Plants

Cold tolerant avocado varieties make it possible to grow this subtropical fruit well beyond the frost-free coasts where most of the crop is raised. The avocado is native to Mexico and Central America, where wild trees still grow in mountain forests. It is unusual among fruits because its flesh is rich in oil and contains … Read more

Fruits that look like pears are common enough that botanists have a word for the shape, pyriform, meaning narrow at the stem and swollen at the base. The true pear is one of the oldest orchard fruits, cultivated in both Europe and East Asia for several thousand years. More than 3,000 varieties exist, though only … Read more

The best tasting pomegranate varieties are not always the ones sold in stores, because supermarkets favor fruit that ships and stores well over fruit that simply tastes good. The pomegranate is one of the oldest cultivated fruits, native to the region from Iran to the Himalayas. More than 500 varieties have been named, and they … Read more

Types of pomegranates run to more than 500 named varieties, though only about 50 are widely grown. The fruit is one of the oldest in cultivation, native to the region from Iran to the Himalayas and farmed for at least 5,000 years. Its leathery rind encloses hundreds of juice-filled seed sacs called arils, which are … Read more

Types of quince fruits are far more varied than the single yellow fruit most shoppers picture. The quince is one of the oldest cultivated fruits, native to the Caucasus and Central Asia, where wild trees still grow in Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Many historians believe the golden apples of Greek myth were quinces. The tree … Read more

Types of hornbeam trees number between 30 and 40 worldwide, and some botanists now accept as many as 45. They are small to medium hardwoods in the birch family, spread across the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Most people know only one or two of them, usually as a clipped hedge or a shaded … Read more

Types of aspen trees are fewer than most people expect, with only about half a dozen true species spread across the cool forests of the Northern Hemisphere. The rest of what is sold or described as aspen consists of natural hybrids, forestry crosses and named garden selections. All of them share pale bark, rounded leaves … Read more

Fruits that resemble bananas are found in many parts of the world, from tropical rainforests to temperate woodlands and home gardens. Some have the familiar elongated, curved shape of a banana, while others resemble bananas because of their yellow or green skin, clustered growth, or soft, creamy flesh. Fruit lookalikes are not necessarily closely related. … Read more

Fruits that look like apples turn up in orchards, hedgerows, tropical markets and even on beaches, and many of them have no connection to the apple at all. Lookalike fruits are common throughout the plant world, since round shapes, smooth skins and red or green colors have evolved again and again in unrelated families. The … Read more

Apple season in Georgia runs mainly from mid-August through mid-October, when orchards in the northern mountains pick more than 20 varieties one after another. The full season is longer than that, since the earliest apples can be ready in July and stored fruit is sold into December. For most visitors, though, the weeks from Labor … Read more