I have always felt weird about discarding fruit seeds with rubbish, and often simply tossed them in one of the pots on the large balcony I enjoyed when I was living with my family near Milan. That’s how, at some point in 2012, a loquat seed began sprouting and got me far too excited! I absolutely love loquats and I used to be lucky enough to be giften a ton of them each year by my uncle, who has a tree in his garden, or by my neighbours. The sapling grew quickly and strong, becoming a family favourite nicknamed ‘Mr Loquat’, but went also through a lot as the balcony is quite exposed to strong winds, not ideal with sail-like leaves, and was injured by sudden summer hail at least a couple of times. Still, it kept shooting straight up, I fed it, re-potted it, and it kept growing larger. By the time I was about to move to Scotland in 2014, it had grown too tall to be sheltered by the balcony walls, so I gifted it to my best friend, who kept it in a corner of her parents’ garden for a while and they eventually planted it in a border. It might not have much room there, but I know they didn’t have much space left for a tree, and it still kept growing and branching out. I’ll ask for a better quality and up to date photo, as I’ve not seen one in over a year!
-Small digression on E. japonica: native to China and widespread, especially through cultivation, in multiple parts of the world. The interesting thing is most of the countries involved with larger production grow it to cover national consumption, while Italy is one of the largest importers. Although grown in Sicily to supply part of the country’s demand, the tree is also often present in gardens, as it’s valued for its characteristic appearance and fruit yield. I wrote about how older people from my hometown have created a network of vegetable gardens within the urban landscape, and loquat, along with Laurus nobilis, Vitis vinifera, Punica granatum and Ficus carica are the most common trees associated with them.
Today my best friend sent me a photo update of my six years old loquat! I’m so happy to see my beloved tree is still doing well three and a half years after I had to leave it! It looks like it hasn’t grown much in height, but it’s getting bushier, which is ideal for fruit picking. Hopefully it will soon start flowering and fruiting too, I would love to get seeds from it on day to grow a new generation of loquats wherever I will be!
Kihaku-Gato's Garden Blog (tumblr import) 