TreeEverybody loves mulberries — until the mulberry becomes a TREE. 😄Traditional ...
10/08/2026

🏡 Dwarf Mulberries: Big Harvest, Small Tree

Everybody loves mulberries — until the mulberry becomes a TREE. 😄

Traditional mulberries can grow into large shade trees, making harvesting difficult and leaving ripe fruit all over the driveway.

That’s where dwarf mulberries shine. 🌿🍇

They stay manageable, are easy to harvest, work beautifully in containers, and can produce an amazing amount of fruit for their size.

At Top Tropicals, we especially like Dwarf Everbearing, Issai, and Dwarf Burgundy. Our Dwarf Burgundy surprised us so much with its productivity that we now have five growing in the ground!

And the best part?
No ladder. No giant tree. Just reach out and pick.

Want to know which dwarf mulberry may work best for your garden?

📖 Read the full GardenBlog article:
https://toptropicals.com/gardenblog/1791475359.htm

🛒 Shop Dwarf Mulberry trees:
https://toptropicals.com/store/findname/morus.htm

Address

13890 Orange River Boulevard
Fort Myers, FL
33905

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 4pm
Tuesday 9am - 4pm
Wednesday 9am - 4pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 4pm
Saturday 9am - 4pm

Telephone

+12396895745

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