Two Cold-Hardy Avocados That Can Take the Frost

Today we look at a fantastic "Fantastic" avocado and a "Joey," and we hear just how many avocados one of these young trees bore.
Dave Taylor of Taylor Garden Nursery in Sparr, Florida, talks about his two excellent cold-hardy avocado trees. The "Fantastic" variety bore a huge amount of fruit for him and is blooming again - and the "Joey" is coming up as well, looking like it will also be very productive.
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[@jewelciappio2878]

I love how he love his plants like they are people. Also, David said “anise” is the smell of cold hearty avocados. For the layman that means it smells like licorice.

[@aaronb4493]

I grew several Avocados from seed from Hass Avocados in north central Florida. They all survived the winter with minor damage to the new growth from freezes down to the mid 20s. The leaves have that anise scent too. The sticker on the avocados showed they were grown in Mexico. The trees have survived their first year and are five feet tall and growing. Not bad! Looking forward to blooms.

[@NMW80]

That’s awesome. How are your avocado trees going now? I have germinated a few myself from hass seeds, planning to grow them in pots in a greenhouse. I live in cool temperate zone in Australia. I am buying a bacon avo tree too which are cold tolerant.

[@aaronb4493]

Still growing. Stick with the cold tolerant varieties.

[@NMW80]

Aaron B cool, yep I got myself a bacon avo tree and also growing some gem and hass seedlings just as an experiment. I live in cool temperate zone in Australia so I don’t know how the seedlings will go but I am going to put them in a hot house in large pots if I have to.

[@bolengerin]

How old were they when you planted them outside? Use protection during winter?

[@rockhound7245]

Still makin avocados?

[@ZaatarGardens]

That dog jump was epic

[@JPBennett]

I just picked up Push the Zone, and Avacados are at the top of my wishlist. Great timing!

[@georgestancliffe9204]

Hi David, I love your videos. I live in Vancouver, Canada. There are a few of us in Western Canada who are trying to grow cold-hardy Avocado trees OUTSIDE. Unfortunately, I can't find anyone who is willing to ship us any "Fantastic" or "Joey" or "Duke" Avocado trees from the USA (lots of red tape, I presume). So, the next best thing is to CREATE our own Canadian variety by simply planting Avocado seeds and then transplanting them outside after they have grown a year or so indoors. Then, if they survive, they qualify! Each Avocado seed has its own unique DNA, so eventually we'll come up with something that works. Right now, out of the 3 Avocado trees that I planted outside this spring/summer, one died when we had a cold freeze of -3°C (26°F) in late October. Of the 2 trees remaining, one is barely surviving, and may not live to see Spring. But the 3rd one seems to be taking the cold very well. So far, my experiment seems to be doing well. For more details, I wrote an article detailing this Canadian Avocado project on Medium.com not too long ago. It's entitled "The BC Avocado Project."

[@davidthegood]

Very cool- thank you.

[@RJBond121]

So, any updates?

[@donnamcdonald3709]

Joey and Fantastic are the two cold hardy avocados I was planning to buy. Thanks for the helpful advice!!! :)

[@1cleandude]

I lost a Fantastic and a Joey this past February at 15 degrees in south Louisiana! They protected but young trees.

[@BlakesNaturelife]

Awesome video! Last week I just bought me a fantastic Avocado variety. I can’t wait for it to make fruit.

[@naplescajun]

Yes! This was "fantastic"--we are adding to our orchard in north Florida! Love the hat-hahaha

[@LaHortetadeBussy]

Good idea friend.

[@hughbrackett343]

Man, you had my hopes up (Zone 7b). I guess cold tolarant and freeze proof are two different things.

[@NS-pf2zc]

Me too, Hugh!

[@hughbrackett343]

@@NS-pf2zc we can apparently grow loquat if we can keep them from blooming too soon. I was reading about a different tree and it was mentioned that it could be planted with a northern exposure to delay blooming. I wonder if that word work with loquat. Sort of the opposite of pushing the zone, make the tree think it's still too cold.

[@gelwood99]

I am also wishing to grow avocado in NC zone 7a/b! No such luck. I play with the idea of growing in a big pot and keeping it pruned to be able to handle it, I sure love to eat avocados!

[@hughbrackett343]

@@gelwood99 Well I do have a palm in a half whiskey barrel that I bring in every year. Also hibiscus that's in about a 15 gal pot. So shuffling an avacado around wouldn't be out of the norm.

[@NS-pf2zc]

@@hughbrackett343 I was wondering about that when he mentioned it on one of the livestreams. I'm always up for a new fruit tree!

[@irisocton6386]

Great info, thanks! Great mentor, too, lucky you!

[@robertx.9772]

I am so glad the variety that I have is same, fantastic.

[@davidthegood]

Very good!

[@NS-pf2zc]

Hahaha. I wish I had seen that exchange with the sniffing of leaves! Looks like I'm going to have to build a leanto greenhouse on the south side of our house (if we ever get it built) so I can grow avocado! That should take me 2-3 zones south, yeah?!

