The Ornamental Eggplant You Can Grow That Looks Like A Mini Pumpkin Tree

The elongated, deep purple eggplant (Solanum melongena) you pick up at the market when it's your turn to whip up a main dish of ratatouille or a side of grilled vegetables is very different in appearance from the pumpkin-on-a-stick plant (Solanum integrifolium), its botanical relative in the nightshade family. Native to Thailand, these 2- to 5-inch fruits are frequently grown as ornamentals, but they're a popular addition to Asian dishes that are enhanced by their bitter, spicy flavor. When they first form, they resemble small tomatoes, but after the weather turns cool in the fall, the fruit turns red first, then orange.

Pumpkin-on-a-stick fruits are typically eaten when they're green, but they're used as an ornamental after they've changed color. To use them for dried decorations, leave the fruit on the stems when you harvest them, tie them into bundles, and dry them in a dark, well-ventilated room. After they've dried, remove the large, prickly, blue-green leaves. This gives them their resemblance to tiny pumpkins on a stick. Fresh plants are commonly used in floral arrangements, and the dried fruit lasts for several months.

Pumpkin-on-a-stick plants grow 3 to 4 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide. They have large leaves and straight stems that develop long, purple thorns. The small, white flowers of the plant give way to the little green fruits that will mature into the pumpkin-like eggplant. Pumpkin-on-a-stick requires the same growing conditions as the peppers and tomatoes grown in your region, so if you've had success with these plants, pumpkin-on-a-stick should thrive.

Grow pumpkin-on-a-stick in full sun and well-drained soil away from black walnut trees. Black walnut toxicity, sometimes dismissed as a gardening myth, is caused by a compound occurring naturally in the trees that will stunt eggplant. Start seeds indoors six weeks before the last expected frost and transplant them when they've grown two sets of leaves. Seeds planted in the ground once the soil has warmed to 60 degrees Fahrenheit take about two weeks to germinate. Keep the plants moist but not soggy during the growing season, and fertilize as you would tomatoes or peppers. As the plants get taller, they may need staking and should be ready to harvest in two to four months.

Use the pumpkin-on-a-stick in autumn and Halloween decor as part of a door wreath, to complete a mantelpiece arrangement, or as DIY place card holders on a Friendsgiving tablescape. You can skip the pumpkin-carving mess by leaving them whole, or take the fruit off the stems to create tiny jack-o'-lanterns for a child's dollhouse. Let them tumble out of a wicker cornucopia, or attach small lettered signs to them with toothpicks to identify the items on your charcuterie board.