Looking like I lost one of the two new plants I put in last year two years ago. We had an unusually hard winter for our zone, down to about 10 F with a lot of consecutive nights and days below 32 F.
Kaiteri looks gone, just the rootstock coming back.
Waingaro just barely made it.
My more established plants had a lot of defoliation but have all leafed out and look ok.
Ay, that’s too bad. When did you plant these?
Last spring, pretty much exactly a year ago.
Oh wait no, two years ago…
My Takaka was planted two years ago too. Branches all died back along with the top part of the trunk. Outer bark layer peeled off. It’s got a little bit of growth coming back from above the graft. (It looked like it was whip and tongue grafted and had the pink nursery paint mark I’ve seen on other people’s trees here too.) It wasn’t a great Winter to be a borderline/zone-pushing establishing plant.
What was the coldest temperature for you this winter?
I have 5 seedlings and one each of Kaiteri, Albert’s Pride, and Albert’s Joy. No real difference in behavior or cold hardiness that I’ve seen. I keep pretty close tabs on winter night lows here in 8A since I’m testing out cold hardy citrus varieties. This last winter, it dropped to about 12 degrees F for two nights - last year it only got down to about 16 - and I def saw cold stress given those few degrees of difference. Pretty substantial leaf drop. However, they’re bouncing back strong with new leaves and still am getting flowers on my Joy and largest seedling. This is all anecdotal of course, but in my experiences with ~3 year old feijoas they start getting cranky in the 10-15 range but they largely hold up fine. Below 10 degrees - can’t speak to that yet with mine.
0 degrees one night
Prolonged 10 or less for a while
Very unusual
Looks pretty awful, but it’s still alive. Takaka for whatever that matters. It’ll get more sun if/when the Romanesco Broccoli ever forms heads. Only brassica I’ve ever grown that doesn’t immediately want to flower.
What varieties do people like for sweet whole eating?
How cold did this plant get?
I think 20F’s during the day and single digits/just above 0F’s overnight for like a…week? It’s near the East wall of the house, so it’s a little bit sheltered from the Wind. I don’t have a picture from this week, but the growth is now ~6” long. It’s been a bit shaded by the broccoli (I gave up on it flowering at this point, so it’s getting chopped up for greens later today).
The first winter in the ground was unusually cold.
Photos taken May 27, 2026.
If the Kakariki is grafted it is only a rootstock now.
Anatoki branches made new leaves and also grew from the roots.
Temperature is in Fahrenheit
So Anatoki survived and Kakariki didn’t?
I’m at 2 for 6 or 7 making it through a couple of winters with the New Zealand Varieties.
Mammoth and Nikita are more than 10 years in ground surviving.
The New Zealands are on a North facing slope, and could be victim of voles. I’ve got figs, persimmons, cherry, apples, pluot, and pears on the same slope that are doing okay.
@murky The Kakariki is coming back from the roots but if it was grafted the answer would be no the top did not survive.
I got them from OneGreenWorld summer of 2025.
I could not see an obvious graft union when I received them.
I asked OGW if they were grafted but haven’t gotten an answer yet. (I sent email today)
I’m pretty sure the ones I got were grafted.
OGW gets most of the NZ varieties from here ( https://www.northwoodsnursery.com/category/814/ ) I’m pretty sure.
Most of the ones I’ve seen appeared to have been whip and tongue grafted and many have a nursery paint (pink usually) marking on them.
