O.K. I have lost my Fremont. and I want to try again, and has anyone had success with fruiting Feijoas in Vancouver?
I have a mini feijoa in a pot on the patio, brought it in over last week with our few below weather. so far so good but not a sign of fruit.
I would plant both against a warm, sheltered wall. The closer to salt water the better. If you are in an outlying area or in a frost pocket long term success is probably not likely. There was a fremontodendron for years in the open on the north side of the mixed tree and shrub planting just west of Thunderbird stadium (old UBC Botanical Garden main entrance). Perhaps it is still there. Some fairly large examples of both are growing in Seattle gardens at the present time. A fremontodendron I planted a few years ago on Camano Island (Island County, WA) near a west-facing wall is now over 2m high. It has survived winter conditions that have killed some other marginal plants in similar positions nearby.
Thankyou, I have SW exposure, but loose the winter Sun due to the neighbours' trees...Eucalytpus, Zantedeschia are thriving agaisnt the house....will source the Feijoas, thanks for the reply.
Garden centers down here have stocked both in recent years, however I have encountered the Acca (Feijoa) much more often. The fremontodendron might sell faster, of course but I think there really have not been nearly as many bought in. One Green World nursery in Oregon seems to have gotten their Acca, Hippophae and other edible fruit producing shrubs into the majority of outlets here.
I can't yet speak to the fruiting question, but I have about a dozen feijoa seedlings planted last spring, and they have overwintered thus far without a problem, in an unheated, single paned funky greenhouse with an abundance of gaps and holes....in other words, as cold as outside at night. They've weathered down to -8 with no signs of damage, in little 2" pots. No doubt a few degrees less might have done them in, but given their size and fact that they're not in the ground, I'm pleasantly surprised by their hardiness. Regarding the fruit, it is my understanding that it is ripe when it falls from the tree/bush: so it is late ripening....in California, I have heard the feijoa described as an underwhelming, poor quality fruit: however, it is a mountain plant in it's native environs, and it is reputedly sweeter when ripened in cool climates. I can vouch for the sweetness of the flowers, having sampled them in a local garden, but that particular plant did not fruit do to an early freeze. I'm going to plant a third of the seedlings in a glasshouse, a third against a SW wall with an abundance of stone around them, and try a third in the open, just to see what happens.
With inadequately protected, overwintered container stock part or all of the roots may be killed by cold that does not affect the top until it attempts to grow away again the following growing season. I have seen cold damaged Camellia japonica maintain normal appearance until flowering was well underway, then drop all flowers and leaves, become dead sticks. I saw some one gallon fremontodendron today in a Seattle area garden center.
Agreed, Ron B...Vestigal signs of life on plants whose roots have died has fooled me in the past, particularily with thick, waxy or tough leafed evergreens, and the feijoa certainly fits this caveat. However, mine have unfurled their first set of new leaves already, and proto second set is coming along. Could be a burst of stored energy; time will tell. My experience with dead root seedlings describes plants that 'sit still' in the spring, and then decline: I have experienced the early growth/budding on root dead plants that you mention, though never with seedlings. Then again, I seem to lose a handful of plant related 'nevers' every season. I'll update this post later in the season.
Immature roots go first, then mature roots, which are hardier. Probably loss of immature roots manifests most often in reduced top growth later, rather than death of plant. However, killing of new roots may perhaps greatly increase likelihood of water mold invasion.
