8 0417 294 778 A Touch of Grass Garden Care GARDEN CLEANUPS / REJUVENATION & MAKEOVERS A SPECIALTY We offer an experienced, professional and reliable service Call Jeremy on ... Est. Gold Coast since 2001 Let us create your new and rejuvenated garden where you can sit back, relax and enjoy your tranquil surroundings ... Specialising Garden Makeovers & Rejuvenation * Garden Care * Plant Selection * Soft Landscaping Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens, Rosser Park, 232 Ashmore Rd, Benowa. Visit www.friendsgcrbg.org.au or www.facebook.com/friendsgcrbg Kiwi fruit is no stranger to the fruit bowl, but its name can lead to confusion and some characteristics make them less than ideal for the home gardener. Botanically the genus is Actinidia. The first species described and attributed was Actinidia callosa by English botanist John Lindley in 1836 from a species collected in Nepal in 1821. Altogether there are fifty-five accepted species, growing across a wide area of Asia including Japan, Korea, and west to Nepal. Gardening by Kate Heffernan Honorary Life Member Friends of GCRBG, Botanic Garden Consultant grown by commercial growers in cooler temperate climates with some recent cultivars bred to suit warmer regions. The first seeds were brought into New Zealand by teacher Mary Isabel Fraser in 1904 on her return from visiting her missionary sister in China. They were planted in an orchard at the Bay of Plenty and bore fruit commercially and were exported to London by 1910. New Zealand is now one of the largest producers behind China. Originally called Chinese Gooseberry, the Kiwi name was registered commercially in New Zealand in 1959 (but not adopted until 1970) for the fur-like hair on the mature fruit that was considered to resemble the Kiwi bird's tight plumage. Kiwi flowers are dioecious meaning the plants bear only male or female flowers, often beginning as white and fading creamy yellow as pictured. In the wild, the attractive flowers Kiwi fruit species Actinidia chinensis and Actinidia deliciosa are vigorous climbing plants native to southern and central China where it forms dense thickets in forests. A. chinensis has yellowish flesh, and A. deliciosa has pale green fruit, both reported to be excellent for gut health and digestion. Seeds were distributed to the USA and Europe in the late 19th C. The massive individual climbing plant pictured was planted in Paris in 1905. Varieties and numerous cultivars have since been bred and are pollinated by birds and bumble bees. Honeybees generally prefer other plants, and growers often intervene by closely placing multiple hives leading to competition in nectar collection and pollen transfer. One male plant will produce enough pollen for up to eight female plants. (Spoiler – in some areas, they are jumping the fence and becoming potential weeds after birds drop the seeds.) Not for the standard residential fence or pergola, the climbing branches can twine along its support for around 8 metres. Kiwi fruit produces large deep green roundish leaves, pale on the underside with a notch on the end. Commercial orchards grow cultivated forms, the largest Australian producers are in the Shepperton region of Victoria. Ref: Academic Press 2016 : Kiwifruit 2016 Hongwen Huang; ABC Books 2011 Organic Fruit Growing, Annette McFarlane; plantNET https:// plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/ Images Kate Heffernan
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