The white-fleshed, low-acid pineapple disrupting tropical gardens
Sugar Loaf Pineapple, Kona Sugarloaf Ananas
🍍 The white-fleshed, low-acid pineapple disrupting tropical gardens
Most people think all pineapples taste roughly the same - sweet, tangy, yellow, and a little acidic. Then they try a Sugar Loaf pineapple and suddenly understand why rare fruit collectors are obsessed with this variety. Sugar Loaf - also known as Kona Sugarloaf - completely changes expectations of what a pineapple can taste like. If regular pineapples leave your mouth burning after a few bites, this variety may change your mind about growing tropical fruit at home.
🍍 Why Kona Sugarloaf is completely different from store-bought pineapples
Originally associated with West Africa and later popularized in Hawaii, Sugar Loaf stands out for several unusual characteristics:
Creamy white flesh - Instead of the typical golden-yellow interior, Sugar Loaf produces soft, juicy, creamy-white fruit.
Very low acidity - The flavor is smooth, mild, and intensely sweet, with many growers describing notes of vanilla, honey, and coconut.
An edible core - Unlike regular pineapples with tough woody centers, the core of Sugar Loaf is tender and fully edible.
The green deception - One of the strangest things about this pineapple is that it often stays dark green even when fully ripe. Many first-time growers wait too long expecting it to turn gold.
Standard Pineapple:
Golden Skin ✦ Yellow Flesh ✦ High Acid ✦ Woody Core Sugar Loaf Pineapple:
Green Skin ✦ White Flesh ✦ Low Acid ✦ Edible Core
🍍 A heavyweight performer in the garden
The fruit itself has a unique shape - taller, slimmer, and noticeably heavier for its size than standard pineapples. Under ideal tropical conditions, a single Sugar Loaf fruit can approach 10 pounds.
Beyond the fruit, gardeners love the plant for its ornamental appeal. It produces a dramatic pointed crown and arching tropical foliage, making it attractive even before fruit appears.
🍍 Kona Sugar Loaf at a glance
Pineapple Plant Facts
Botanical name: Ananas comosus Also known as: Pineapple, Pina
USDA Zone: 9 - 11
Highligths
Plant Type: Compact, self-fruitful bromeliad Fruit Size: Up to 10 lbs under ideal conditions Skin Color at Ripeness: Deep green Flesh Color: Creamy white Cold Tolerance: Tropical; protect from frost
🍍 Container-friendly for northern growers
You do not need a Hawaiian orchard to grow this collector favorite. Because Sugar Loaf grows as a compact bromeliad, it adapts well to patios, containers, and small gardens.
In tropical climates, it can be planted directly in the ground. In colder regions, gardeners often grow it in large pots outdoors during warm weather and move it indoors near a bright window for winter.
👉 Grower's Tip: Pineapples and bromeliads respond especially well to regular feeding during warm weather. SUNSHINE Ananas - Pineapple and Bromeliad Booster was designed specifically for bromeliads and fruiting pineapples to support vigorous growth and sweeter fruit production.
For tropical fruit enthusiasts, Sugar Loaf has quietly become one of those varieties that makes ordinary grocery-store pineapples feel surprisingly boring afterward.
🍓The Strawberry Moon Rises: A Gardener's
Excuse to Go Outside
Sunshine: Look at my strawberry-glazed donut. Same as the
Strawberry Moon. I have been waiting for this all month. They say moon
gardening is useful. Let's go planting! Smokey: Science hasn't found much evidence for it. Sunshine: Then what's the point? Smokey: If the moon gets people into the garden, that's
good enough for me.
On the evening of Monday, June 29, 2026, the full Strawberry Moon will rise
low in the southeastern sky. Whether you follow a lunar calendar or not,
it's a good excuse to spend a little time outside on a summer evening.
🌛 What Is the Strawberry Moon, Exactly?
Many of the familiar full moon names come from Native American
traditions and reflect seasonal events in nature. June's full moon was named
for the
season when wild strawberries ripen across much of North America, not for
any
color in the sky. Despite the name, the moon won't glow pink or red. If it
looks warm or golden, that's simply because any full moon takes on an amber
tint when it hangs low near the horizon, the same atmospheric effect that
paints
sunsets orange. The "strawberry" is about the harvest, not the hue.
This year, the Strawberry Moon rises on the evening of June 29 and will
appear low in the southeastern sky, making it a particularly beautiful moon
to watch as dusk settles in.
🌓 Moon Gardening, an Old and Honest Tradition
For generations, gardeners across Europe and beyond timed their
planting, pruning, and harvesting to the phases of the moon. Plant root
crops during
a waning moon, some traditions say, and leafy crops during a waxing one.
Prune during certain phases to slow regrowth, harvest herbs at others for
better
potency. These calendars were passed down through generations of careful
observers who paid close attention to their land and their results, and many
still follow them today.
Modern science has found little evidence that lunar gravity or moonlight
significantly affects plant growth. Yet the tradition persists, and plenty
of growers still find real value in the rhythm it brings to the gardening
year.
