Manatee Rare Fruit Sale

This year's Manatee Rare Fruit Council sale was SO much more comfortable than last year's event.  Last year they were only able to use half of the space at the Manatee Civic Center and this year they were able to open it up to the entire space.  Last year the a/c was not working well and this year it was nice and cool.  It was such a much more pleasurable experience, which means we stayed for two hours!

The sale opened at 10 AM and we got there at 9:50 AM.  There were already over 200 people waiting in line to get in the doors!  It only took us 35 minutes to get there from Nokomis.  The sale is always the Sunday after Mother's Day.  The one in Sarasota, which is held at Phillippi Estate Park, is the last Sunday in September.  It is held outdoors and it is hot and miserable, though I usually go to that one too, I just don't stay as long.

We ended up with a hog plum, a brown turkey fig, a lemon thyme, a lemon eucalyptus, and a red yarrow.  I would have loved to get more, but since we are planning a complete redo of our landscaping in the next year, we thought we should go easy on new plants.

I can't tell you how much I look forward to this sale.  It is a feast for anyone who loves an edible landscape or even to grow a few fruits.  They have exotic fruits and also "normal" fruits like lots of citrus.  It was just a plain ol' fun and enjoyable day!  I hope I'll see you there next year!

(In my next posting on Friday, I'll show you what we currently have growing in our edible landscape.)

A banana grower's display

The line waiting to get in the doors.

The herb section, and my husband talking on the phone, doing business.  I just bring him along to carry things.

The Univ. of Florida table

 Allspice

Mamey sapote plants

Information on mangoes

My daughter and husband discussing the mulberry tree she is buying.  You need to bring your own cart, if possible, or if you are lucky like us, you can grab one of the ones they have on hand for you to use.  Last year we didn't have anything to carry our plants in and it was a huge pain!

Breadfruit

Coffee

Cinnamon

The honey guys

Sugar cane

 Avocado

Raspberries

Grapes

Perennial basil - it was a huge plant!

A listing of all the plants this particular grower stocks

Blueberries - this grower's signs were really helpful

Persimmon

Blackberries

Dragon fruit

Jaboticaba - I took this photo more for the price tag - $200 - than for anything.  There are all sorts of price points at the sale - most in the $20 - $60 range.

Bay rum

June plum

Scotch bonnett

Miracle fruit

Tropical apricot

Nutmeg