divaqs's Blog

Arctic Beauty Kiwi
May 2, 2007 | 2:27 PM PST
Tags: kiwi , arctic beauty kiwi , edible , fruit

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog entries, edible landscaping is about cultivating things you can eat, and yet designing it all in a beautiful way. What I especially love to find is an edible that can compare to or exceed the plants that have been bred specifically for visual appeal. I feel I found this with Arctic Beauty Kiwi (Actinidia kolomikita).

Arctic Beauty Kiwi is the hardiest of kiwi vines that I know of, able to withstand temperatures to -40° F, making it possible to grow it in the widest range of climates. Yet, it is also is, in my opinion more lovely then many ornamental vine plants you can find.

I really like the pink, white, and green variegation of the leaves. The picture is of a male vine, which pollinates my 2 female vines, which is needed for them to produce fruit. The male vines tend to be the ones that are variegated and the prettiest, but I was fortunate to also find female vines that get variegated as well. Usually it takes one or more years for the variegation to set in. The vine in the picture was planted last year.

Arctic Beauty Kiwi prefers some shade, unlike other kiwi vines. This makes it a great candidate for areas that otherwise would be a real challenge to produce some sort of fruit.

Kiwi is also really easy to propagate.  One of my female vines I have growing was a cutting I took from new growth on my other female vine, which I just stuck in the ground and watered some. I was happy to see it still growing this spring, after obviously surviving the winter.

Kiwi vines can put on a huge amount of growth in a single season. They cannot support their own weight and will spread up to 30 feet. They require strong support such as trellis, arbor, or fence. “Strong” is the key word here, since I have seen a hardy kiwi rip a trellis apart due to the weight of its new growth, and saw it pry boards apart as vines grew larger and larger in the cracks. In nature, they grow up into trees.  I have pruned a fuzzy kiwi vine to the ground, and watched it grow back the next year with another 30 feet of new growth. Do not be afraid to prune and control the vines. Arctic Beauty Kiwi is not as aggressive in its growth as the other varieties I had these experiences with, but it is still something to be conscious of.

This is not the typical kiwi you find in the store, but rather a smaller fruit, about grape size, which has no fuzzy skin, with the same great kiwi flavor. It is easy to just pop them in your mouth right off the vine when they have reached their ultimate sweetness and are somewhat soft to the touch.  A mature kiwi vine can produce 200 pounds of fruit.

My kids love these. I think one year some of them made themselves a little sick from eating so many. I saw a bucket of these disappear in about a day.

Kiwi are very high in vitamin C and great additions to fruit salads and desserts, like ice cream, pies, jam, and wine