Forgotten treasures

MY mother often rings me up with a task, or a piece of detective work to undertake.

Last week it was to see if I could find out about the pineapple guava, along with a picture of the fruit, the plant and the flower.

A friend of hers had brought her some odd-looking fruit that had formed on an unnamed plant in her garden. They resembled green rosehips. She couldnft quite place them, but gpineapple guavah sprang to mind.

I know Mum is linked up to the internet, as my technically minded brother made a point of setting up an account and address for her, but she is such a busy woman that she simply doesnft have the time to spend surfing the electronic airwaves. We have also all, at various times, bought her mobile phones so that, despite living in the wilds of the North York moors, she can still keep in touch with us. Unfortunately, the mounds of the moors also bar any signals, so the exercise always proves futile.

I know what a normal guava is, the grainy pink and perfumed flesh etched on my tastebuds as a gloriously sweet childhood memory. It just pipped the smoother-textured pulp of the custard apple, but never came close to eclipsing the aromatic luxuriant flesh of a freshly plucked mango. A quick search on the internet came up with a full description of the plant, along with a full photographic portfolio of the specimen. The fruit did indeed resemble unripened rose hips, and matched the samples that had been given to Mum.

Its proper name is Feioya sellowinia, also known as Acca sellowinia, and itfs a semi-hardy evergreen shrub grown for its showy flower and edible fruit. It is frost hardy, but does need protection from severe temperatures. It seems as though there is a nutritious, tasty and easy-to-grow fruit that is completely passing us by and which needs further investigation.

Another fruit that thrives in our climate, and which also gets forgotten, is the quince. The proper quince, Cydonia oblanga, and not the Japanese quince Chaenomeles japonica, is a small deciduous tree with large, leathery, green leaves, beautiful white petalled flowers and fat, yellow, pear-shaped fruit.

They are not only pretty though, the fruit can be used to make heady but delicately perfumed jams, jellies, puddings, sweets, stews and wines. Quince was the original ingredient in marmalade, before oranges became popular, gmarmeloh being the Portuguese name for the quince. Individual fruits can be cut in half and baked until the juice runs pink and syrupy.

The wine was popular in the 19th Century as a cure for asthma. Infusions of the pulp were used to treat sore throats, diarrhoea and bowel haemorrhages. In China they use it to soothe stomach ulcers, while in Malta a teaspoon of quince jam dissolved in a cup of boiling water eases intestinal discomfort. The seeds can be soaked in boiling water to produce a jelly that can be used for sore throats and eye lotions. In Iran the seeds are used as a remedy for pneumonia and lung disease; in Bosnia the quince is made into a brandy.

Here, we use it as a rootstock for pear trees, but once again we seem to missing out on the many wonderful properties of an attractive and easily grown plant.

Perhaps we just like the simplicity and comfort of one or two familiar things, and perhaps thatfs why most of us stick to apples, plums and pears.

READER'S QUESTION

JOHN from just outside Bishop Auckland lost several trees in his garden earlier in the year as a result of high winds. He is just getting around to replanting the space left behind after they have been cleared away and would like some suggestions of trees that are not so prone to wind damage.

WE seem to have survived the hurricane season without too much damage this time, but no doubt the exaggerated weather patterns will swing back around before too long.

There are some trees that do withstand a bit of a battering better than others.

Of the deciduous ones, magnolia, hawthorn, sweet chestnut, oak, wild cherry and willow are fairly stable.

Holly and laurel are good evergreens, and larch, Scots pine and yew robust needle varieties. The key is to make sure that the root systems get well established by throwing a few good handfuls of bone-meal into the hole when planting and watering well for the first few years of growth.

JOBS TO DO

THE time for pruning stoned fruits such as plums, cherries and apricots has now passed. In order to avoid a greater risk of passing on infections to the trees, it is better to hold off any work on the trees until next March.

IT is a good time, however, to nip out the tops of autumn-grown sweet peas.

This will help them to bush out and produce more flowers next summer.

DIG a bean trench ready to take the runners next spring. This is a ditch of about a spadefs depth into which compostable kitchen waste is thrown over the winter. The removed soil which has been sitting on the sidelines is then thrown back on top of the trench. As the waste decomposes, it forms a wonderfully rich source of nutrition for the bean seedlings.

Brigid presents the BBC Tees Gardening show every Sunday from 1-2pm. Questions can be answered on the day by phoning 01642-225511 or texting 07786-200995 during the show. Alternatively, you can email brigidpress@bbc.co.uk anytime during the week.

For tips this month on dividing and multiplying herbaceous perennials from Durhamfs Finchale College horticultural instructor Garry Hillery log onto www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/theexperts/ gardening