Tree Frog Tropicals

Miracles are real, and they grow on trees!

Meet the Miracle Berry (Synsepalum dulcificum)!

This little red berry from the tropics of Africa contains a very special compound - a glycoprotein called miraculin! It binds to the sour receptors of your taste buds and blocks them, temporarily making sour foods taste sweet! Eat a few berries, coating your tongue with the juice, and for a while you will be able to bite into lemons and limes just like oranges! A squeeze of lemon juice in a glass of ice water will taste like sweet lemonade from the county fair. It will enhance already palatable fruits - a normal pineapple or kiwi will become the sweetest, most delicious one you ever tasted, as if it was soaked in sugar syrup.

The possibilities don't end there... Plain sugar free Greek yogurt will taste sweet like vanilla! People throw "flavor tripping" parties, experimenting with all sorts of different foods, seeing how the flavors are affected.

The berry itself has a very interesting and pleasant taste. Extremely hard to describe, and sweet but in an unfamiliar and unusual way. These plants are cold sensitive, but are extremely well adapted to keeping in a pot their whole life. This was my first ever edible plant, which I've had for nearly 10 years. The one that started it all! It now stands about 5 feet tall in a ~7 gallon pot where it will stay for years to come.

Plants available 🌱

First ripe dragonfruit of the season. These are so much sweeter and more flavorful than the beautiful disappointments you usually find at the store. It's always better to grow your own. Cuttings available!

A few racks harvested already and many more on the way - it's gonna be a great year for bananas!! These taste so much sweeter with a much nicer texture than the variety of bananas you get in the grocery store, so I highly recommend giving them a try even if you don't think you're a big banana fan. This variety is called Namwah. It has a touch of acidity with notes of strawberry and apple. They're at their sweetest when they're nearly all black, but they're not mushy! These plants will lose their leaves over winter here but come back with a vengeance the following spring. They're very fast growing so you can be harvesting bananas in just a bit over a year. Plants available now, come buy some and 1'Il share tips on successful growing.

Wow. I mean wow. Beyond delicious, that's about all I can say. I consider myself something of a fruit sommelier, using familiar flavors to describe the tastes of exotic fruits to people who've never tried them. I'm pretty good at it. But I'm at a loss with jaboticaba. It's like trying to describe a color you've never seen. People say they taste like grapes, but they're not even close. They're way better than any grape you've ever had. Anyways, these are pretty much my favorite thing, and everyone should be growing them. I have a number of different species available. I plant every single seed. I'm filling my garden with as many as possible. You should too.

Some of these varieties, like the Red Hybrid and Scarlett, are everbearing - producing fruit all year long once they start. And they're quick to start, too. Flavor, beauty, production. They have it all. Come check em out!

It's getting chilly but there's still fruit to eat here :)

'Possum Purple' passionfruit!!

This low-maintenance vine is a vigorous grower which blooms profusely with gorgeous, intricate flowers. I let it grow on my fence and hedges as a trellis since the tendrils don't damage the paint. In North Florida it dies back after a freeze but resprouts in the spring. It's a host plant for many native butterflies such as the Zebra Longwing and Gulf Fritillary. The leaves can be used as a calming herb for anxiety and insomnia. AND let's not forget to mention how delicious the fruit is!! 😋😋😋

Dragonfruit!! In Gainesville!!
It can be done! 🐉 🌵

THIS AIN'T YOUR PUBLIX DRAGONFRUIT

You've likely experienced the right of passage that is the disappointment from seeing a beautiful dragonfruit at the grocery store, buying it, enticed by its exotic appearance, only to bite into something incredibly bland. So sad. "What a scam!" you probably thought.

These are not that! These are sweet and delicious. Variety and harvest time makes all the difference. Come get some local grown dragonfruit, or better yet, come buy a plant and grow your own!!

These survived outside last winter, our coldest winter in at least 10 years, by simply wrapping with frost cloth for a couple weeks. They experienced no damage at all despite prolonged periods at 20°F. You can do it!

Lemon Guavas! In Gainesville!

(Psidium cattleyanum var. littorale)

These sweet yellow guavas are so tasty! Bright, juicy, and lightly floral with hints of lemon 😋

These plants are much more cold hardy than the common tropical guava. (The seeds are also smaller, fewer, and less teeth-breaky 😂) Unprotected plants here sustained extended periods at 20°F with minimal damage. They don't seem to suffer from pests, namely the root-knot nematodes everywhere in Florida soils that attack common guavas.

Plants available, grow some!

Brown turkey fig producing its second year in the ground 😋

Jamaican cherries! Also called strawberry tree or cotton candy tree, among other names. Muntingia calabura is the scientific name. These fast growing trees make tons of fruits about the same size and texture as a blueberry but the flavor reminds me of the milk at the bottom of a bowl of Fruity Pebbles cereal. Fruity yet sort of creamy. 😋😋😋

Another pitangatuba and some miracle berries this morning 😋

Pitangatuba, or Brazilian Star Cherries, taste like a bright mix of mango and passionfruit. The Portuguese name pitangatuba means "soft skin and good to eat" and I couldn't agree more.

Miracle berries, or miracle fruit, comes from tropical West Africa. The fruits themselves have a sweet tang and excellent taste, but are most famous for their flavor altering properties. They contain a glycoprotein called miraculin which blocks the sour receptors on your taste buds so acidic foods taste sweet! A glass of lemon water tastes like lemonade, and plain Greek yogurt tastes like sweet vanilla yogurt! The effect lasts as long as your tongue is coated, anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours depending on what you eat or drink.

Both plants available now 🌱

Harvesting some avocados recently in Gainesville! This variety is called Joey. It's a cold hardy Mexican type that can tolerate temperatures as low as 15f! Much colder than the most common varieties. The flavor is creamy and delicious, and the skin is super thin and edible, no peeling required!

Cold hardy avocado trees available now.

These are so delicious! Like juicy water balloons that taste like a perfect mix of mango and passionfruit. 😋

Plants available now! These begin fruiting as small bushes and are excellent as a container plant for a patio garden.

Afternoon fruit pickin’ 😋
Check out what we harvested from our garden today!

Back at Kanapaha until 5pm today ! Free admission to the sale & garden…come say hi!

We had a blast at the Kanapaha fall plant sale & orchid show today! We will be back tomorrow 9-5pm with a great selection of unique edible plants including fruit trees & leafy greens and some great house plants! 🪴 🥑🍊🍍