Giant loquat tree in Seattle

[ramv]

I found this giant loquat tree that is estimated well over 75 years. It is over 40 feet tall and nearly 4 feet across at the base.
I am sure you have giants of this size in the South but a tropical tree this large this far North is a wonder.
The tree has survived temperatures of 6F in the winter. It definitely survived our super cold polar vortex winter this year where temperatures went down to 14F and stayed there for a bit.

It flowers and fruits every year even though the quality and quantity might vary from year to year. It was still in bloom when I went there this weekend.
I will go back in June/July to see how the fruit tastes.

[BonsaiBeast]

Thats so cool.

Its amazing to see how large of a tree it is. It must enjoy the rain or something.

[Greater Good]

Could scions from this tree make a cold tolerant variety?

[Sir Graftalot]

Loquats are very cold tolerant. I had a Christmas in the ground that survived subzero fahrenheit for multiple nights in a row. It'd flowered every year but could not hold fruit so I chopped it. I have a bunch of seedlings growing in the same spot right now from fruits I'd purchased over the Summer. They have already endured low 30s so far with absolutely no problem.

[drymifolia]

Could scions from this tree make a cold tolerant variety?

That's not even the largest tree in Seattle! The one in Chinatown is even larger, and it holds heavy crops every year. Even the last two years with winter lows of 16° or 17°F. I think it's large enough to create its own microclimate, though, not to mention being almost draped over a heated concrete building. So I'm not sure how hardy it really is. I do have seedlings of it in my yard, one of them was grafted with scions of the mother tree this year, too.

Here's the tree in Chinatown/International District, Seattle:

[brian]

That is a beautiful tree.  I was surprised to see a large number of huge warm-weather trees in Seattle when I visited there this summer.  I guess the coastal weather keeps low temps away despite being so far north? 

[K-Rimes]

That is a beautiful tree.  I was surprised to see a large number of huge warm-weather trees in Seattle when I visited there this summer.  I guess the coastal weather keeps low temps away despite being so far north?

I'm originally from Vancouver, BC, so pretty much the same. Yep! That ocean proximity keeps it real consistent in the winter, it rarely freezes, and when it does it's more like 28f-25f. People always asked me "Oh my god it must snow a lot in Canada?!" to which I replied, nope, maybe a few days a year.

Though it's not stabbingly cold, it does stay around those temps for days and weeks at a time though, so that + all the rain = dead sub tropicals. If you can keep them dry, that's half the battle.

I gifted my parents a loquat which they planted up there, seems it's not going to make it, but the guabiju is kicking ass in Vancouver area.

[drymifolia]

That ocean proximity keeps it real consistent in the winter, it rarely freezes, and when it does it's more like 28f-25f.

That is true usually, but once in awhile (not every winter, but at least every few winters) we get one of those arctic fronts that funnels cold air into the Salish Sea via the Fraser Valley. When that happens we usually end up below 20°F and sometimes below 15°F, with highs below freezing for a few days straight.

Sorry about straying off topic, but so far avocados have been very happy with the cold rain and regular mildly freezing temperatures, though they get zapped back to ground level during those bad freezes. Here's the worst freeze since I started recording temperatures for the avocado project, and this killed most of the trees outside:



Both of the last two winters were La Niña years, so that means more cold weather chances here. These reports show the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 winter seasons (Nov to March), which included hundreds of hours below freezing:





By contrast, this current winter low is about 28°F and all the avocados seem very healthy in the ground outside, some are even pushing their spring flushes already! Here's one of those (the Northrop cultivar, which just barely survived last winter and is much happier with how this one is going):
 

[Calusa]

I used to have a really nice, large loquat tree in Land o Lakes Florida that saw low temperatures around 22 several times and not a lick of damage. I think they could survive unscathed well into the teens.