Kiwi

Botanical name:  Actinidia chinensis

Crown and root system:  This is a deciduous climbing plant with beautiful leaves.  Its root system is not invasive.

Growing regions:  All over the country except for areas that are particularly hot.

Ripening date:  Winter months.

Fruit: sweet-sour flavor with a tropical fragrance, and its texture is juicy and unique.  It is rich in vitamin C and dietary fiber.

Planting in a container:  May be planted in a container.

Recommended planting season:  All year round.

Special care:  Male and female trees are required in order to obtain fruit.

Varieties sold in our nursery:
The kiwi usually needs lots of cold to yield fruit.  In our nursery we offer varieties:
Bruno:  A medium-sized fruit that ripens at the start of the season, shaped like an elongated cylinder.
Hayward:  Ripens a little bit after Bruno.  This variety has greater frost requirements.  It yields fruit shaped like an elongated cylinder, slightly larger than the Bruno, with a brown skin that is quite hairy.

Good to know:  The kiwi originates in China.  Its original name is the Chinese gooseberry. In 1959 a company in New Zealand started to grow the fruit commercially.  The company, which suspected that the name “Chinese gooseberry” would not be well accepted in the west because of the Cold War, changed the name to “kiwi,” which was the name of New Zealand’s national bird.

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