PUSHING THE BORDERS

I normally get lots of fruit on my Akebias, this year being no exception:



… and I quite like the gentle flavour of it. However, I’ve never had fruit on longeracemosa before. I assumed this was because it flowers, for me at least, at a completely different time to my other two. This year fruit has appeared right at the end of one of the stems, albeit only one. So is this species self-fertile and do they taste the same as quinata?

Mine did the same a couple of years back, I thought at the time one of the other Akebia must have had a late flower but the only one in the same half of the garden was A.trifoliata and thats even earlier to flower than quinata. That said 41 years ago we only had quinata and got a couple of fruits after a warm summer so it could be a small amount of sefing going on. I would be interested in whether the taste is similar (I find quinata and trifoliata sweet but bland)