Hang In There, Kiwi!

Day 302: I may be counting my chickens before they're hatched, but nine berries on my hardy kiwi "Issai" have survived two hot spells. The plant is supposedly self-fertile. Last year, it was loaded with berries when a week of 100-degree temperatures caused the fruit to drop (along with the ripe currants and gooseberries, which I managed to salvage). It didn't flower as heavily this year for some reason, although it did so at a better time with respect to available pollinators. I thought I'd done a fairly thorough inventory, and came up with a count of eight berries. One disappeared a few days ago, I think carried off by a young Towhee who had already demonstrated an unusual taste for gooseberries, and while I was examining the ground to see if perhaps it had simply fallen from the vine, another fruit buried deeply within the foliage caught my eye. That discovery prompted another search which yielded up a second hidden berry. I've marked each group with a green ribbon so that I can find them. I hope that doesn't make it easier for the Towhee as well. The mature fruits of this variety will be grape-sized and smooth, and just as flavourful as the fuzzy big kiwis you find in grocery stores.