Mature Air-layered Fruit Tree, Ready to Produce

Brewster Lychee is a tropical fruit tree with a reliable nature to fruit and flower, making it great for a home or commercial landscape. Good drainage, rich soil, and irrigation are essential for the early success of this tree. The Brewster Lychee fruit has one of the best flavors, with the small trade-off of an inconveniently large inner seed. Like other Lychee varieties, Brewster Lychee fruit has the translucent flesh and texture of a grape.  The big Lychee seed is not a deal breaker for most people (like us!), who adore cracking open the purple-red outer shell of Brewster Lychee to get a taste of its trademark late-summer sweetness.

Lychee fruit is an amazing source of antioxidants, Vitamin C, Vitamin B phytonutrient flavonoids, manganese, magnesium, copper, iron and folate.  Eat fruit straight from the tree once ripe, shake up a Lychee juice cocktail, or use dried or deyhydrated Lychee fruit for a naturally sweet and healthy out of season snack.

Brewster Lychee is the second-most cultivated Litchi tree in the United States, perfectly adapted to the long Floridian growing season. It was introduced by an American missionary to China, Rev. William N. Brewster, hence the name, but the Chen Purple Lychee is the parent tree. The cultivation of Lychee in China dates so far back that historians have yet to track down a truly wild species of it. 

Delight your eyes, your heart, and your health with this garden standout: The Malay apple tree (Syzygium malaccense, Malay rose-apple, mountain apple, water apple). This is an old world tropical fruit tree, with a native range that remains uncertain (with suspected origins in Malaysia). However, its known status as a naturalized fruiting tree in tropical areas of South America is proof of its hardy growing habits. The Malay apple tree can soar up to 60 feet in height in the wild, but can remain low and dense when in cultivation. The Malay apple tree requires warm and humid growing conditions for best results.

It makes for a fascinating addition to any tropical tree collection, with new growth appearing as a wine-red color. Malay apple trees seem to flower in secret, with flowers covered by foliage and largely unseen until they are on the ground. Malay fruits are popular in regions where the tree is naturalized. Fruits will mature 60 days after flowering, and should be hand-picked for best results. Although some people report a fairly bland taste from the fruit, the waxy, rose-colored skin and white, crisp flesh makes it a sweet temptation.

Grafted! 

Carrie mango (Mangifera indica) might ring a bell for anyone familiar with mango plant varieties in South Florida. This mango variety originates from Boynton Beach! Most Florida mango varieties are hybrids of Indian mango types and the Southeast Asian mango types, which are carefully bred to thrive in hot and humid growing conditions. The Carrie Mango is distinctly hardy to the 10b growing zone in South Florida, but could do well in a temperate greenhouse. 

Mango trees are popular trees in the home landscape, with distinct ripples of glossy evergreen foliage. Mango trees will produce reliably for years, growing into rounded dense trees with plenty of shade. They need room to grow, with average tree height falling anywhere between 30 and 60 feet high. New growth appears as an otherworldly red-purple. In the early spring, Mangifera indica blossoms with flower spikes, giving way to oblong fruits in the summer. The Carrie mango is distinct from other varieties that blush and deepen with orange and red skin. Instead, this fruit ripens to a slightly yellow-green color. A cut into the fruit reveals a rich, orange flesh with a distinctly spicy aroma and flavor that is unlike other mangos.  

For a surefire way to grow the Alano Sapodilla fruit you know and love in a convenient container size, look to Silas Wood Sapodilla. This semi-dwarf, tropical evergreen fruit tree has a great overlap with other varieties of Manilkara zapota. The Silas Wood Sapodilla is slow-growing, but will fruit after just 2 years, making it one of the smallest reliably fruiting tropical fruit trees.  In truly tropical climates, Silas Wood Sapodilla has the potential to produce fruit year-round. 

This sapodilla variety is suitable for container growing. Fruit can be plentiful, even for young trees, and may need to be supported in earlier years. Silas Wood Sapodilla fruit is spherical, ranging 2 to 5 inches in diameter, with an unassuming brown skin.  When the fruit is ripe, it ranks among some of the most luxurious flavors and aromas somewhere between a tender pear infused with brown sugar and a hint of jasmine. For best growing conditions, Silas Wood Sapodilla should be grown in a climate where temperatures are at least 60°F, but it will tolerate short bursts of cold down to 35°F. 

Sapoilla's are related to Mamey Sapote, Star Apple, and Canistel.  Sapodilla's are known by many names around the world including Mispel, Zapote, Dilly, Chico, Chico sapote, Zapote chico, Zapotillo, Chicle, Sapodilla plum, and Naseberry, among countless others.

One exotic plant that will pique the interest of any life long food forester or curious chef is Bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi, Cucumber Tree Fruit, Tree Sorrel, Kamias, Mimbro). Bilimbi grows wild and in cultivation in the warmest parts of Southeast Asia, throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. 

Bilimbi grows shrublike, from a short trunk that expands with upright branches. As a member of the Averrhoa genus, it is similar in growing nature and closely related to starfruit trees, but is different in looks, fruit, flavor, and use. This tropical tree species is very cold sensitive, and needs close oversight in its early growing stages.  

Bilimbi trees will flower directly from the trunk in the late winter and early spring. The cylindrical fruits will follow shortly after, changing color from bright green to yellow-ivory over time. Fruits may fall to the ground when ripe, and will bruise easily because of thin skin. Looking out for a change in color is a good way to gauge fruit readiness. Bilimbi bears sour and acidic fruit that makes it a staple in any plate that needs an acidic balance. The fruit is rarely eaten raw, but the juice can be used in place of vinegar to add a bitter element to salads, soups, curries, and more. The oxalic acid content of bilimbi fruit is what contributes to its trademark taste and place on plates around the world.