Columbia's locally owned weekly newspaper since 1963

By mikem@thecolumbiastar.com | on January 23, 2020

Having held my blossoms quietly throughout fall and into winter, in tree planting time I can’t keep silent any longer. It is time for loquats (Eriobotrya japonica) to be seen and represented in the home garden. Although native to China and Japan, we were introduced to the Carolinas in the 1860s prospering in USDA hardiness zones 8-10.

While landscape designers recognize our excellence as a specimen or accent plant against an architectural background like the state house, university buildings, or cathedral, most residential areas have missed out on our outstanding features. In winter we stand tall (15’- 30’) among the best company of glossy broadleaf evergreen ornamental magnolias, hollies, camellias, and tea olives. We adapt to and can tolerate extremes of soils, sun, and shade. Our grey bark ages to a beautiful cinnamon-brown.

The foliage, flowers, and fruit of loquats are unique. My thick serrated lanceolate leathery corrugated leaves, up to 12 inch- es long and four inches wide, are dark green on top and furry brown beneath like the underside of southern magnolia leaves. Small fragrant off-white five-petaled flowers born in clusters of hairy terminal panicles blossom from September through January attracting honeybees. In mild winters, edible yellow orange oval or pear-shaped fruits ripen from April to June.

In mild temperate zone winters in SC and in Florida’s subtropical climate loquats produce yellow-orange oval or pear-shaped fruits from April to June.

The fruit is eaten raw, stewed, poached, or made into jelly, jam, and syrup. As a rose family member, apples, pears, and quince are close kin.

Once planted in a well-drained soil sunlit spot, I grow rapidly to screen or shade an area. I look spectacular espaliered or growing in a large container. I rarely need pruning except to trim broken, dead, or diseased branches. Pests and diseases are few and far between unlike many fruit trees. Fire blight, a bacterial disease spread by rain and insects, can be a problem. Treatment requires removing and destroying infected branches and disinfecting pruning tools between cuts to avoid spreading the disease.

Small fragrant off-white five-petaled flowers born in clusters blossom from September through January attracting honeybees.

Although my native species is considered superb, horticulturists worldwide have attempted to improve upon my fruit production. California is this country’s leading commercial producer of loquat fruit followed by Florida and Hawaii.

A number of varieties are on the market. To shorten my stance, they grafted me to quince. Hybridizers have changed the color, shape, size, acidity, number of seeds, and flavor of my fruit. They have created variety names to attract consumers: ‘Champagne’ for fruit flavor, ‘Golden Nugget’ for large orange fruit, ‘Coppertone’ for copper-colored foliage, and ‘Variegata’ for white variegated leaves.

Loquats make exceptional lawn, street, and shade trees with the bonus of edible fruit. Contact local garden centers like Cooper’s Nursery, Millcreek Greenhouses, Woodley’s Garden Center, and Reese’s for ornamental and edible loquat trees.

Loquats are excellent specimen or accent trees against an architectural background.

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