Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Lovely Loquat

Loquats are fully hardy and evergreen in Seattle and impart a tropical look to the garden. Each late winter my loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica) sends out "candles" of new foliage. The new leaves are exceedingly pale and lovely, and quickly turn tough and dark green. As they unfurl, the stems below lengthen rapidly, adding 1-2 feet (30-60 cm) to each branch.
 
The paleness contrasts nicely with the wood and mature leaves. A bit of bad pruning is visible here behind one of the new shoots: 
 

Loquats are vigorous when happy. Mine gets a hard pruning a couple times a year. I have heard that I chop off branches from my loquat each year than most people who grow them in the Northwest have in total plant volume. Trimmings from last summer:


Each time I chop off enough to fill a 100 gallon (375L) compost bin:

 


The tree always bounces back quickly. The graceful leaves in the shade seem to unfurl more quickly than those in full sun. I love the contrast:

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2 comments:

  1. danger gardenMarch 19, 2015 at 9:49 PM

    Wow! So just how big is your loquat? (Pre pruning)

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    1. The Interstitial GardenerMarch 20, 2015 at 2:54 PM

      A very robust 15+ feet tall and 20+ feet wide prior to pruning. I just take some off the sides so it doesn't shade out the other full-sun plants nearby. Now it's down to about 15 feet wide again, but it'll mostly grow back by the end of the year. It's so happy that it actually gets at least two flushes of new growth each year instead of just a spring flush.

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