To most of us, fruit is one of the food groups we are meant to eat 7-10 servings of in order to stay healthy.
Botanically it’s a means of seed dispersal, a plants way of reproducing itself.
Fruit is the mature state of flowers and not only ensures its own survival but also contributes to ours.

The many stages of maturation from flower to fruit.

The green ‘eyes’ of the showy white flowers of the Cornus kousa (Flowering dogwood) mature into beautiful raspberry-like fruit. They are edible but a bit bitter for my taste (I just tried one for research purposes).

From afar, this Magnolia looks like it’s decorated for Christmas , with hanging pinkish/red fruit scattered throughout the tree.

Fruit sustains us…

and give us a buzz…

and feeds the fauna.

The seeds inside the fruit of the Canna are incredibly versatile. The are used nutritionally as an addition to tortillas, as a dye, in jewelry and in musical instruments. The rest of the plant is just as versatile but that is another story.

Aralia elata’s (Japanese Angelica tree’s ) large showy flower panicles, become large showy fruit.

Ready to disperse a little insurance for the future even though perennials reproduce themselves from their root-stock.

To bear fruit, is to achieve a successful result from some task.
Judging by the abundance of fruit at the Gardens this year, the efforts of both the gardeners and mother nature have borne fruit, figuratively and literally.