Beach Bean (Canavalia rosea, synonym Canavalia maritima) is a salt-tolerant vine that’s got it all together. As a plant that thrives on sandy soils and full sun, it has a tendency to weave and spread into seaside landscapes that are vulnerable to drought and erosion. Canavalia rosea is a popular and heat-hardy ground cover in Florida, which is a great first step to transforming your yard into a native landscape that can act as restored ecosystems for wildlife.  It is a popular Florida native bean plant that is edible while seed pods are still young. However, when the bean pods are mature, they will require extra processing to eat! 

Enjoy Canavalia rosea’s signature fuchsia blooms that contrast the plant’s shrubby, lime green leaves throughout the year, with the most abundant bloom time in the peak of the summer. As any beach bum could tell you, plenty of heat, warm soil, and long summer days will help beach bean plants thrive.

Jackbean, is a climbing perennial legume commonly cultivated as an annual that produces foot-long bean pods! Canavalia ensiformis will produce 1-inch long flowers that are pink, purple, or white. The trademark ivory-colored beans of the plant should be harvested before complete maturation, with anywhere from the first 80 to 120 days of growth. They are about the size of a quarter, and were often eaten as a vegetable by native tribes in droughted regions of Arizona and Mexico. If eaten fully mature, they must be cooked before eating. Jackbean is native to Central and South America, where the bean pods are traditionally used for animal fodder and human nutrition, especially in Brazil where it is called feijão-de-porco. It is also the source of concanavalin A, a lectin used in research to better understand soil pathology, our immune systems, cancer cells, and more.

It is called by a list of common names that almost match its list of potential uses: Chickasaw lima bean, Brazilian broad bean, coffee bean, ensiform bean, pig bean, horse bean, mole bean, go-ta-ki, overlook bean, Pearson bean, watanka, raba de burro, and more. It has a lot in common with sword bean, Canvalia gladiata, but grows as a vine instead of a bush. 

The Red Goji Berry, once unobtainable in the United States, is a plant that bears highly nutritious fruit. This vitamin-rich, immune-boosting superfruit is full of antioxidants. It’s what high-profile celebrities might have a guy on speed dial for. In reality, although the harvested fruit can be hard to find, Lycium barbarum is actually commonly found growing throughout the United States, where it has been naturalized from its original habitats in Southeast Europe and Southwest Asia. 

As a member of the Solanacea (nightshade) family, its cultivation needs are nearly identical to eggplants, tomatoes, and the like. Once the plant blooms in the late spring to early summer, it will bear branches of coveted ruby-red fruits, which will ripen by mid-summer. Harvest the berries at the peak point of maturation, because they may quickly spoil if left unattended to bruise and rot. Eat goji berries fresh, or dry them like raisins and enjoy them in cereals, yogurt, trail mix, tea, and more.

Mexican Tuna (aka Prickly Pear, Barbary Fig, or Wheel Cactus) fruit is sweet and juicy and rich in antioxidants.  It has beautiful deep red or orange color inside and out. The flavor can be likened to strawberry and watermelon. Mexican Tuna fruit can be peeled and eaten raw or made into syrup, jelly, jam, candy, dried, juiced, or even fermented into beer, wine or kombucha! The fruit is high in amino acids, fiber, B vitamins, magnesium, iron, water, carbohydrates,  protein, minerals, vitamin C, and beta carotene.  The blue-green cactus pads are large, round, and flat. 

The Mexican Tuna cactus plant can tolerate a wide range of soil types, temperature and moisture levels, however it grows best in sunny, dry, desert-like conditions. On average, they will grow to be about 7 ft tall to 7 ft wide. Pads range from 4 to 10 inches and fruit is typically the size of a fist.  

Simpson's Stopper is a fruiting shrub or small tree native to Florida, among other exotic locales like the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, all the way south through Colombia and Venezuela. It is a member of the Eucalyptus family and produces springtime flowers, colorful berries, and fragrant evergreen leaves. 

The leaves have a warm nostalgic fall-like aroma when crushed - think spicey cinnamon and citrus.  The showy white flowers are also very fragrant and are followed by red-orange berries in mid-summer and early fall. While these berries are edible and the fast-growing shrub is heavily utilized as a popular landscaping hedge, the plants are not often grown for the citrusy flavored berry - yet.  I'll admit that the flavor and texture won't absolutely knock your socks off, but it's not unpalatable by any means and it really is a beautiful and useful native shrub.  We love the look, texture, fragrance, and pop of color that growing Simpon's Stopper adds to our edible landscape!

