Planting guide

When to plant dragon fruit

Climbing cactus with night-blooming flowers and showy fruit; easy in a warm, dry spot. In Melbourne it goes in Oct–Dec.

Start as: Potted plant
Ready in: 2+ years to the first crop
Spacing: 200 cm
Depth: 0 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Low
Effort: Some care
Frost-tender: Yes, plant after the last frost

When it goes in

● means dragon fruit can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's climate zone and season, the way planting guides do it. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Melbourne	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Brisbane	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Perth	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Adelaide	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Gold Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Newcastle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Canberra	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Central Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Geelong	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Wollongong	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Hobart	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Townsville	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Cairns	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Toowoomba	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Darwin	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Ballarat	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mandurah	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Bendigo	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Launceston	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mackay	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Rockhampton	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Coffs Harbour	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Bunbury	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Bundaberg	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Alice Springs	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Mildura	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Wellington	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Christchurch	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
London	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Manchester	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
New York City	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Chicago	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Austin	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Toronto	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Johannesburg	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Singapore	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Mumbai	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Paris	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Berlin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

How to plant dragon fruit

Plant a cutting beside a sturdy post or trellis.
Use sandy, free-draining soil.
Water lightly; feed with compost.
Pick when fully coloured and slightly yielding.

Dragon fruit varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

American Beauty Classiccolourful · sweet · 39–51 wksRed-skinned, red-fleshed
Vietnamese White Classicsweet · 39–51 wksWhite-fleshed classic
Magenta Adventurouscolourful · 39–51 wksMagenta flesh, sweet
Yellow Adventurouscolourful · sweet · 39–51 wksYellow-skinned with white flesh
Physical Graffiti Adventurousself-fertile · colourful · 39–51 wksSelf-fertile with pink flesh

Where to buy seedlings

Search on QP Seedlings Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Marigold, Basil

Dragon fruit by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Passionfruit · Grape · Kiwifruit

Not sure dragon fruit is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now