Kim,

I grew up in Z3 Wisconsin, and a neighbor bought 6 plants many years ago and planted them on the south side of a very large barn. This was before anybody in the area even KNEW what a kiwi was, let alone had tried to grow them. They did absolutely nothing for the first several years but die back to the ground each winter and two of them died, but eventually she did get a few fruits on one of the vines. They set fruit so late in the season, however, that they never ripened enough to be edible.

I say this to be encouraging--my neighbor was a pioneer at growing kiwis way back then, at least in our area, and the fact that she even had a few fruit I thought was pretty great. I'm sure there are better, more cold-hardy varieties available now than what she had way back then, and probably a few techniques that might help with fruit set and ripening.

Good luck with the kiwis.

Kate