From the front of his house, Victor Chaney’s home looks like any other. It’s only when you step into his backyard that you begin to realize how special the small plot of land is.
Tucked into a neighborhood in Cooper City, Fla. Chaney is maintaining a collection of more than 50 different fruiting trees and shrubs, many of which are some of the rarest fruits in the country.
He’s one of the gardeners of Broward County that have taken advantage of Florida’s warm climate to grow tropical fruiting trees that can’t be found anywhere else in the continental U.S.
Chaney, a full-time pathologist, had no experience growing plants until 20 years ago when he took a leap of faith in a Brazilian berry tree left behind by a nursery.
“The first tree that I got was a jaboticaba tree. I thought it was unusual, it had all these purple fruits that were over the trunks and trees,” he said.
“ I thought that probably would be the only tree I would have had. But, unexpectedly, it's grown quite a bit”
Now his garden is lined with South American ackee, Puerto Rican achacha and strange crossover fruits like the chempejack, a combination of jackfruit and Southeast Asian cempedak.
The shining star of his collection is the lucrative purple mangosteen.
“It's called the queen of fruits and is supposedly one of the best tasting fruits of the world. It's common in Southeast Asia, but it's very difficult to get here. There's some Asian groceries where you can get them, but they're usually frozen and they're not as tasty, as fresh.
Mangosteen, which has garnered a cult-like following for its sweetness and tart flavors, was not permitted to enter the U.S. until 2007 over concerns of spreading the Asian Fruit Fly pest. The few places in the U.S. that now import mangosteen sell it at a high price point, with online sites charging upwards of a hundred dollars for only a few fruits.
That's in part because of how difficult mangosteen is to grow. It's considered an ultra tropical plant, meaning it gets damaged if the temperature falls below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
In 2023, Chaney’s purple mangosteen plant produced five fruits. He's one of the only people in the continental U.S. reported to have done so.
“I looked it up and there's very few reported cases of fruiting the mangosteen outside of the continental United States. Of course it can fruit in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, where it's a more tropical climate,” Chaney said.
The effort to do so was tedious. Chaney combined several different soils and kept the plant in a pot that allowed him to move it into the garage on cooler days.
“I hit upon the right combination I guess.”
Mangosteen is Chaney’s most heat-sensitive plant. The fact that it was able to produce multiple fruits is a telltale sign that temperatures in South Florida are on the rise.
The ability to grow plants in certain temperatures is measured in the Plant Hardiness Zone Map maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. South Florida had previously been listed as a 10B on this scale but has warmed to 11a in recent years, expanding the possibilities of what is able to grow in South Florida.
“For example, breadfruit was believed to only be able to grow in the Keys because it's, considered to be almost an extra tropical, but it grows very well right here in Broward County,” Karim Rossy said.
Rossy is a fellow Broward County backyard gardener, boasting his own collection of more than 75 fruit, spice and nut trees and more than a 100 other plants
He's also the vice president and longtime member of the Rare Fruit and Vegetable Council of Broward County, a group of gardeners, researchers, and rare plant lovers that maintain a two-and-a-half acre garden filled with nearly 300 different types of plants.
For 50 years, the council has served to educate people on various gardening techniques and brings people of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels together.
“Every culture brings knowledge too about fruits from their own countries. So we learn about recipes from those countries, or we learn about what they call that tree in their own language,” Rossy said.
READ MORE: Juno Beach’s TerMarsch Groves: a living, breathing throwback to Florida fruit stand era
Gardening with the council and in his own backyard has given Rossy a life outside his job as an engineer, introducing him to new people and a lifestyle that forces him to slow down and spend time in nature.
“It's really rewarding to see these plants grow successfully. They're like my children,” he said.
In visiting Rossy’s garden, it's like being transported from Davie to deep inside a forest of greenery and abundance. Tree branches reaching as high as 60 feet loop above, forming a shaded canopy over the entire backyard. In every corner, new plants were getting their start sprouting out of pots that lined the walkway and newly-formed fruits were dangled with temptation.
Many of the plants in Rossy’s own garden he sourced from the council’s semi-annual plant sale. Here, he grows just about anything he can get his hands on, including 18 varieties of mango. He has a special preference for native trees like the Key West Mamey, also known as the Pantin Sapote. The plant was discovered growing near a fire station in Key West, likely from seeds that accompanied Cuban immigrants, and was later propagated by Eugenio Pantin in the early 1950s.
“A lot of natives are really pretty. For example, the firebush, it produces amazing flowers year-round and berries,” he said. “ It’s important to keep a balance of all those things in your yard.”
Rossy devotes anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week doing everything from nurturing the soil with mulch and homemade compost to climbing 30 foot tall ladders to trim the trees.
“I think it's a relaxing activity to be able to go out after work, spend just a few minutes walking in your yard. Look at your trees, look at your flowers, talk to them even.”
Rossy regularly strolls through his garden, looking for fruits ready to be harvested and eaten fresh, dried, or preserved as a jelly.
“There's certain things you can get at the grocery store easily, but there's some other things that are so much better if you can handpick them in your own tree like. I mean, I love picking the mangoes and they're fresh and they are fiberless and they're so tasty.”
The desire for these unique flavors has kept gardeners like Rossy and Chaney motivated to continue pushing the bounds of how many, and how rare of plants they can grow.
“The flavors of the different fruits are something that you just wouldn't be able to try unless you go to a variety of countries where they're indigenously produced,” Chaney said.
From soursop to mangosteen, their backyards are one of the only places fresh, rare tropical fruits can be found. With temperatures continuing to climb, there's no telling what may be the next rare fruit to grow in South Florida and no knowing if it could be growing in your next-door neighbor's yard.