💡What We Know For Sure
Here's the practical truth, and it's the same one Smokey arrived at
after thinking it over. Whether or not the moon influences your plants, the
act
of walking through your garden definitely does. A moon-phase calendar that
gets you outside to check on your plants, pull a few weeds, prune back
something
leggy, top off the mulch, or water a thirsty pot is helping your garden,
regardless of what's happening overhead.
The benefit isn't necessarily lunar. It's attention.
A garden rarely thrives because of a single grand effort. It thrives
because of dozens of small ones: a little pruning, a little watering, a few
weeds pulled before they become many.
Gardens reward the gardeners who show up, and if a full moon is your
reminder to show up, that's a perfectly good reason to keep watching the
sky.
📅 Beyond the Harvest
Not everything in a garden needs to produce a yield to be worthwhile.
Marking the seasons the way our ancestors did, a strawberry moon in June, a
harvest moon in fall, a snow moon in February, gives us small, recurring
reasons
to notice what's changing around us. It's a rhythm, not a requirement.
Think of the Strawberry Moon as a good excuse to take a walk through the
garden.
The Strawberry Moon doesn't have to improve anything to be worth
celebrating. It only needs to get you outside on a warm June evening, which,
honestly, isn't a high bar to clear.
A Strawberry Moon Collection, Just for
Fun
Sunshine immediately concluded that any moon named after strawberries
deserved a few strawberry-themed plants. We couldn't argue with that logic,
so
we pulled together a few Top Tropicals favorites that fit the theme.
🍓 Strawberry Tree
The Strawberry Tree (Muntingia calabura) often carries flowers and
fruit at the same time. Sweet red berries, delicate white blossoms, and lush
foliage make this fast-growing tropical tree both ornamental and productive
throughout much of the year.
A rare yellow-fruited
form of Muntingia calabura (Strawberry Tree), displaying
sweet golden berries, delicate white flowers, and immature green fruit all
at the same time. This unusual selection offers the same fast growth and
continuous fruiting as the red type, but with attractive yellow fruit that
is
seldom seen in cultivation.
Strawberry Tree (Muntingia calabura), also known as Jamaican
Cherry, grows quickly and produces dainty white flowers resembling
strawberry
flowers, followed by an abundance of small cotton-candy-sweet berries that
birds, wildlife, gardeners and their kids all appreciate.
Strawberry Guava (Psidium littorale) brings glossy foliage and
sweet, perfumed fruit that tastes something like its namesake crossed with a
guava.
Strawberry Guava (Psidium littorale, or cattleianum) often
carries fruit in multiple stages of ripening at once, creating a colorful
display
of green, golden, and ruby-red berries. The sweet, aromatic fruit is prized
for fresh eating and attracts birds and wildlife to the garden.
🍓 Strawberry Dragon Fruit
Dragon Fruit Vietnamese Jaina Strawberry White (Hylocereus
undatus
) produces bright pink fruit with refreshing white flesh and a flavor often
described as a blend of strawberry, melon, and kiwi. Its enormous
night-blooming flowers are every bit as impressive as the fruit, turning
this vigorous
climbing cactus into a spectacular summer showpiece.
Vietnamese Jaina Strawberry White Dragon Fruit is prized for its
refreshing
white flesh and mild sweet flavor with hints of strawberry, melon, and kiwi.
The vivid pink skin and striking black-speckled interior make it as
beautiful
on the table as it is delicious to eat.
🍓 Strawberry Ginger
Coral Ginger Borneo Strawberry Pink (Riedelia coralina) is one of
the rarest gingers in cultivation, producing unusual strawberry-pink flower
spikes that seem almost too exotic to be real. The edible blooms have a
pleasant spicy fragrance and flavor, making this New Guinea treasure as
interesting
to taste as it is to admire.
Whether you came for the moon or the plants, we hope you discovered
something interesting.
They just happen to share a name with the moon overhead this June, and that
felt like reason enough to give them a little spotlight.
Riedelia coralina, known as Coral
Ginger or Borneo Strawberry Pink, produces one of the most
unusual flower displays in the ginger family. Its striking strawberry-pink
blooms
rise above lush foliage, creating a tropical focal point rarely seen outside
specialized collections.
🍓🌱 How to Grow Them
If you live in a frost-free climate (USDA Zones 10+), simply plant these
strawberry gems in the ground and enjoy. Strawberry Guava can tolerate
occasional frosts down to about 28F once established.
Not so lucky? Many gardeners successfully grow Strawberry Guava, Strawberry
Dragon Fruit, and Strawberry Tree in containers, moving them indoors or to a
protected location during winter. You don't need a tropical climate to enjoy
tropical fruit.
🏡 See You Outside
Whether you believe in moon gardening or not, June 29 is a good night to
step outside, find an open view of the southeastern sky, and watch the
Strawberry Moon rise. Bring a cup of tea, walk the garden beds while there's
still
light, pull a few weeds, and let the evening settle in around you.
And that may be the real lesson of the Strawberry Moon.
Sunshine: The Strawberry Moon is out. Time for
gardening. Smokey: What does the moon calendar recommend? Sunshine: I have no idea. I left it on the kitchen table.
