Sloat Plant Pick for MAY

Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)

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This evergreen shrub is very easy to grow. In addition to its many landscape uses, it also provides tasty fruits and edible flowers. Pineapple guava wants full sun but will tolerate part shade.  It is not fussy about soil as long as the drainage is good.

It  will accept soils that are constantly moist such as next to a lawn or periods of drought. As for fertilizing, a once a year feeding with an All Purpose formula is sufficient.  It can be trained as a handsome, multitrunked small tree to about 15’ tall. It can be used as a formal (clipped) or informal hedge, windbreak and screen. Try it as an espalier or accent plant. They are even happy in large containers! A note: once your feijoa is clipped, fruits will tend to be fewer and held farther inside the shrub.

The cinnamon colored bark peels off in patches with age, giving it an attractive patchwork, checkered effect.  The olive green, oval leaves are silvery underneath.  It blooms profusely in late spring (May) with large 1 ½" flowers. A big tuft of red stamens is surrounded by 4, fleshy, pink/white petals. These petals are sweet and delicious (kind of like fruit flavored marshmallow) and make interesting additions to fruit salads.  Not many shrubs can boast beauty and edibility at the same time! The fruits are lime green in color, range from 3” to 5” long and ripen later in the fall (October). They are fully ripe when they fall from the tree, but slightly underripe fruit is not bad at all and can be picked as need. The taste reminds one of kiwi/pineapple/juicyfruit gum and the flesh has a slight grainy texture reminiscent of a pear.  The easiest way to eat them is to cut them in half and scoop the pulp out with a spoon.  They can be used in smoothies, breads, muffins, chutneys or sauces.

Within the edible landscape, feijoa combines well with our native Manzanita and also Ceanothus. Fescue and Carex grasses soften its feet. With its olive green coloring, it can enhance succulent and coastal gardens.  It even has deer resistance like other members of its family, the Myrtaceae ( Eucalyptus, bottlebrush, Leptospermum, Myrtle).