Easter Egg Plant Seeds

Who says Mother Nature hasn't got a sense of humor? You really won't believe Easter Egg Plant until you grow it and watch the fruit develop for yourself—it begins white, looking for all the world like a bunch of hen's eggs, and then matures to deep pastel cream, yellow, orange, and even green. There's nothing else like it.

Just 12 inches high, the petite plants can sport a dozen "eggs" in a season. This is an ornamental eggplant, and the "eggs" are the fruits, full of seeds. They open ghostly white—that's when they really look like a dozen eggs from the supermarket—and then change color as they mature.

The Easter Egg Plant begins the season with rather large, attractive purple blooms. These pass, and the fruit grows where the flowers once were. If you have a short growing season, you will definitely want to start this one indoors in late winter and then transplant it. The flowers arise in late spring to early summer, so the fruit doesn't get started until summer. Give it time to mature: you will enjoy the color changes as it does.

These Easter eggs are about the size and shape of a regular hen's egg. They last for several weeks on the plant, and are so much fun to show off. The large, wide green foliage protects them from sunscald, and looks attractive in its own right all season long.