Plant of the Week
Pineapple Guava (Acca sellowiana)
This evergreen shrub is listed as hardy to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and has very attractive light, slightly bluish green foliage. It can take full sun, but also does fine in light shade, although it will likely be less bushy if it's not getting enough light. It has really nice, large blooms in late spring, which emerge as white to light pink buds, opening to reveal showy deep red centers with lots of red stamens with bright white tips. This is a great wildlife plant that attracts bees, birds and butterflies.
Pineapple guava needs about an average amount of water, about once a week after establishment, but be careful not to overwater it, especially in heavy clay soils. If given too much water, it will respond with yellowing leaves that drop off pretty quickly.
You can either leave this plant bushy, as a small shrub, or you can train it, with selective pruning, to be a small tree. It makes a nice addition in areas where you may have perennials or other plants that die back during the winter, since it has that nice blue-green sheen all through the dreary cold months.
Mature specimens flower, with fruit that ripens in fall. Many recommend to let the fruit fall to the ground for the sweetest flavor (but obviously, get them the day they drop!).
Related Episodes
