The Thompson-Okanagan region is known for producing a cornucopia of fresh tree fruits, but the kiwi isn’t one of them.

BC is the only place in Canada where kiwifruit is commercially produced but the farms are in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island where temperatures are moderate year-round.

Roughly 6.5 million kiwis are produced in the province each year, mostly of the varietals called Hayward kiwi, golden kiwifruit, and Zespri sungold, according to the province.

While the Thompson-Okanagan is not conducive to growing the big, hairy commercial kiwis due to fluctuating weather extremes, some residents are successfully growing a smaller, hardier, hairless version called issai kiwis.

Kamloops gardener Debra Ryan picked some kiwis off her eight-year-old issai kiwi vine earlier this month.

“These are not regular kiwis, they are small fruits, the size of a thumbnail,” she said. “They are growing on a very twisty vine on the side of the house and they taste tart.”

Ryan eats the tiny kiwis with the skins on, puts them in her smoothies or freezes them for later use.

Known to be hardy and adaptable, issai kiwis are oval fruits that grow on a climbing vine and are ready to picked in early to mid fall, according to ArtKnapp Kamloops, which sells the plants.

Unlike commercial species, the issai kiwi plants don’t require a male pollinator to make fruit and are more resilient to cold weather. It’s considered a low maintenance plant, best pruned in late winter.

Also considered an ornamental, the vines of the plant have dark green leaves and produce fragrant white flowers in late spring. Vines can grow up to 40 feet so the plant should be planted next to a structure it can be trained to grow up on.

The woody vine is used for landscaping by some, but typically is planted in gardens designated for growing edible plants.