[@rodnyroig347]

Also I got two of those in Pensacola fl

[@Kinjo2008]

I'm on Google searching cold hardy avocados right now and this video drops. Very creepy David, very creepy sir. 😆

[@rheagriffiths3838]

Not a complete endorsement but I bought two from Fast Growing Trees on line - one for my home in Jacksonville and the other in a Dallas suburb. This year there were legit freezes in both locations abd both trees did very well. Oddly the Dallas tree bloomed last month but the Jacksonville tree will bloom later on the year. We have had them about four years and kept them in containers. The Jax one went in the ground last fall because it was just too big and ai didnt want to hold it back. It set fruit last year (a few) and the Dallas tree is set to do VERY well this year. They don't vtell you the actual variety but they can withstand temperatures as low as 29 degrees. Everyone should have their own avocado trees.

[@Kinjo2008]

@@rheagriffiths3838 Great info and experience. Thank you for sharing that. Wish I knew the variety because I also wanted to use the leaves for tea and medicinally. I understand the mexicola is the only one safe for consumption. Perhaps I will contact them and ask more info on their varieties.

[@johnchase4408]

Same here. Was searching Google and thus popped up when I went into KZbin. Creepy indeed.

[@sharonslife6153]

Nice, went out and purchase a Fantastic avocado. Thanks

[@allanturpin2023]

Good stuff.

[@reneeward6003]

So glad I met you in Gainesville last month. Thanks for posting this video. Seems nobody has any info on growing Fantastic in North Florida. They tend to think it doesn't do as well as the other cold hardy avocado's. Looks like it does better. I'm glad, I have 2 Fantastic waiting to be planted.

[@davidthegood]

That is great. I like that Dave was growing a variety I hadn't tried myself. One site said Fantastic was more cold-hardy than most.

[@reneeward6003]

Most sites say Fantastic is the most cold hardy. Oliver Moore said he didn't think it was as cold hardy as the rest, but he has not grown it. After seeing the size of this tree, it has me excited. I was also told that avocado's need shade for the first few years, but seeing your video, Dave has them in mostly sun. It's good to see how different people grow the same plants. Thanks for all your doing David The Good.!!

[@raphlvlogs271]

2:00 what caused that background noise?

[@ricardocalles140]

The most cold-tolerant variety is Brazos Belle which can be grown in Zone 8. Sorry, there are no avocado varieties grown in the ground unprotected that can survive in Zone 7A/7B.

[@Badboyifier]

you can in a low cost sunken greenhouse

[@JoseGonzales-ul9sv]

How do you know how many do you have what's the lowest they can take?

[@HansQuistorff]

Will the day length make a difference? I am at 47 degrees north.

[@archenema6792]

Tree sniffing could be considered a form of divination.

[@Austinandpup]

Nice. Hope the one I started from seed is cold hardy. Who's niece do the leaves smell like?

[@hughbrackett343]

Ann's niece.

[@davidthegood]

Ask Joe Biden.

[@Austinandpup]

@@davidthegood lol that's what I was fishing for.

[@naplescajun]

LOL

[@LadyGoza]

How far away from the house foundation can these trees be planted?

[@lockergr]

Cold hardy is FL and Georgia? I thought that there were ones that could grow in places like NC or SC.

[@SSanf]

if you can get them to grow in the back yard in Kentucky, I am all over that.

[@raphlvlogs271]

are their fruits common on the market?

[@bavin1]

I am from India can you give me plants cold climates?

[@anitapaulsen3282]

Very excited to get one. Can it handle being near a black walnut tree?

[@matthewkizziahcuzia...gott9632]

Just how cold hardy are those avocados? Washington hardy?

[@seish2424]

Can any variety of avocado grow in Western Oregon?

[@awanderingtroll8724]

This nursery is now permanently closed where do I find these avocados?

[@davidthegood]

They are often available in nurseries that sell fruit trees.

[@deborahmorgan8129]

Can we get the info on Pumkins nursery. I can't seem to find it and I live in North Fl

[@davidthegood]

I think it's "Hopkins"

[@terrywilson8287]

Google Hopkins Nursery and check their Events List. They sell retail at garden shows, otherwise they are wholesale only. You could contact them and see if they stock retail nurseries near you. Or local nurseries can often special order any variety you want.

[@CLOUDBURST99]

I always thought dogs die from eating avocados. And he says in the video the dog took a lot of them. What's the truth about the toxicity for canines?

[@davidthegood]

I don't know. I am not a dog owner.

[@boznick7409]

the toxin is in the skin and seed, the flesh is fine

[@c.j.rogers2422]

@@boznick7409 So, as long as the dog scooped out the flesh for guacamole, all is good.

[@thehomeplatespecial597]

my cat always has to lick the avocado out of the skin and from around the seed. He is 19 years old.

[@realchange4842]

My bunnies and dogs have been eating whole avocados for years and they are healthy as ever

[@seanfaiers5071]

Are you down under right now ?

[@brendashults144]

How quickly do avocado trees grow?

[@davidthegood]

A few feet per year under good conditions.

[@wadecollier4757]

It smelled like "neem"? I couldn't hear.

[@jpbaje]

sounded like anise

[@billybass6419]

I grew and babied a haas for about two years, got it up to about 4' tall and transplanted it into the yard. It froze to death in about three weeks. I don't think it was a "fantastic."

[@davidthegood]

No!