Snowbank White Blackberry is a vigorous disease-resistant trailing plant that produces large, creamy snowy white blackberries, with the same juicy, sweet and vibrant flavor of a normal blackberry. White Blackberries are truly one of a kind!  The were developed by legendary plant breeder Luther Burbank and are somewhat translucent and white in color.

Red Abyssinian is a very attractive perennial plant that adds a brilliant pop of color to any landscape. It's closely related to banana plants and has a very tropical, with the added bonus of cold tolerance to Zone 8!  It's sometimes referred to as False Banana, Enset, or Ensente. Red Abyssinian is cultivated for it's highly ornamental red to burgundy foliage and edible root.  Although the root is rare to consume in the U.S., it's a very important food crop in Ethiopia. 

The Alachua Muscadine is a low-maintenance self-fertile grape variety that is resistant to Pierce's Disease. Large, delicious fruit ripen very uniformly in large bunches. The fruit have a thick skin but soft and juicy interior. The Alachua Muscadine's resistance and dry stem scar make this grape variety an ideal choice for the home garden, especially in the south.

This gorgeous early season (150-200 chill hours) blueberry variety, 'Sunshine Blue', fruits abundantly AND is perfect for southern states! This cultivar is specifically bred to thrive in these southern sunny regions. That's why we love it so much here in Florida. Sunshine Blue Blueberry is self-pollinating and bears medium sized fruit with exceptional sweet and tangy flavor. It's a dwarf semi-evergreen bush and is excellent for containers and adapted for vigorous, productive growth. It is a gorgeous ornamental, with captivating color changing foliage and hot-pink flowers. Sunshine Blue blueberries are rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals.

Compared to our other Blueberry varieties, the Sunshine Blue will have a mature size of 2-4 feet, fruits most prolifically in the Spring, and grows best in Zones 5-10.

Native to Hawaii, the White Jade Pineapple is a super sweet, spineless pineapple with white flesh, low acidity and a totally edible core! 

Most pineapple plants need full sun, but White Jade also thrives in semi-shaded environments. Pineapple plants need excellent soil drainage and are foliar feeders like all bromeliads.  So, be careful not to overwater and be sure to fertilize through the leaves, not the soil. 

Mysore Raspberry, also known as Snowpeaks or Ceylon Raspberry is a warm weather producing black raspberry variety!  It is native to the Southeastern United States as well as Burma and India, specifically the lower Himalayas. Mysore Raspberry produces juicy and sweet black raspberries that are rich in Vitamin C and Protein. It will grow well in a wide range of growing conditions and loves the tropical heat and humidity. Mysore has some serious thorns, however their are great rewards for those who brave them.

Loved around the world, Black Pepper is a perennial woody vine native to southern Asia. Piper Nigrum can obtain heights of up to to 13 ft and is perfect for trellises, porches, fences, and poles with it's spreading vine. These vines will easily root and take hold to soil and surfaces, making this a great plant for cultivation. 

The fruiting vine bears small flowers which can produce long spikes (around 3-7 inches long) of dark red fruit.  These drupes are commonly called peppercorns and can grow in clusters of 20-30. These fruit are picked and dried in the sun or artificially, and crushed into pepper. Depending on when the fruit is harvested and dried can result in variations such as black, white, or green pepper. Black Pepper grows best in well drained and moist soils. It requires soil with plenty of nutrition, but isn't picky about altitude.  It even makes an excellent houseplant in temperate climates.  

The Velvet Bean is a tropical legume and annual climbing shrub native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia.  This vine is largely cultivated for the medicinal benefit of it's seeds.  Velvet Bean seeds contain the substance dopamine, or L-dopa, a substance that is used as a first-line treatment for Parkinson's disease.  Seeds also contain substances that have anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and anti-oxidant properties.

Velvet Bean produces white and lavender flower panicles and large clusters of deep-purple hairy bean pods that encapsulate the dark black medicinal seeds.  The Velvet Bean vine has extremely long climbing ability and reach.

Katuk is an evergreen perennial shrub, also commonly known as Sweet Leaf, Star Gooseberry, or Tropical Asparagus. It reaches up to 8 ft tall with multiple upright stems full of lush, dark green foliage. The leaves have a nutty, sweet flavor and are very high in protein! 

Katuk's tender shoot tips are cultiva ted as tropical asparagus. The small purple flowers and fruits are not only beautiful, but edible as well! All parts of Katuk are highly nutritious and full of vitamins andcan be eaten raw or cooked, in soups, salads, stir fries or steamed. In Indonesia, Katuk is believed to improve the flow of breast milk for breastfeeding mothers.

This plant is native to tropical and subtropical Asia.