Both hands are full. Smokey: Of course they are. Coffee and donuts. Let's start
with the weeds.
Q: I would like to plant several fruit trees... I
am 85 years old and hope to see them fruiting soon. What fruit trees can you
recommend that will fruit quickly?
A: Most grafted fruit trees, such as Mango,
Avocado, and
Peaches, will fruit quickly - often within the same year or the next.
There are also many wonderful tropical fruits that will produce for you within a
year or two, even without the need for grafting. Below are the top 10 of most
popular, most rewarding and easy to grow fast fruiting tropical trees:
Annonas are the fastest fruiting trees: 2-3-4 years from seed to fruit,
depending on species. They are the best tropical fruit trees suited for
container growing, due to their small height and can be maintained within 6-8 ft
tall.
2. Guava (Psidium sp.): Cattley and Tropical guava
Guava is a reliable producer, starts fruiting in a pot at small size.
Some varieties, especially Cattley guavas - Psidium littorale - are relatively cold hardy and can take some frost
without damage. Guavas are fast growing small trees or large bushes.
Eugenias are favorites of Southern gardens. They are relatively cold
hardy and start producing right away. Black Surinam Cherry Lolita and Grumichama are our favorites!
Another exceptional tropical cherry is Barbados Cherry. It is super popular as a heavy producer. The plant can start fruiting when it's only a few inches tall! If you are looking for a compact, but fast growing tree with colorful fruit that starts fruiting right away - plant
Barbados Cherry. It will also happily fruit in containers.
Loquat tree is fast-growing, drought-tolerant, cold-tolerant, compact tropical fruit tree. It is a heavy producer. Fruits are juicy, aromatic, and resemble apricots. Ripen from early Spring to early Summer. Ideal for small gardens, beginner fruit tree growers.
Papaya is probably the fastest fruiting tree that can start production the same year from planting a seed. Many dwarf varieties available in selection, reaching only 6-8
ft tall, but producing large crops of full size fruit - they are easy to harvest. Plant 2-3 Papaya trees of different cultivars that fruit at different times of the year and enjoy heavy crops of healthy fruit year around! Another benefit - this tree doesn't take much space in the
garden, you can plant as many as you want.
Mulberry is very cold hardy and can grow in wide range of climate zones,
from USDA 5 to 10. Everyone knows this sweet, tasty, juicy fruit. The tree
will produce right away, you will see fruit the next season after planting,
and the tree grows fast.
Growing Carambola tree is a fun and rewarding way to enjoy this unique
star-shaped delicious fruit right at home. It fruits on the 3d year from seed.
The tree is easy to grow and reliable producer, providing wind
protection.
Blackberry Jam Fruit, Jasmin de Rosa is a curious small evergreen tree
or bush that combines features of a fragrant flower and delicious dessert
fruit which tastes like fresh Blackberry jam. Fragrant white flowers are similar
to Gardenia.
Peanut Butter Tree, earns its name from its fleshy fruits that boast a delightful peanut butter flavor. Compact in size, small tree reaching only 10-15 ft or kept as a bush, it's a perfect
choice for limited spaces. Can thrive indoors, starting to fruit within just 2-3 years from seed.
Q: Can you suggest tropical fruit that can be grown (cold hardy)
in Zone 9?
A: There are quite a few tropical/subtropical trees that will
grow well in zone 9. Our favorites are:
Figs - very cold hardy and drought tolerant. Loquats - grafted trees that start fruiting right away, reliable
producers. Tropical Mulberry - very fast growing trees that can take freeze, heavy
producers. Macadamia - these trees are of a compact nature, very easy to grow and
start producing nuts right away.
Many different varieties of Eugenias - tropical cherries - all-time favorites. Another tropical cherry - Malpighia, or Barbados cherry - starts fruiting in small size under one food tall! Great for containers.
Tropical (Low Chill) Peaches, Nectarines, and Plums. See full list of low-chill, relatively cold hardy fruit
trees.
And of course -
Bananas!
Don't forget to fertilize your
fruit trees to improve their cold hardiness!
Date: 20 May 2024
What plant has fragrant leaves and flowers? Soft and fuzzy Tropical Lilac!
What plant has fragrant leaves and flowers? Soft and fuzzy Tropical Lilac!
🟣 Cornutia grandifolia, also known as African lilac, Jamaican lilac, or Tropical Lilac, is a fast-growing, large shrub with astonishing fragrant velvet leaves.
🟣 Tall stalks shoot out multiple lavender blue flowers, creating an outstanding display.
🟣 Attracting butterflies and hummingbirds, it adds life to any garden with its lively inflorescence
🟣 Leaves can grow very large, up to 10"wide. They are fuzzy, very soft to touch, and aromatic, emitting pleasant tobacco-like scent when rubbed.
🟣 Relatively cold hardy, Tropical Lilac thrives in full sun or semi-shade positions, bringing joy with its pleasant aroma and beautiful blooms.
A Strawberry Moon Collection, Just for
Fun
