PNW growers: what's the most unique thing you grow out in the open?

[BiffAlmond]

Pacific Northwest growers: being zone 8 means there is a ton we can grow, but I’m curious about what people are actually getting to fruit, since we have cooler shorter summers than other zone 8’s (and also, the odd record breaking cold snap). I’m curious about what you have growing in ground, out in the open (can be winter protected… just not in a greenhouse) that is giving you fruit. Would love to know which variety/varieties are working for you, and under what conditions.

Things I’m growing (whether it is worth it or not) that I’d love to hear about include: akebia, chilean guava, feijoa/pineapple guava, jujube, citrus, loquat, maypop, olives, pawpaw, pomegranate, prickly pear, etc. Feel free to share anything outside of this list you think is unique and cool to grow!

[swincher]

Welcome to the forum! Here are some threads that you might find interesting:

Tracking Feijoa in the PNW

This is my third year growing Feijoa — one of my favorite fruits. It is likely marginal in the Puget sound region — Portland and Willamette valley may be better suited. I am creating this topic to track how Feijoa varieties do on the PNW. Please post your variety and photos below. My first blooms of the season. In ground Kaiteri. No special microclimate. [image]

Growing loquats in the Pacific Northwest

I am starting this thread to track loquats budding out, flowering and hopefully fruiting here in the PNW. Unlike pretty much most fruit, loquats bud out in late summer/early fall and flower in winter. This means that your yard will stay perfumed all through winter and give you an incentive to go out in the cold. While loquats are tropical/sub-tropical, they do surprisingly well far north of their ideal climactic region. They can handle very low temperatures with little to no damage. They are d…

And this one of course:

Pacific Northwest Fruit & Nut Growers

Do you live in the Pacific Northwest? Post here so other in the area can know who you are and what you are interested in. Also, feel free to chime in and talk about where you are and what ever is on your mind. P.S. I original thought about calling the topic “Pacific Northwest Fruits and Nuts”

Those are just a few examples, but you can find others using the search feature I’m sure.

Most of my zone pushing stuff is still too small to fruit, but the thing that has surprised me the most in terms of taking minimal damage even in our worst freezes is guabiju, but it’s been very slow growing and probably won’t reach fruiting size for many many years:

Zone-pushing guabiju (Myrcianthes pungens)

I did a search for this species (also spelled guabiyu), but there doesn’t appear to be a thread dedicated to it even though it’s been mentioned in passing by a few people (@Carld @Luisport @SnacksFromPlants e.g.). I planted a pair of tiny seedlings last spring, here’s a photo of one of them shortly before it went in the ground about a year ago: [PXL_20210103_075502614] They grew slowly but steadily through the growing season, and I was hoping they would get a couple mild winters before reall…

[BiffAlmond]

Thanks for the welcome ! I guess I was trying to cheat having to sift through thousands of comments to find what I’m after (even though I already have - I’ve been lurking on this forum for a while before joining), but looks like that’s the way things are done here.

Seems like a lot of people here are in a similar spot in terms of their “zone pushing” fruit trees still being quite young, which makes sense as we get more availability to newer/different varieties. Never heard of the guabiyu before - looks cool!