Homeowners Struggle
With Pineapple Plants

March 13, 2002 -- When Bea O'Shea opened a gift box from FTD recently, she was a little taken aback: Inside was a large, palm-fronded plant, with a 30-inch spike in the center. On top of that? A tiny pineapple. It was "disconcerting," says the Northampton, Mass., gardener, whose usual taste runs to ferns. But she soon put it in a window near her fireplace, and ever since, she's been eagerly anticipating her first bite of home-grown fruit.

She's not alone. This winter, grow-your-own pineapple plants have become one of the season's favorite floral gifts. According to plant wholesalers in Florida, where most potted pineapples come from, sales have doubled in the past year, as Web retailers like FTD.com and Costco.com have started offering them. They "have the 'wow' factor," says Alex McGavin, a Costco.com buyer, "exotic but also functional."

The plants, which look a bit like small palm trees -- and cost as much as $66 -- are shipped by growers with a real, if tiny, pineapple already starting to sprout. Given the right conditions -- a sunny window, humid air and plant food -- recipients can be eating home-grown pineapple in a few months. That is, if they can stand to pick theirs: Donald Brown, a legal analyst, says he looks forward each day to "coming home to the aroma of pineapple blossoms wafting through the house."

Do-it-yourself pineapples seem to be especially popular with people like Robert Koerber, who are forgoing their annual winter vacation to the tropics, but still want a reminder of warmer climes -- he's got 15 in his backyard greenhouse. The fruit's patriotic connections are also appealing: Discovered in the West Indies by Christopher Columbus, it eventually became a symbol of New World welcome in colonial cities. Historic towns such as Williamsburg, Va., still use fresh ones in their traditional Christmas displays.

But growing them isn't as easy as forcing paperwhites, that other winter-gardening craze (and you may have to do battle with your pets to keep the fruit growing -- Mr. Brown's dogs keep trying to eat his). While the plants come with instructions and guarantees that they'll arrive ready to thrive, a certain ingenuity is needed to trick them into believing that a suburban windowsill is really the tropics. The requirements: Six hours of sunlight a day, no drying heat and just the right amount of water on the roots.

So, is it all worth it? Jean Barkman of Charleston, S.C., who pampered one for six months until it was ready to eat, says its flavor was "sweet and juicy" -- although not quite as satisfying as a week in Hawaii.

Email your comments to rjeditor@dowjones.com.