Queen Anne's Pocket Vine
Photo courtesy of Hayefield.com
HARD TO FIND ~ INTENSELY FRAGRANT ~ MINI-MELON
From Royal Tutor Gardens too the anything goes, turn-of-the-century, Cottage Garden; all socially refined Lady's, clamored to possess this uniquely tiny 2-3 inch, easy to grow melon!
Held in such high repute, history tells us the beautiful Queen Anne, or should I say, Her Majesty The Queen, was known to have surrounded her person and property with the petite palm sized melons, at all times. Yet interestingly, the queen's obsession with the fruit had absolutely 'nothing' to do with the melon's
appetizing delights, since it was known to be exceptionally bland tasting. In fact, this small culinary infraction of not tasting good, would ultimately lead to the unique fruit's near extinction.
So, what was the big royal draw to this pocket-sized melon?
In a word, it smelled "D-I-V-I-N-E" ...
Heavenly scented is the word most often used when describing the perfume produced by the brilliantly orange-stripped ornamental. And it was this heavenly fragrance within the pre-dawn era of readily available or non existent,
women's toiletries, such as 'deodorant,' which had Victorian females clamoring for the fruit as a body perfume. It was Queen Anne who set the fashion of keeping the aromatic smelling fruit in the palm of her hand or within their dress pocket to make sure her fragrance accentuated her beauty, which is how he tiny melon came by the nickname...Queen Anne's Pocket Melon.
Added to which, when placing a few of the brilliantly colored melons in a bowl they will scent an entire room in smells of days gone by in the royal court.
Following Anne, Horticulturist experimented with the melon and introduced a sweeter tasting version of the fruit causing the mini-pocket melon to became lost to growers and thought extinct. (see the improved tasting version) In the 1870's a mistaken hand full of the seeds were found and revived...and these are those historical seeds.
Annual.
Full sun.
Blooms mid summer.
HEIGHT: small 12-18"
Grow in compost rich soil on small mounds or in a pot with a stake.
Packaged in breathable glassine bag. Color picture and instructions included.
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