Passion is more than a fruit. It's what a community of gardeners share for growing rare and unique fruits and nuts.

Mamey sapote is the favorite of Debra Sims, a 15-year member of the Sarasota Fruit & Nut Society and a past president. 'There is nothing else in the world like it,' she says. The inside is similar in color to pumpkin when ripe. And the taste is a combination of a pumpkin, chocolate and almond, or a sweet potato, avocado and honey. 'And it makes the best pie!'

Members look forward to monthly meetings, where they welcome visitors and exchange not only the fruits of their labor, but information, seeds, plants, homemade wines, recipes and enthusiasm.

The collective list of plants that can be found in club members' yards, porches and pots is too long to include. But Sims says, 'if it can be grown, someone here will, and because we live in subtropical and tropical climates, unique fruiting plants thrive here with ease.'

The fruit topping members' lists of favorites, hands down, is mango. Other popular fruits include bananas, grapes, figs and custard apples. And then there are the nuts: pecans, cashews and macadamia nuts thrive in the Southwest Florida climate.

Venice veterinarian Robert Greenwald got his first taste of different fruits when he was stationed in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. His first love was mangoes, but he has now extended his passion to other types of fruit thanks to his 10-year involvement in the club.

Currently more than 47 mango trees grow on his property, plus a smorgasbord of hundreds of fruiting plants, trees and bushes, including pomelo (the grandfather of the grapefruit), Barbados cherries, avocados, sugar cane, atemoya and jackfruits that grow bigger than a human head.

'I like growing fruits because I can enjoy eating them fresh almost all year-round,' Greenwald said.

It is a sentiment shared by all of the society's members, from beginners and apartment dwellers with container plants to longtime members with yards full of fruit, more than one of whom has been heard to say: 'If I can't eat it, why grow it?'