Pineapple Guava

This is a plant that I had never seen, and certainly never heard of, until Texas.  For that matter, the first time I learned of it was through Ison’s Nursery & Vineyard.

My husband had ordered a few Muscadine grapevines from them and we had been happy with the prices and service, so we were looking around on their site to see if there was anything else we “needed.”  There are so many cool options!  We ended up ordering a Persimmon (sadly, this one didn’t make it, despite our best efforts) a Fig, a Goji Berry, a Seedless Grape (this one we killed all on our own,) and this beauty – the Pineapple Guava.

We ordered pretty much everything “Bare Root,” so the image you see on the left is what we got.  Not very exciting, huh?  Well, it was to us!

The Goji berry was the only other plant that came with any leaves on it, and we were pretty happy to get it in the ground!

It’s been in since April, and it’s still alive.  I say this because it’s been a HOT summer.  It was hot, and we neglected many of our plants during the hottest part.  We pretty much gave up on gardening and hid.  The logic to that was : The strongest will survive.  And… this one DID!

The plant, as it came, had two main stalks.  Once it was established, we cut one back, gradually, to encourage one strong trunk.  Our goal is to treat this as a tiny tree, not as a bush.

I have to admit, it was pretty thrilling to see that I didn’t kill it in the process of pruning it back, and it has successfully branched out from the stalk I left behind.  Yay!

I’m sure we won’t have fruit for a long time, but I’m looking forward to that day, and hopefully seeing some flowers on it next year!

Meanwhile, I can stand back and enjoy seeing it’s relatives at The Houston Zoo!  I enjoy our zoo almost as much for the plants, as I do for the animals.  And it’s amazing how you start to notice plants that you never “saw” before, after you have researched what you have in your own backyard.  The beautiful photo that is at the start of this post, I took at the Zoo.  I was tempted to eat a flower (they are supposedly edible,) but I didn’t have the guts.

Want to know a little more about this plant? It’s also called a Feijoa, and it can grow 8-10 feet wide.  I’ve read that it will spread, bush-like, about as far as you let it, and can even be trained along a fence.  Zones 8a-10b, it’s an Evergreen and produces edible flowers as well as fruit that is said to taste like strawberries and pineapple mixed together.  Yummy!  Learn more at Dave’s Garden.  If you are interested in purchasing one, I highly suggest you go through Ison’s Nursery & Vineyard.