Cranberry Hibiscus would serve wonderfully as a hedge in any garden, growing tall, wide, and full of ornamental branches and deep red hibiscus flowers.  Medicinally, leaves and flowers are a rich source of Vitamin C and antioxidants. 

Quenepa trees have the potential to take your tropical fruit orchard to new heights. Quenepa (Melicoccus bijugatus), Spanish Lime, or Mamoncillo is a close relative of the Lychee and Longan. This gentle giant can grow to a larger-than-life height, but can be pruned and maintained for container growth. Quenepa fruits grow in clusters with lime green rinds. People from Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, and Surinam may remember the Quenepa with a fond familiarity.

Quenepa will feel most at home in deep, calcareous soils, but is heat loving and adaptable to any suitably warm and sunny climates. Harvest the clustered, green fruits of Quenepa in late summer. Cracking open the Quenepa rinds will reward you with an orangey, glistening oasis,  quenching your thirst when you need it most.

Sow Exotic's Wild Florida Guava is a dwarf-growing subtropical to tropical fruit tree native to the Americas.  This variety was found growing and naturalized in our area, here in Central Florida.  It produces large, delicious yellow guava fruits with a deep pink flesh.  Like most guava varieties, contain a high amount of vitamin A and folate. It also contains vitamins C (even greater amounts are in the skin) and B-complex vitamins as well as minerals like potassium.

Mature Grafted Fruit Tree

The Mamey Sapote is a large evergreen tropical tree that produces a large fruit that is both sweet and almond-like in flavor.  Beloved in the Caribbean and throughout the tropical world, the Mamey Sapote fruit tastes like a delicious combination of sweet potato and pumpkin with undertones of almond, chocolate, honey, and vanilla. On the outside, Mamey Sapote fruit is brown and fuzzy, but on the inside the deep golden red-orange pulp is smooth and slightly granular.  Mamey's rich flavor has made it popular as a dessert fruit.  Fruit can be frozen and made into thick smoothies, milkshakes or ice cream. 

The Mamey tree is a close relative of Canistel has a thick central trunk and a full open canopy lush with long dark green  leaves.  Small white flowers form abundantly in clusters towards the end of the stems.  Sapote fruit is slightly avocado shaped and vary in size from 3 to 8 inches long and 1 to 6 pounds. Mamey sapote trees will fruit prolifically when mature, producing 200 to 500 fruits in a season! 

This superior and very rare Mamey Sapote cultivar has a history as rich and unique as it's coveted flavor.  The Key West Mamey (aka the Pantin Mamey) was discovered growing near a fire station in Key West, Florida. "The seeds of this tree were believed to come from Cuba by way of 19th century dissidents who left the island at that time. The tree was originally called the Key West Mamey Sapote until it was selected and propagated by Eugenio Pantin in the early 1950s. The story goes that a Cuban émegré named Josefina Jimenez smuggled three Mamey seeds into the US in her brassiere and gave them to Pantin, who grew them as seedling rootstocks, onto which he grafted budwood of the Key West Mamey tree. Pantin then proceeded to plant a small commercial orchard in Miami-Dade County, Florida. After his death in 1963, Eugenio's son, Donald, took over the family business, and nurseryman, Lawrence Zill, who had recognized the potential of Eugenio's prized cultivar, named it the Pantin Mamey Sapote."

Yerba Mate is a low maintenance evergreen tree, best known for it's leaves that are used to make Yerba Mate tea; a delicious and stimulating drink that can be enjoyed as a healthy alternative to coffee. Medicinally, Yerba Mate is said to tone, balance, and strengthen overall body functions, increase fat burning, and balance/calm the nerves.

Yerba Mate can be grown outside in the ground or indoors in a pot.  It will grow fastest in full sun. Fragrant white blossoms will appear throughout fall and winter that turn into vibrant, red ornamental berries in the spring. Thick, holly-like leaves can be harvested when full. Their flavor tastes similar to smooth green tea and is loaded   with antioxidants!

The Brown Turkey Fig produces a beautiful bronze-skinned fruit with reddish-amber pulp. The Fig is very sweet, but not too rich. This variety is very popular in the South for it's dependability and flavor. The fruit is also incredibly healthy and supplies a great source of calcium, potassium, magnesium, copper, and iron.

Brown Turkey Fig is cold hardy, easy to grow, fast growing, self-fertile, and very low maintenance! Thrives in full sun or partial sun exposure and is suitable for containers, indoor planting, and espalier. Fig trees go dormant and shed their leaves in the winter. This is an ideal time to prune. The first crop (breba) of Brown Turkey will ripen in late May through June, then the main crop will come in September through November.  

If you are looking to turn over a new leaf and make self-nurture your nature, meet Krishna Tulsi, Ocimum tenuiflorum. This is one type of Holy Basil, a highly aromatic perennial ayurvedic medicinal herb, which is praised by practitioners in Ayurvedic medicine. An Indian derivative of holistic medicine, Ayurvedic practices incorporate biodiverse plants, exercise, and good diet for the makings of a healthy lifestyle.

