golden-flowered kiwi

Survives zone 7 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

⚠ IUCN Red List: Vulnerable in the wild, and essentially absent from cultivation outside conservation and breeding collections — grown as a genetic resource (used to raise sugar content in cultivated-kiwifruit breeding) rather than as a garden fruit crop. The only Actinidia species with golden-yellow flowers; all others are white or cream. Fruit reported 'big and delicious' but with no detailed flavour profile available.

Hardiness

Zone 7–9

Habit

Vine

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Autumn

Mature size

Vine 6–10 m; strong trellis

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

5.0–6.5 (slightly acid)

Environment

Montane

Native range

Endemic to SE China — Guangxi, Guangdong and Hunan provinces, 900–1,300 m

Status

Wild — IUCN Vulnerable

Years to fruit

3–5 yrs

Growth speed

Very fast — several metres of new growth a season on an established vine

Spacing

400 cm (157 in) apart — about 16 m² (172 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Lanceolate-ovate to broadly ovate, 7–14 cm, papery, pale waxy underside, conspicuously scalloped margins.

Root system

Thick, fleshy and shallow, densest in the top 30–60 cm and spreading sideways rather than down. This is the plant's weak point: fleshy roots plus a very high transpiration rate make it exceptionally intolerant of waterlogging, and saturated soil is exactly what Phytophthora crown and root rot needs. Plant on a slope or a raised bed, never in a hollow.

Fruit description

Maroon-brown to greenish-brown berries, ovoid to globose, smooth-skinned, about 30–40 × 25–30 mm; reported to have excellent flavor eaten raw.

Propagation

Semi-ripe or softwood cuttings under mist, or grafting for named cultivars. Seed germinates readily but is close to useless for a crop: sex is not visible until the vine first flowers, several years on, so a seedling batch is a lottery of males and females.

Pollination

DIOECIOUS — needs male and female plants

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.