Carica Papaya, the Papaya, Pawpaw or Fruta Bomba, is a fruit tree that comes from sub-humid tropical regions of South America and Central America, especially Mexico, where, in the open ground it often reaches up to 8 meters high and 4 meters wide. These trees can make extremely attractive specimens with palmed leaves when grown in a large pot indoors. The succulent yellow and green fruits, with yellow-orange pulp and weighing up to 1kg, grow attached to the trunk. Although there are now hybrids that can have both sexes, the male trees have cream flowers whilst the female trees have white-yellowish flowers. ... Learn More

These new, rare and absolutely delightful, small Central American fruits look like tiny watermelons but taste of cucumber with a hint of citrus fruit. They can be grown like regular cucumbers and can be trained up canes or wires but are quite pest resistant, hardy enough to grow well outside, drought resistant and contain male and female flowers. Pick the fruit when still firm to the touch. ... Learn More

Clusters of beautiful, deepest blood-red flowers bloom from the trunk, often in great number toward the bottom of the tree. These are followed by impressive clumps of attractive, slightly multi-lobed, oblong fruits, which have a pale green waxy skin, and crunchy flesh, very similar to the star fruit, a single tree often producing hundreds and hundreds of fruits. This is essentially a tropical tree, less resistant to cold than the carambola, in Florida, where it is an occasional curiosity, it prefers protection from wind and cold. It has countless other uses, including being used either curried, or added as a souring agent for the common Filipino dish sinigang. The uncooked bilimbi is often prepared as relish, and served with rice and beans in Costa Rica. In the Far East where it originated, it is occasionally added to curry. The juice is also made into a cooling beverage, and in Indonesia it is added to some dishes as a substitute for tamarind or tomato. Additionally, the fruit can be preserved by pickling,which reduces its acidity, and finally the flowers can also be preserved in sugar. Some fruit! ... Learn More

One of the most beautiful of the passionflowers, this beauty opens its large, fragrant flowers with deep red petals and a centre crown that contains five rows of numerous white and purple rays. Large leaves hang from stems that are quadrangular in cross section, hence its botanical name. It produces the most enormous fruits of all of the passion fruits, which grow very rapidly, and may weigh up to 4 kg (9 lb) turning to medium yellow when mature. For best fruiting, flowers should be hand pollinated. The ripe fruit is eaten fresh or used in drinks whilst unripe, green fruit is eaten as a vegetable. It is quite hardy, surviving temperatures down to 1°C (35°F) for short periods of time. In warm areas it can be cultivated in home gardens, or it can even be kept as a greenhouse or indoor container plant, and grown in a sunny south-facing window. ... Learn More

Attractive, frilly flowers mature into guava fruits, which may be round, ovoid or pear-shaped, 2 to 4 inches long, and are commonly used in jams and juices. A series of tests on Indian fruits, including Himalayan apples and pomegranates, bananas from the south, and grapes from Maharashtra, found the guava, (exotic in Europe but a poor man's fruit in India), to be the ultimate super food with the highest concentration of antioxidants which protects against the cell damage that often ages skin! From seed, common guavas may bloom and set fruit in as little as 2 years. They are evergreen, faintly fragrant, and growth, in California for example, is rarely over 10 - 12 feet. The bark is smooth, mottled green or reddish brown and peels off in thin flakes to reveal the attractive "bony" aspect of its trunk. Guavas can bloom throughout the year in mild-winter areas, but the heaviest bloom occurs with the onset of warm weather in the spring. And if the tops of the trees are frozen, they usually sprout from the ground and are back in production in 2-3 years! ... Learn More

Purple fruit, 3–4 cm in diameter, with one to four large seeds, have white, sweet, juicy pulp, closely resembling grapes, and with a similar flavour, which can be eaten raw or be used to make jellies and drinks (plain juice or wine). They are borne directly on the main trunks and branches of the tree, giving a distinctive and very odd-looking appearance. They do well in tropical and subtropical climates, but will survive temperatures as low as 22-27F, even when young. They make attractive conservatory plants if grown in a large pot. They are native to the Minas Gerais region of Brazil, spreading into Bolivia, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina. Fresh seeds are very rarely obtainable. ... Learn More

This superb fruit is relatively new on the scene, the golden variety being much sweeter, and the pulp softer, rather like a mushy fruit salad. The fruit has a smoother skin and a small nub or point on one end, whereas the green kiwi is slightly fuzzier, and symmetrically oval, and most people find the smooth skin more palatable. The plants do well to be pruned hard back at the end of each growing season. ... Learn More

Sprays of orange flowers mature to bunches of white to slightly yellow coloured fruit, with a crunchy, juicy, acidic flavoured pulp, which are borne in great abundance. The Malay Gooseberry is tropical or subtropical, and can take several degrees of frost for brief periods of time, two fruiting cycles occurring per year, and depending on the climate, trees can produce occasionally throughout the year. Often the fruit is cooked with sugar, upon which the pulp and juice turns bright red, common uses for the resulting fruit mixture are for beverages and sauces. It is native to Madagascar, but was spread long ago by humans throughout much of India, south east Asia, some Pacific islands, the Caribbean region and Central and South America. ... Learn More

These lovely fruits need no description, being one of the healthiest foods you can eat, providing roughage as well as being sweet and juicy, so people in warmer countries can soon have a long-lived fruit tree in their garden! These plants also make attractive indoor container plants for growers in colder climates. ... Learn More

This very well-known and distinctive fruit has ridges running down its sides, usually five but sometimes more, its cross-section resembling a star. The entire fruit is edible and is usually eaten out of the hand, having a unique thirst-quenching ability like no other. It is also used in cooking, and for relishes, preserves, and juice drinks. The tree needs, above all, good drainage, and will not tolerate being waterlogged. It is popular throughout its native lands in south east Asia, the Southern Pacific, East Asia, and is also cultivated throughout other non-indigenous tropical and sub-tropical areas, such as Latin America, the Caribbean, and the southern parts of the United States. Good fertile seeds are hard to come by. ... Learn More

The Tamarillo (Cyphomandra betacea) is the "Tree Tomato". Like its cousins of the closely-related Lycopersicon genus (the ordinary common tomato), the egg-size fruit makes good eating, and is typically made into jams or conserve, although it is recommended that the skin and seeds are removed before cooking. It therefore makes either a fruiting shrub or a superb foliage plant! It is easily grown from seed and makes a pleasing contrast to the more typical foliage of cannas, gingers and bananas. Easily grown from seed, the roots of this plant are quite tough surviving moderate frosts, and in relatively mild areas usually re-grow from the base. Otherwise grow in a large container and overwinter frost free. ... Learn More