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Rare and Unique Fruits for your Garden

Updated on August 2, 2013

Create Variety in your Garden with Rare and Unique Fruit Plants!

Once the weather begins to get cold, I start to get the itch to plan next years garden. This year I wanted to look into a few new fruit plants to add to my regular garden rotation.

I won't be able to plant them all this year, but maybe someday soon I will buy that farm I always dreamed of and plant to my hearts content.

However, in the mean time, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite unique plants that I have found while researching. I hope you enjoy them and can take advantage of some of these great options to add drama to this years garden.

Victorian Perfumed Melon 10 Seeds - Heirloom
Victorian Perfumed Melon 10 Seeds - Heirloom
This pretty little vine is an heirloom treasure often forgotten in modern day gardens. In days long ago, the melons were carried in the pockets of those who may not have had the facilities needed for proper hygiene. The melons would help to mask body odors when one was not able to bathe, thus the term 'pocket pomander' was born. Stories of old tell that Queen Anne herself carried one, which would explain why common names such as Her Majesty's Melon have been used.
 
Pepino Melon Pear 10 Seeds-Solanum muricata-Indoors/Out
Pepino Melon Pear 10 Seeds-Solanum muricata-Indoors/Out
Originating in the Andes this very large cream colored melon with purple staining has a mild, lightly sweet taste and is becoming popular as a vegetable in salads or cooked in stews.
 

Spiky or wrinkly

Organic Sungold Casaba Melon 35 Seeds - Sweet and Juicy
Organic Sungold Casaba Melon 35 Seeds - Sweet and Juicy
The Sungold Casaba Melon is a short season casaba that ripens well even in northern areas. The oval fruits have a smooth, golden yellow skin with deep creases and sweet,juicy, greenish-white flesh.
 
Bittermelon - Foo Gwa - 10 Bittergourd Seeds - Veggie
Bittermelon - Foo Gwa - 10 Bittergourd Seeds - Veggie
Bittermelon is one of the most popular vegetables in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines. This unique plant is grown mainly for the immature fruits although the young leaves and tips are also edible. The plant produces cucumber-like fruits that are pale white with pronounced bumps. The flavor is slightly bitter and is an interesting addition to soups and stir-fries.
 

Watermelons

Mexican Miniature Watermelon 15 Seeds -Melothria scabra
Mexican Miniature Watermelon 15 Seeds -Melothria scabra
This newly rediscovered heirloom produces abundant crops of 1-2" fruits that have the appearance of miniature watermelons, and fall off the vines when ripe. Actually a sweet cucumber flavor, contrasted by a surprising sourness, as if they are already pickled!
 
Organic Moon & Stars Watermelon 35 Seeds
Organic Moon & Stars Watermelon 35 Seeds
This legendary melon, the "Moon and Stars Watermelon", rediscovered in rural Missouri, has helped rekindle the current interest in heirloom fruits and vegetables. The leaves of the vines are yellow speckled while the dark-green skin of the melons has a unique patterning of bright-yellow splashes resembling moons and stars. Growing as large as 40 lbs., these fruits have bright-red flesh and are memorably sweet.
 
White Soul Alpine Strawberry 30 Seeds - Fragaria
White Soul Alpine Strawberry 30 Seeds - Fragaria
The White Woodland Strawberry is a small-fruited, woodland strawberry that is grown both for its ornamental value and its tasty berries. Numerous, small, 5-petaled white flowers with yellow centers appear throughout summer Flowers are followed by small pure white strawberries which may also be harvested throughout summer. Flowers and fruit are usually simultaneously present on plants in summer.
 
Chichiquelite Garden Huckleberry 50 Seeds/Seed-Heirloom
Chichiquelite Garden Huckleberry 50 Seeds/Seed-Heirloom
Originating in Africa, Garden Huckleberry grows to 3' tall and resembles a pepper plant. Each plant bears hundreds of small, dark purple - almost black - berries all Summer long. The fruit is edible when cooked & sweetened. The sweet, intricately flavored fruits can be used for pies, cobblers, preserves, even wines. The fruit is harvested when it turns from glossy to dull. Leaves can also be cooked like spinach. Easy to grow in good soil.
 

International

Tasmanian Kangaroo Apple 15 Seeds - Solanum
Tasmanian Kangaroo Apple 15 Seeds - Solanum
This evergreen shrub is in leaf all year, in flower from August to October and will grow to about 4 feet. The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked however, it must be thoroughly ripe because the unripe fruit is poisonous. It is best harvested once it has fallen from the plant. In cooler regions this plant makes a great house or patio plant.
 
Yugoslavian Finger Fruit 15 Seeds - Rare - Easy to Grow
Yugoslavian Finger Fruit 15 Seeds - Rare - Easy to Grow
This fruit was originally introduced as "Pineapple" in 1885 by James J.H. Gregory of Marblehead, Massachusetts. This plant is great as an ornamental, but also good for use as a summer squash when the fruits are small.
 

Passion Flower - What's in a name?

Have you ever wondered how the Passion Flower got it's name? The early Spanish missionaries in South America saw in the flower the instruments of Christs Passion, the central column represented the scourging post, the three stigmas the three nails, the five stamens the five wounds, the corona filaments the crown of thorns, the calyx the nimbus or halo of glory, and the ten petals the Apostles Peter and Judas being absent. They are very easy to raise from seed and very vigorous given half a chance, they will take over your greenhouse. They grow well in pots and flowers are often produced in succession throughout the summer.

Sweet Calabash Passion Flower 15 Seeds- Passiflora
Sweet Calabash Passion Flower 15 Seeds- Passiflora
This wonderfully interesting variety of the Passion Flower, looks almost like a spider ready to strike, when the flower first begins to open. It produces the same wonderful tasting fruit that is great for juicing.
 
Edible Passion Flower 5 Seeds - Passiflora edulis
Edible Passion Flower 5 Seeds - Passiflora edulis
This plant features unusual but beautiful 3 inch flowers, followed by edible fruits after a hot summer. It is a self clinging climber from Brazil that grows well in a greenhouse or conservatory as a houseplant, or outside against a sheltered wall. Flowers begin in early summer and last till autumn. It is Hardy in zones 8-10, but in cooler areas it can be brought inside as a houseplant in the winter.
 

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