Can you identify mystery climber?

Maureen Hardcastle, by Facebook

Stefan says: You have what you describe as a very healthy climber that extraordinarily was labelled ‘Perennial Nemesia’, although someone said it was a kiwi fruit. That someone was correct. The bright red colour of the young shoots and the soft bristles are characteristic. You tell me it hasn’t flowered yet, but if it did, you ask how you should protect the fruit.

This begs a number of questions, depending on the sex of your kiwi. The older varieties have the sexes on different plants, so if yours is female, like the popular ‘Hayward’, it will need a male plant, such as ‘Tormuri’, or ‘Matua’ to pollinate it.

If it’s male, it needs a girlfriend. There are now some self-fertile kinds such as ‘Jenny’. The female and self-fertile varieties have a small swelling at the base of the flowers but, of course, until yours flowers, there’s no knowing.

There’s no way of telling if your kiwi fruit is male or female until it flowers