You can grow most kinds. Some of the Actinidia deliciosa can be a little on the tender side in hard winters, but most of the time these are fine and are commonly sold and planted - you don't necessarily have to go with A. arguta. All have certain parameters, same as with other plants. Nevertheless, many people plant them throughout the PNW, you can even find plants offered at supermarkets.

If you plant kiwi, make sure you have a sturdy structure. The house we bought has a kiwi that has very little structure, just a couple of hooks off of the second story patio. Our plant is very fast growing and we prune it several times a year to keep it from overtaking the patio. We havenÂt had much in the way of kiwis, likely because of our pruning and roto-tilling the roots a couple of years ago.

I would recommend investigating this plant closely before committing to it.

PS: I live in the Olympia area.

Be sure to plant at least one clematis on your fence. The Nelly Moser variety is wonderful -- huge flowers with a big flush in spring and more later in the year. They are such easy care vines in this area. We have had kiwis for years but very little fruit production. Grapes are fantastic but the starlings find them too soon. Have fun in your new garden.

You can grow them, and they are a lovely vine, but they grow huge. Be prepared to prune them regularly. I have them on a trellis and get little fuzzy kiwis every fall. I'm just south of Eugene.
Kathy W.

Thanks everyone!! We live off of some walking trails and the back fence is chainlink.. maybe I will try it across that.

And Clematis is definitley on my list Dotty ;-) I've always wanted one!! Thanks!!

You can definitely grow kiwis in Portland. I live in NoPo and planted two kiwi plants about 15 years ago. They grew quite vigorously. However, I got no fruit. A friend was cutting back her male at the time it was flowering, and I took some cuttings and simply dragged the flowers over the flowers on my kiwis, and - voila! - that fall I had a bunch of kiwi fruit.

So - the Hayward kiwis that I bought from Freddies were not one female and one male, but were both females. I bought another - very scrawny - male from Portland Nursery, and have had lots and lots of fruit.

I have a 16 foot tall by 5 foot wide trellis/arbor that I built on the south side of my garage. The kiwi took that over with-in a couple of years. Now they have taken over the garage roof and the neighbor's trees.

Good luck!

A good source of kiwis is Raintree Nursery.

http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=ACTI

Ellen, if you were to get Actinidia arguta 'Issai' you would only need one plant, as it is self-fertile. It produces smaller kiwis, but is vigerous and will grow to 25 ft. and requires support. Planted in full sun, you should get lots of fruit. They grow well here and our summers are cooler than yours, though our winters may be slightly warmer, since we're more protected from the cold outflow winds than you would be.