New Zealanders love Feijoa

I grew up in the North Island, 1000 kilometers from here.  Most gardens had a Feijoa tree and often a whole hedge.  So in season a quick trip to the garden to gather some for breakfast, or a quick grab to take some to work was a part of the daily routine.  Often there was too much of the fruit and there would be a carpet of fallen fruit sending it's distinctive rich and beautiful smell across the garden.

Love these things straight off the tree.  Best way to eat them is with a teaspoon scooping out the fruit like a boiled egg.  Fruit is egg sized and sometimes a bit bigger.

I planted three trees because a pollinator is required.

Two years planted and about 1200mm tall.  (4 feet in the USA)

What does the net tell me?  Acca sellowiana, a species of flowering plant of  in the myrtle family, Mytaceae, is native to the highlands of southern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and northern Argentina (according to Wikipedia)  While it is grown rarely in the United States, (I would appreciate some comment on that) strangely it is in cultivation in Azerbaijan and neighbouring Georgia. Sometimes it's known as Pineapple Guava.

Feijoa will grow to 2 or 3 meters.  These ones will bush out and touch.

 You can buy Feijoa very easily in season in New Zealand, it is also one of those fruits which do not travel or store well.  (Not a good shelf life)  Some many wonderful fruit do not meet the distribution and transport needs of the supermarket system.

18th February 2012.  Flower remnant and the start of the fruit.

But there is a little problem.  I am not getting many fruit.  There should be about 30 fruit on even a small tree like these.  But there are only one or two.  The original cultivars were "Tagan I" and "Tagan II".  Different for the purpose of pollination.

A more developed Feijoa.  18th February 2012.

I had a call about this from Muriel at Cromwell Gardenworld.  She said the wholesaler had given her another Feijoa for me, for free.  Muriel thinks the wholesaler knows there is a problem with the original supposed pollinator.   I planted that today, it's a "Arhart"  and described as "probably the earliest flowering/fruiting variety".

I hope that wholsaler knows what they are doing.  Early might be much earlier than what I already have.  So how will "they get it on" for pollination.  Mind you, nature might find a way.

9th April 2012.  My best and solitary Feijoa fruit.

There are Feijoa Trees which will produce 1500 fruit for each tree.  New Zealanders love them.

Mid May 2013.  Fruit everywhere.

You eat Feijoa like you would eat a boiled egg.

White center turns clear when ripe and when brown is past it.  LOVERLY.

 I am interested to hear from anybody who tells me about where in the world Feijoas are grown.  Comments below.