Best Melon

Yubari King is a netted, orange-fleshed muskmelon cultivated in Yubari, Hokkaido, Japan. It is a hybrid associated with the Earl's Favourite and Burpee's Spicy cultivars and is valued for its fragrance, sweetness, and soft, juicy flesh. The melons are graded for quality and are widely used as season...

Charentais is a small, aromatic type of muskmelon developed in France and associated with French market gardening. A typical fruit has smooth or lightly netted, pale gray-green skin with distinct ribs and fragrant orange flesh surrounding a central seed cavity. It is usually eaten fresh and is value...

Premium Japanese muskmelon cultivar developed in Japan for the luxury gift market, prized for its exceptionally high sugar content and often sold individually at premium prices.

Crimson Sweet is a watermelon cultivar developed at Kansas State University and released in 1963. It produces round to slightly oblong fruit with a light green rind marked by broad dark stripes, red flesh, and dark seeds. The variety is known among home and market growers for its sweet, crisp flesh...

Crane Melon is a California heirloom muskmelon associated with the Crane family near Santa Rosa in Sonoma County. Oliver Crane developed it in the early twentieth century by crossing several melon types, producing fruit with a mottled rind and pale, aromatic flesh. Because ripe melons are delicate a...

Petit Gris de Rennes is a traditional French melon associated with Rennes and the surrounding region of Brittany. It produces relatively small fruits with grey-green skin and orange flesh described as aromatic and sweet when ripe. As an heirloom cultivar adapted to a comparatively cool growing regio...

Sugar Baby is a compact watermelon cultivar known for producing small, nearly round fruit suited to household refrigerators, which places it in the icebox watermelon category. The melons typically have a dark green rind and sweet red flesh, while their manageable size makes them practical for home g...

Vedrantais is a French cantaloupe cultivar associated with the Charentais type of melon. It produces relatively small fruit with aromatic orange flesh and the rounded, lightly ribbed form characteristic of Charentais melons. The cultivar is intended for growers and gardeners who value fragrance and...

Ogen is a small melon cultivar named for Kibbutz HaOgen in Israel, where it was developed. Its fruit is typically round, with green skin that develops yellowish striping as it ripens, and its flesh is pale green, juicy, sweet, and notably aromatic. It belongs to the muskmelon group and is grown by h...

Kleckley Sweet is an American heirloom watermelon introduced in the late nineteenth century and also known as Monte Cristo. It produces elongated fruits with dark green skin and red flesh containing dark seeds. The variety is known among home gardeners for a crisp texture and sweet flavor, but its r...

Hami melon is a group of muskmelons associated with Hami and the surrounding region of Xinjiang in northwestern China. The fruits are commonly elongated or oval, with a netted or otherwise patterned rind and crisp, aromatic flesh that may be white, pale green, or orange depending on the cultivar. Th...

Israeli heirloom cantaloupe developed at Kibbutz Ha-Ogen in the mid-20th century, distinguished by pale green flesh and a delicate honey-sweet flavor.

American heirloom watermelon cultivated by the Bradford family of South Carolina since the 1840s, nearly extinct by the 20th century but revived and celebrated for exceptional sweetness.

Galia is a hybrid melon developed in Israel by plant breeder Zvi Karchi and named for his daughter. It combines a netted, yellowing rind resembling a cantaloupe with pale green, aromatic flesh associated with green-fleshed melons. The fruit is generally eaten fresh and is selected when its rind chan...

Moon and Stars is an American heirloom watermelon cultivar distinguished by a dark green rind marked with yellow spots of varying sizes. The larger spots suggest moons, while the smaller speckles resemble stars; similar markings can also appear on its foliage. Documented in early twentieth-century s...

Cantalupo refers to a type of aromatic muskmelon associated with the cantaloupe group of Cucumis melo. Its name is traditionally linked to Cantalupo, a papal estate near Rome where melons introduced from farther east were reportedly cultivated. European cantaloupes generally have ribbed or warty rin...

A Dutch selection of the French Charentais cantaloupe type, bred for fine summer eating quality and retaining the characteristic smooth gray-green rind of traditional Charentais melons.

Eden's Gem is a small heirloom muskmelon associated with early 20th-century American seed catalogs and the melon-growing region around Rocky Ford, Colorado. Its fruits are typically oval and netted, with pale green flesh and a sweet, aromatic flavor when fully ripe. The compact fruit size distinguis...

Charleston Gray is an open-pollinated watermelon cultivar released by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1954. It produces large, elongated fruits with a pale gray-green rind, red flesh, and dark seeds, a form suited to handling and shipment. Developed by plant breeder Charles Fredric An...

Sprite is a small specialty melon developed in Japan and later grown commercially in parts of the United States. The fruit has smooth ivory to pale yellow skin and crisp white flesh, giving it a texture distinct from the softer flesh of many muskmelons. It is known for high soluble-sugar levels and...

The Montreal melon is a historic muskmelon associated with Montreal, Quebec, where it was cultivated commercially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The large, heavily netted fruit was valued for its sweet, aromatic green flesh and was shipped to hotels and restaurants in other North America...

One of Europe's oldest documented melon varieties, a French heirloom cantaloupe named after the Carmelite friars who cultivated it, with a dark green rind that turns orange at maturity.

American heirloom watermelon distinguished by orange flesh instead of the typical red, known for its sweet, honey-like flavor and cultivated mainly by seed-saving enthusiasts.

French heirloom muskmelon from the Tours region of the Loire Valley, documented since the 19th century and valued for its exceptionally sweet, aromatic flesh.

Hale's Best is an American heirloom muskmelon, commonly described as a cantaloupe, associated with commercial melon production in California during the early 20th century. It produces netted fruits with orange flesh and became widely grown in the United States, with selections such as Hale's Best Ju...

Ananas melon is a type of muskmelon whose name uses the word for pineapple found in several European languages. Varieties sold under this name are generally associated with a pronounced fragrance and sweet flesh that may range from pale or white to orange, depending on the particular selection. Beca...

French heirloom cantaloupe whose name means 'sugary,' long cultivated in Europe for its intensely sweet, perfumed orange flesh and classic netted, ribbed skin.

French charentais-type melon cultivar valued for its intense aroma, sweet orange flesh, and uniform fruit size, developed specifically for commercial European fresh-market production.

Honey Rock is an American muskmelon cultivar recognized as an All-America Selections winner in 1933. It produces relatively small, round melons with netted rinds, thick salmon-orange flesh, and a sweet flavor when fully ripe. The cultivar is grown by home gardeners and seed savers who want an older...