Partial shade; appreciates some protection from western summer sun. Nearly evergreen, with long, large leaves. Fragrant flowers and sweet, bountiful orange plums during mild winters.
Loquat is low-maintenance and rarely requires much training other than cleaning up its litter. Excellent for screening, especially on the east side of a house or a live oak. With its big evergreen leaves it makes a useful and drought-hardy substitute for ligustrum and some of the smaller magnolias.
It attracts bees and birds and tends to naturalize (reseed) and spread into alleyways and native areas.
Expect heavy litter when fruit is falling. With many birds to distribute its seeds, loquat tends to spread in alleyways and sometimes even into natural areas. Although loquat is normally strongly evergreen, even mature specimens can be very heavily damaged in severe freezes below 18F. Recovery after the extreme winter of 2021 was hit-or-miss for many loquats.
