Medlar trees, symbol of a lost Beirut
In the past, each house used to have its small garden and its … medlar tree (known as “nèfle” or “akadeneh”).
Nowadays medlar trees still can be admired close to old houses in Beirut.
The loquat (variety of medlar that we find in Lebanon) is originally from China but has been imported centuries ago. It is very adapted to Mediterranean climate : an adult tree doesn’t need watering, doesn’t get sick, doesn’t need insecticides and is evergreen.
Loquat’s flowers are very appreciated by bees, since its flowering period occurs during fall (around November) when flowers are very rare.
It is pretty easy to grow a medlar : collect some seeds (that you find inside the fruit), and directly plant them in small pots (2 seeds per pot) on the balcony or in the garden if you have one.
Encourage biodiversity by planting a medlar tree ! In addition of having delicious home-produced fruits, you will be feeding birds and bees !
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That’s just what I have done! They are called mousmoula (sorry about the spelling) in Greece where I used to eat them. I now have a baby medlar growing from a fruit we bought in the U.K. and planted the seed. The little tree is now in my garden in France. I do not know if it will give fruit over here. It has survived an extremely severe winter when temperatures went down to -15 degrees C.
This is nice !
I didn’t know it could resist low temperatures !
How did you find out about this blog
?
I saw it come up on the WordPress reader and I love medlars and medlar trees, so click!
oh ok
so it was by pure chance !
I thought at the beginning that you had lebanese origins
No, Scottish but your site is very interesting.
thank you
I’d really love to visit Scotland someday