Kiwi in Minnesota: It’s possible

Fruit growers at the University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center want to bring kiwifruit to the backyards of Minnesotans.

Bob Guthrie, a volunteer curator at the center, is the driving force behind the kiwi project, Steve McNamara , a scientist in the Woody Landscape Plant Breeding and Genetics program, told The Minnesota Daily.

There are about 80 different species of kiwifruit, with significant variations. The kiwis Guthrie works with have many different colors of flesh, including green, yellow, orange, red and purple. Arguta , polygama and kolomikta are the three most cold-hardy species, but kolomikta is by far the hardiest, Guthrie said. All three could be grown safely in the Twin Cities area most winters.