"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
Avocado can grow in frosty areas but they need good frost protection
when young. They grow in to quite large trees eventually so need space
so sacrifical trees as protection is worth thinking about. The
following cite may help. It is about one of Australia's gardening
experts (but of the alternative variety so what she tries, and can
manage to grow, often goes against conventional wisdom). She lives in
an area where it can get down to -9C at worst but would regularly get
to -4C:
http://www.jackiefrench.com/groves.html
Here is a series of pics of the garden of the author I mentioned above
with a pic of an avocado with fruit. I do know that the area she lives
in gets as cold as she claims it does.
So what? She knows nothing of growing plants in a cold climate. She
grows plants in a warm temperate climate with occasional frosts. This is
a quote from her "The Magic Grove" page:
How To Start a Grove
Step 1.
Start your grove with a single, very hardy tree that you will survive
severe frost, hellish winds, summers over 45C and drought...a bunya,
loquat, macadamia...
So Bunya (Araucaria bidwillii) is "very hardy", is it?! It may grow on
Tresco (I can't remember if there is one there) but is there a plant
surviving anywhere on the UK mainland? I doubt it. To quote from the
Wikipedia entry "Once established Bunyas are quite hardy and can be grown
as far south as Hobart in Australia (42° S) and Christchurch in New
Zealand (43° S) and (at least) as far north as Sacramento in California
(38° N) and Lisbon (in the botanical garden)." Even the extreme south of
the British mainland (50°N) is 10° north of these areas.
And as for macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia of tetraphylla), no chance!
Another quote from Wikipedia "Macadamias prefer ... temperatures not
falling below 10 °C (although once established they can withstand light
frosts)...".
She has got a loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) right. That will withstand
heavy frosts. But if you are waiting for a good crop of fruit in the UK,
you'd be better off looking in your local supermarket.
You've raised some interesting questions. She's a top grower of all sorts
of things weird and wonderful and she does things that most people say
just can't be done and that no mere mortal should be able to do in her
climate. Growing coffee and many of the other things she does should be
absolutley impossible where she lives but apparently she does it.
I wouldn't even consider a A. bidwillii or a macadamia if I wanted to
plant a hardy tree, I'd use a radiata pine Or failign that, a realy big
rose.
However, since the question was about growing an avocado in Exeter which
must be one of the mildest climes in the UK that is what we should
concentrate on and since Charlie Pridham says that avacodo can grow in
London and I can't see why it wouldn't be worth a try.
But yougot me interested about A. bidwilliii so I did a quick google.
Apparently they have been grown in Cornwall at places called Glendurgan,
Penjarrick and Mount Edgecumbe. Never heard of any of these place, but I
imagine that they'd have to be quite big gardens. No-one with less than 3
or 4 acres should consider growing an A. Bidwillii if they were smart (and
even then I'd wonder why). The are as ugly as sin, have bark like an
elephant's bottom once mature, grow way too big on anything less than
major acreage and the nuts on those things are lethal.
London has a microclimate all of its own. I doubt there are many true
frosts in central London which are prolonged into the day. There are many
plants which could be grown there which would probably not survive in even
south-west Cornwall, and with the added bonus of a large, south-facing wall
to act as a storage heater, I am sure quite a few "tropical" fruits are in
reach. It would be interesting to see a photo of an Avocado tree fruiting
in Exeter, although I doubt it could be done outside of glass protection!
I remain unconvinced about A. bidwillii. The photo here
http://teegee8.smugmug.com/Nature/Gl...04556979_afj3B
looks very much like A. araucana to me. If you compare it with
http://anpsa.org.au/a-bid.html or
http://www.maltawildplants.com/ARAU/...idwillii_t.jpg
you will se what I mean. I have emailed Glendurgan to see if they have - or
had - A. bidwillii there.
The ref here
http://www.growingontheedge.net/view...e024c 7a8e2ac
to A. bidwillii actually has a photo of A. araucana at Penjerrick! The page
does refer to bidwillii, but growing on Madeira.
--
Jeff