Like most basils, Ocimum tenuiflorum has a shrubby growing habit and will reach 2-4 ft tall! Tulsi has delicate pink flowers, hairy stems, and green leaves. Within the first two months of growing Krishna Tulsi, you can pick leaves and flowers fresh from Ocimum tenuiflorum to make your own "elixir of life" tea. Its cool and mellow flavor profile will invigorate your senses as you indulge in its bold familiarity to peppermint, cloves, licorice and lemon. In fact, occasional harvesting of this plant will encourage its growth even more.  

Holy Basil, The Miracle Worker in Your Garden:  Ocimum tenuiflorum has a number of practical uses, and makes an excellent companion plant! Its strong aromatic oils like Eugenol, Oleanolic Acid, Ursolic Acid, Rosmarinic Acid, and Linalool make the plant medicinally valuable, and act as a natural pest repellent.

The Loquat tree is a fast-growing, cold hardy ornamental fruiting edible landscape tree with a beautiful tropical look.  It produces a wonderful sweet, tart and tangy fruit from late Winter to early Spring.  Loquat, commonly known as Japanese Plum, is native to China and related to the rose, apple, and pear family.

Loquat trees are known to survive outdoors without protection in Zone 7. If your area is too cold this plant can easily be overwintered indoors and will grow well for decades in a container. 

Medicinally, Loquat leaves and fruit have high concentrations of calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin C.  The leaves can be used year round to make a tea.

AVAILABLE IN THE SPRING

Turmeric is a perennial herb plant in the Ginger family native to Asia but popularly cultivated in tropic regions around the world. Turmeric is commonly known as Indian Saffron, Curcumin, or Jian Huang. It is world renowned for the culinary and medicinal root it abundantly produces each summer. The fragrant spice was made famous for its use in regional and Indian cuisine and Auryvedic medicine.

Turmeric spreads via it's underground rhizome.  It goes dormant in the colder months and returns twice as large each spring. The root can be harvested throughout the summer and fall.  Large smooth and ribbed leaves are both ornamental and edible. Flowers are in bloom throughout the summer. 

Medicinally, Turmeric roots contain Curcumin, making it a strong antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric extracts are marketed as dietary supplements to improve memory, for arthritis, and for cancer prevention.  Turmeric may reduce joint inflammation, reduce blood pressure, lower risk of heart disease, prevent cancer, prevent Alzheimer's disease, and to combat aging and depression.

Surprisingly easy and effortless to grow, Turmeric is well-suited for container gardening.  It is often grown as an annual in pots or in the ground.

Cnidoscolus aconitifolius also known as Chaya, aka 'Mayan Tree Spinach' or 'Mexican Tree Spinach', is a large fast-growing and productive perennial shrub.  In Mexico, Chaya is eaten as a leafy green vegetable, and is very common. Chaya is cooked just like spinach and is excellent in stir-fries! It's a great source of protein, vitamins, calcium, and iron and also a rich source of antioxidants. Chaya actually has more nutritional benefit then Spinach. Chaya is quite literally, a super green! 

The plant is native to Central America, and is believed to have originated on the Yucatan peninsula. The stems of the plant are woody and succulent-like, and expel a milky white sap when cut. The plant can quickly grow to a height of 15 ft if growth conditions allow, but can very easily be maintained as low as 2 ft. 

Chaya leaves should not be eaten raw, as the plant contains a toxin similar to cyanide (the stuff in Apple seeds) that is toxic when consumed. Luckily, the poison is easily neutralized by boiling the leaves for 5-15 minutes then straining the water before cooking with. This process is called blanching and is required prior to consumption. 

Malabar Spinach (Basella alba) is a widely-used fast-growing edible perennial vine native to Southeast Asia and India. It's vitamin-rich leaf is thick and succulent.  The stem is vibrant red in color and the leaves are green with splashes of red.  

Malabar Spinach is heat loving, drought tolerant, and does well in sandy soil.  It's a great summer alternative to spinach or other leafy greens. Malabar Spinach is an essential summer plant in the Sow Exotic permaculture garden. We have it planted under fruit trees and along fence lines for a beautiful, tropical, ornamental look.

Ice Cream Bean fruit is so unique.  The pulpy interior is snow white with a cotton candy texture and a sweet flavor reminiscent of vanilla ice cream. When roasted, the seeds provide a rich source of protein.  The seeds should not, however, be eaten raw. The interior cottony pulp of the Ice Cream Bean pods is an excellent source of dietary fiber, polyphenols, anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories. 

The Ice Cream Bean tree is a large, fast-growing leguminous tropical fruit tree native to South America. It can fruit within 3 years of germination. Ice Cream Bean pods average about one foot long.  Trees can grow very large, reaching up to 100 feet in their native climates! They're also an amazing nitrogen fixer for surrounding soil.  Prune trees in late winter or early spring to open the canopy and stimulate fruit growth. 

The Soursop is a tropical evergreen fruit tree native to the tropical regions of the Americas and the Caribbean.  Soursop's fruit has an exotic flavor and appearance. Soft white creamy flesh has a sweet and tangy flavor combination of coconut, pineapple, and papaya. It has a slight gritty pear-like texture.