Food plants

This species strawberry produces fragrant white fruits for most of the year. The ripe fruit has an almost intoxicating flavour, that is immediately apparent as you walk past the plant. [more ...]

The leaf tips of this camellia, when dried fresh is green tea, and when fermented, is red tea. [more ...]

Half-hardy short-lived perennial/annual grown for its unusual fruit that taste like a cross between a gooseberry, a tomato and a cherry! [more ...]

Cassava is an important staple food plant that grows in the tropics. [more ...]

There are thousands of varieties of different shapes, sizes, colour and heat rating. Bell peppers are sweet - 0 SHU (Scoville Heat Unit), and on the other end of the scale, Habanero rates over 350000 SHU! [more ...]

Coriander is a quick growing annual herb commonly used in Mediteranean, South American, Indian and South-east Asian cooking. [more ...]

This unusual onion produces small bulbs at the end of the flowering stem and does not seem to set any seed. Once large enough, the small bulbs can be detached and planted. They will then grow to a new plant that will start producing more small bulbs in a year or two. [more ...]

Elephant garlic is not a true garlic, but rather it is related to leeks. It is milder than garlic, grows giant cloves that can be larger than a garlic bulb. The culture is similar to garlic. [more ...]

A very popular fruit for the home garden that has red pohutukawa-like flowers. This evergreen shrub makes a good hedge. [more ...]

This hardy annual leaf vegetable has a subtle but distinct 'floral' flavour and is great stir fried or used in soup. Some say it is as delicious as spinach, and is a good source of vitamins, minerals and fibre. [more ...]

Jerusalem artichoke is a perennial sunflower, the underground rhizomes is what is eaten. It flowers in the Autumn and is worth growing just for the flowers. [more ...]

Introduced from China, Kiwifruit has been grown in New Zealand for over 100 years, and now forms part of the Kiwi culture. [more ...]

Cucurbits are a large family of plants, comprising over 100 genera. Amongst the family are important food crop plants such as pumpkin, melons, cucumbers and squash. [more ...]

A genus of shruby plants that range from the tropics to temperate climates. The flowers have a characteristic central structure with five stigmas at the end and a number of stamens along its length. [more ...]

Black passionfruit is an evergreen vine that climbs using tendrills. The flowers have creamy white tepals. The egg sized green fruit ripen to black. Leave the skin to become wrinkled before eating. [more ...]

Persimon has been cultivated in China and Japan for a long time. There are two types of fruit, astringent and non-astringent. The astringent variety contain tannins which make the fruit bitter unless well ripened. Non-astringent varieties have far less tannins and can be eaten while the fruit is still firm. [more ...]

Pineapple sage is a semi-deciduous shrub that gives off a very distictive pineapple flavour when ites leaves are crushed. Nectar can be sucked from its flowers, and it too has a pineapple flavour. [more ...]

Raspberries are a useful summer fruit that can be grown almost anywhere in New Zealand. [more ...]

Self-heal has been used by Chinese Herbalists for generations. The dried seedheads are boiled in water to make a sweet smelling tea (decoction). [more ...]

Pictures of stone fruit blossoms. [more ...]

The sunflower, a favourite of kid's gardens, is quick and easy to grow. Numerous cultivars exist and it is now possible to get multi-flowering dwarf plants that can even be grown in containers. [more ...]

Four types of tomatoes, Tiny Tim, Sweet 100 Improved, Grosse Lisse and Acid free. [more ...]

This is a relation of the table ginger and comes from South East Asia. The buds are used as a spice in South East Asian cooking. [more ...]

Vietnamese mint is a half-hardy perennial, growing to 1m tall, and eventually forming a large clump. It is a water plant, often very happy in boggy ground. [more ...]