A few of you have asked about Pineapple Guavas (Acca sellowiana, aka Feijoa sellowiana). This plant is in the same family as tropical guava (Psidium guajava), and also produces a tasty fruit! It is a hardy plant, I can personally vouch for the "Coolidge" cultivar being happy and productive in zone 9a (Yucaipa, CA). The "Nazemetz" cultivar is the best (and largest!) fruit I've tried.
Pineapple guavas do not come true from seed and so selected varieties are grafted on seedlings, or rooted from cuttings, or air-layered. I am growing "Nazemetz" and "Lickver's Pride" which I obtained as air-layers from Tom Del Hotal of San Diego. They will hopefully bear their first crop this year. "Nazemetz" and "Coolidge" are available from many nurseries across the U.S. For those of you that would like to trade some plants, I will try to grow some cuttings -- although other members here might already have some ready! Often two different cultivars or flowering individuals are needed to produce a crop. Seedlings of Coolidge are said to be good pollinators and produce fruit that is at least good enough for jam.
Here's some more information worth reading about A. sellowiana from
Tom Spellman at Dave Wilson Nursery.
Hardy to 12 degrees and native to the tropics of Central and South America, the pineapple guava was exported in the late 19th century to Australia and New Zealand where it has been an important commercial crop for more than 100 years. The fruit is sold domestically and to foreign markets worldwide.
Pineapple guava is a beautiful, evergreen shrub or small tree (growing to 15 feet), which may also serve as a landscape accent or backdrop due to its silvery-blue foliage and cinnamon-colored “peely”-textured bark. The flowers, borne in May and June, are 1-1/2" to 2 inches in diameter and striking crimson-pink on white. The thick waxy flower petals are edible, with a subtle flavor similar to a mild honeysuckle, making them perfect when used as a garnish or sprinkled on salads and desserts.
The fruit is ripe in the fall, from October to December. Oblong in shape, these fruits weigh from 1-1/2 to 6 ounces, depending on the cultivar. On the tree, the fruit is sometimes hard to spot, as it is the same silvery-blue color as the foliage, even when ripe. Harvest when the fruits begin to drop—don’t worry if they fall, they’ll be at peak flavor. In sunny locations, pick them up immediately, however, as ripe fruit on the ground is susceptible to sunburn. The flesh has the texture of a pear and tastes like a blend of pineapple, strawberry and banana.
Two good grafted cultivars are Coolidgi, developed by the Coolidge gardens in Pasadena, California, in the 1930s, and Nazemetz, developed by Paul Thompson at Bonsal, California, in the 1960s. Both have large fruit and are self-fruitful, but they produce much larger crops if cross-pollinated with each other or another variety.
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