In this article you will find an extensive range of different exotic fruit plants you can be grown right in your garden, even if you have limited space. None are cast-iron certainties, of course, but if you choose exotic fruit plants that look beautiful as well as being productive, what’s to lose?
Although exotic fruit plants still represent a small percentage of all produce sales, some things once introduced as specialty items are now mainstream and not considered exotic anymore. In fact, most exotic fruit can be grown right in your garden.
Passion Fruit
Most of us are familiar with the stunning passion flower, but did you know that the passion flower grows on a lovely vine and some will produce unique, edible exotic fruit?
There are many types of passion fruit ranging in color from purple to yellow. Depending on the variety, it will grow in zones 6-11. The fruit produces very crunchy seeds within sacs of sweet and tart juice. They are easy to grow, but be careful!
Passion flower vines can easily become intrusive in your garden and will quickly take over! Wild passion fruit sprouts in early spring and the fruit ripens from August til frost.
They require very little care-we never water or fertilize our plants. In fact, the only maintenance necessary is to pull unwanted sprouts as we do any other weed. Growing passion fruit from seed can be difficult, so you might want to purchase plants.
Avocados
Although it might not seem like it would show up on a list of exotic fruits, avocados were, once upon a time, new to the average American consumer. But these days most everyone enjoys freshly made guacamole dip, and avocados are now commonplace in grocery stores.
While you can grow an avocado tree from the pit (seed) inside the fruit, you should know that it will be about 5 years before you get any fruit off of it.
If you want to grow your own avocados, you’re better off buying a 2 or 3 year old avocado tree from a nursery. Plant your avocado tree in full sun, at least 6 hours per day, and give it plenty of space!
Avocado trees can grow to 30 feet tall and 20 feet wide! These trees don’t tolerate drought very well, so make sure to give it frequent deep watering.
Dragon Fruit
It looks like a cactus doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it is! The dragon fruit plant is a very cool vining cactus. They are often trained into cactus trees, will grow straight up a wall, and I’ve even seen them grown in hanging baskets.
The harvest season for dragon fruit begins in July and continues through November. The next time you’re in the supermarket, check the produce section for this delicious fruit.
Dragon fruit has a mild, sweet taste, but I will say that the supermarket varieties are not nearly as tasty as the dragon fruit grown at home.
Depending on the variety of dragon fruit, the flesh may also be white. Both have a mild but satisfying sweetness and a smooth texture accented by a slight crunch from the tiny black seeds within it.
Pineapples
Pineapples are another exotic fruit that we’re all pretty familiar with, but you might not realize that you could grow a pineapple in your own yard!
Like many exotic fruits, pineapples prefer a tropical climate and will happily grow outdoors in zones 11-12. You might think that pineapples grow on trees, but they are actually a fairly small plant that grows well in containers. That’s really good news because growing pineapple as a houseplant is possible for most people. You can choose to purchase a pineapple plant, start your plant from seed, or grow a pineapple from the leafy portion on the top of the fruit.
A pineapple plant will only make one fruit at a time, and, however it is started, it will be at least 2 years before and between harvesting your fruits.
Pineapples like conditions similar to cacti, so plant it in acidic soil in full sun, allow the soil to dry between waterings and don’t over water.
Finger limes
Also referred to as the caviar of limes, these finger-shaped limes have a green oily skin that’s very fragrant. Snap the finger lime in half and squeeze out the caviar-like, bright green, yellow, or pink citrus pearls that literally ooze from the fruit into the palm of your hand.
Finger limes are currently only grown in California and in southern Florida. It can be hard to grow from seed, so purchasing grafted plants is the best way to grow these cool plants at home.
They live in full to part sun in zones 10-11 and are grown in a manner similar to other citrus plants. And, like other citrus plants, the finger lime has sharp thorns, so be careful of those!
The Meyer lemon is a favorite exotic fruit of the citrus clan. It is sweeter and less tart than a traditional lemon and is therefore favored for use in desserts and drinks like lemonade and cocktails. The rind is also favored for flavoring in cooking.
California produces almost all of the nation’s Meyer lemons, and they’re in season from October through early April.
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