*OPEN BY APPOINTMENT SATURDAYS ONLY*
East Coast Tropical Fruit Trees is a backyard garden nursery that offers hand selected tropical fruit trees, that have been propagated based on the quality of their fruit. This approach differs from traditional nurseries, where trees are mass produced based on so called popular varieties, but with little else as a selling point. A product of the COVID-19 hard l
ockdown, an avid backyard gardener suddenly had some time on his hands and discovered a passion for propagating tropical fruit trees. It started with Lychees, then Avocados (and more Avocados), then Custard Apples and finally Mangos.
“These are our speciality trees” says owner, Bjorn Hoffmann. He adds: “The Lychees were grown for the sake of growing them, but once I started with the Avocados, I had one idea in mind, to produce not just an average tree for the sake of growing something, but to produce a tree with exceptional fruit.”
Now herein lies the story – the story of a 92-year old woman – affectionately referred to as Argie, who happens to have a Natal Butter Avo tree that produces a fruit that is truly exceptional, deliciously creamy, and abundant year-on-year.
“Argie is my wife’s gran (on her father’s side). We needed to keep it in the family, and then look to share this tree with the world.”
And so, Argie’s Avo was born – as the star of the show. Since then, each time Bjorn comes across an exceptional fruit – he feels compelled to propagate it.
“I had access to so many fruit trees both within my own garden and direct neighbours – but these were just adult trees that flowered and bore some fruit that were mostly average. But then some friends heard about my new-found obsession and convinced me to try the fruits on their trees. And most times they were right, they had some exceptional fruit trees sitting right there in their own backyard! And so, I would collect seed from these trees or else graft from these trees.”
The concept is entirely unique to the nursery industry in South Africa. Cultivating unique varieties of tropical fruit trees that produce exceptional fruit, and then making these available in specific “windows” – based on season – in small numbers, direct to the public. Bjorn concludes his story by saying: “What we in KwaZulu-Natal have experienced in the past few years, is that food security is important. Being able to save money by producing your own food is the smart thing to do. If you can produce enough to share with friends and family – that’s great! To produce enough to sell as a side-hustle in season – that’s great too! It just makes sense to look at the space you have and use what’s available to produce food. Summer simply is not summer without the tropical fruit tress we have come to love! And our winters are simply not winter without Argie’s Avo”
