With the right light, you could grow citrus, coffee, cinnamon and pepper

Connecticut may not be the first place that comes to mind when the topic is tropical fruit — unless you know about Logee's Tropical Plants.

Logee's is a greenhouse-nursery business that has operated under the Logee/ Martin family since 1892. In the 1930s, it started offering a catalog and became known as the grandfather of the retail, mail-order plant business.

Currently, the nursery offers about 500 cultivars of plants from a collection that co-owner Byron Martin said totals at least 1,200 varieties. "Of these, probably 100 to 125 varieties are edibles," Byron said.

Temperate tropicals are a particular interest of Byron and his business partner, Laurelynn Martin.

They started to experiment with a wide variety of these plants in containers to gauge their adaptability to growing in greenhouses, sunrooms and conservatory situations. A book evolved that was published in 2010 called "Growing Tasty Tropical Plants" ($18.95, Storey Publishing) with a subtitle of "in any home, anywhere."

I spoke with Byron by phone and asked if he thought the plants featured in the book could thrive in a typical sunroom.

"It's always first about the light," he said. "Southern exposure is optimum, but southeast and west are slightly less so," he said. "The second thing is temperature. The true tropicals, such as cacao (the source of chocolate), don't want the temperature to drop below 60 degrees."

Many of the plants featured in the book are tolerant of a wide variety of conditions, though, and it's mostly about choosing plants that fit your conditions.

One plant that Byron recommends immediately for homeowners is coffee.

"You hear about shade-grown coffee all the time," Byron said, "a clue that it will survive in less light. We gave a friend a small plant, and three years later they are harvesting their own berries. It takes about three years before the plant begins to bear."

Instructions for harvesting, drying and roasting your own beans are in the book.

Citrus plants are a large part of what the nursery offers.

"Our oldest plant is a Ponderosa lemon that was planted in 1900," Byron said. "The Meyer lemon — a cross between a lemon and a sour orange — is our most popular seller, and the Key lime is a close second. Both are very productive."

"Citrus are great pot plants," Byron said. "They fruit in small containers and have few problems."

What he calls the sweet-edible citrus — tangerines and grapefruits — are slower to develop than lemons and limes. They require patience.

Root rot and spider mites are the two issues that Byron sees most often with citrus.

"There are ways to avoid them though," he said. "Use clay pots and a porous potting mix. Keep them warm and only water when the soil is dry, never when it feels moist. Also avoid heavy feeding, especially in winter. A cold water blast every day for a week is the best way to deal with spider mites," Byron said.

Star fruit, or carambola, is another plant that works well in a pot. The yellow fruit is shaped like a star when sliced crosswise.

Byron propagated some wood given to him at a botanical garden of a variety called Dwarf Maher.

"This tree was just yellow with fruit," Byron said. In its native habitat the star fruit will grow to 30 feet tall, but this variety will begin bearing when it's less than 2 feet tall and can easily be kept at 3 feet. Star fruit requires warm temperatures and bright light.

Cinnamon is another surprise in the book. Commercially, cinnamon is harvested by growing the shrub and then cutting it down completely to force it to produce many vigorous canes.

These cane-like growths are cut into 3-inch pieces, and the bark is peeled and dried. Byron said that you can get the cinnamon flavor from smaller twigs in a pot-grown shrub that are harvested and peeled the same way. But they won't be as thick as the commercial ones. You can then grind or shave the dried bark to obtain the powdered version of the spice.

Another spice that is easy to grow is black pepper.

"I have one that is a foot-and-a-half tall that gives me all the peppercorns I will ever need," Byron said.

Pepper is a slow-growing vine that doesn't require a lot of light and does well under moderate temperatures. Plants grown in an 8-inch pot with some stakes for support will fruit abundantly most of the year, once they are established.

Byron also pointed out that they sell a plant called the Miracle Fruit. This shrub from tropical West Africa has a small red berry. After putting the berry in your mouth, it will turn anything you eat sweet. The berry is placed in the mouth and rolled about to extract the seed. Spit it out and coat the inside of your mouth with the pulp from the berry. For 20 minutes to an hour afterward, everything you eat will taste sweet, even a lemon or a pickle.

This is just a small sampling of the plant goodies described in "Growing Tasty Tropical Plants." Hints and tips for processing as well as a smattering of recipes are sprinkled in among the cultural instructions. Logee's offers hundreds of ornamental tropicals and fruiting plants.

FEBRUARY 3 IN THE GARDEN

Plant

       In February the business of starting seed gets serious. Onions; seed or sets, peas, radish, and rhubarb may be started outside. These all germinate in low soil temperatures. Cabbage, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce can be started indoors for later transplanting. Perennial plants that need a stratification period (moist cold) to germinate should be underway.

Roses, ornamental trees and shrubs, hardy vines and groundcovers such as liriope may be planted now. Tree fruit (apples, peaches, etc.), and bush fruit (blueberries, raspberries, black berries etc.) and nut trees may all be planted now.

Fertilize

Seedlings should be fertilized when they have their second set of true leaves. Use a light organic liquid fertilizer such as liquid kelp or fish emulsion to avoid burning tender seedlings. Otherwise use very dilute houseplant fertilizer. As bulb shoots begin to appear outside, scratch in a little fertilizer.

Pests

There is still time before bud break to spray dormant oil on fruit trees. Apply when temperatures are expected to stay above freezing for the day.

Pruning

The biggest chore this time of year is pruning. All fruit trees should be pruned now.  Remove the spent foliage of liriope and ornamental grasses before new growth begins.