I would love an article on peaches, especially if you can dig up any info on the crop being taken up by indigenous tribes long before settlers arrived in some parts. I heard they planted huge orchards, dried the fruit of the new arrival just like native species, but a native insect adapted to the new peach groves and ruined them before long.
Awesome Shane! I have peaches planned for a future edition. Great to have an idea of what folks in the audience find interesting. I’ll be sure to include some info about that!
I love this! Sign me up for persimmon scotch bonnet barbecue!! And the crème brûlée for dessert. 🤤 This got me to thinking how lovely persimmon wood floors would be in a room. Also, ‘puckery’ is a fun word haha.
Fantastic content! I have one persimmon tree in my orchard, but I've never gotten a persimmon off of it. I think that I must be too far north. My husband just loved planting exotic trees, which in Oklahoma includes persimmon and Paw Paw.
Thank you Alexis! If it’s an American persimmon, and you know it’s a female, it likely needs a pollinator if there aren’t other male persimmon trees close.
Pawpaws and persimmon are native to my neck of the woods but I’d imagine they feel quite exotic in Oklahoma.
Are there particular hardy cultivars, or do the zone 4 ratings apply across the spectrum for D. virginiana? I'm a long way north of Kentucky and while the numbers are getting more forgiving here - by the books, I'm 6A but in practice I can easily foresee a -15 F or -20 F snap here.
I just planted two persimmon trees this fall along with four apple trees on our property close to the river. We already have persimmon, black walnut(tons of them) hedge apple, and many other varieties.
I am in Kentucky also and would love to learn more about our native trees.
I planted a couple of Kentucky coffee trees that someone gave me but they did not survive.
Hey Stephanie! That’s great that you’re planting so many fruit trees and looking to plant more native tree species. We need more people with your mindset.
I’ve got a few more native trees queued up for future weeks, but for right now I have updated the above persimmon post with a directory of all my previous posts about the other plants that I will be growing for the 2025 season in my backyard nursery.
I hope you find them useful!
I have yet to have much success growing Kentucky coffee tree so sadly I don’t have many notes to share.
Excellent profile of a wonderful tree fruit! I frequently post about the joys of persimmons and, like you, I do enjoy the native varieties. I also find the numerous cultivars to be a wonderful eating experience. Nikita's Gift is proof of a loving God, friend. As are Fire Crystal, Roseanka, and Giombo. As for the crunchy Asian types, I'm all about the Jiro--Makaewa Jiro being at the top of that list. Tam-Kam is also a banger.
I haven’t quite found a way that I enjoy the crunchy cultivars. I did find quite a few hybrid cultivars while on my excursion out at Cliffs place that were quite tasty.
It could’ve been a bad year, but the flavor was seemingly absent in a lot of the Asian cultivars I had this season.
I’m quite fond of the caramel butterscotch tones that are often present in the American varieties and I just haven’t been able to find that flavor in an anything other than the American types but the search continues!
Yeah, I am way more interested in the astringents than the Asian cultivars. A good ripe Makaewa Jiro (I'm butchering the spelling) is nice, tho. But the most flavourful Asian cultivar is still less tasty than a good ripe native.
That’s what I’m after! I have a friend that has a tree nearby and it tastes spot on a citrus butterscotch candy. Like orange marmalade or something with butterscotch. I can’t eat them fast enough when the tree is dropping. But they’re no bigger than a nickel.
If a plant breeder in the future could get the flavor from that tree in a fruit the size of the Asian/hybrid cultivars they’d make a whole dollar. I almost guarantee it.
I would love an article on peaches, especially if you can dig up any info on the crop being taken up by indigenous tribes long before settlers arrived in some parts. I heard they planted huge orchards, dried the fruit of the new arrival just like native species, but a native insect adapted to the new peach groves and ruined them before long.
Awesome Shane! I have peaches planned for a future edition. Great to have an idea of what folks in the audience find interesting. I’ll be sure to include some info about that!
Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. 🙏
I love this! Sign me up for persimmon scotch bonnet barbecue!! And the crème brûlée for dessert. 🤤 This got me to thinking how lovely persimmon wood floors would be in a room. Also, ‘puckery’ is a fun word haha.
I’d like to hear about peaches soon. 🍑😁
Thanks for the input babe! I’ll get right on that. 😉
Fantastic content! I have one persimmon tree in my orchard, but I've never gotten a persimmon off of it. I think that I must be too far north. My husband just loved planting exotic trees, which in Oklahoma includes persimmon and Paw Paw.
Thank you Alexis! If it’s an American persimmon, and you know it’s a female, it likely needs a pollinator if there aren’t other male persimmon trees close.
Pawpaws and persimmon are native to my neck of the woods but I’d imagine they feel quite exotic in Oklahoma.
Thanks again I appreciate it. 🙏
Thanks! That is probably the issue! Maybe I'll put in another one next year!
Are there particular hardy cultivars, or do the zone 4 ratings apply across the spectrum for D. virginiana? I'm a long way north of Kentucky and while the numbers are getting more forgiving here - by the books, I'm 6A but in practice I can easily foresee a -15 F or -20 F snap here.
Let me reach out to a friend who grows persimmon commercially and get back to you.
He had quite a few persimmon cultivars planted and mature during the polar vortex a few years back.
His notes would allow me to find out which cultivars were able to perform the best/survive that season.
I’ll get back with you as soon as I hear back from him.
I just planted two persimmon trees this fall along with four apple trees on our property close to the river. We already have persimmon, black walnut(tons of them) hedge apple, and many other varieties.
I am in Kentucky also and would love to learn more about our native trees.
I planted a couple of Kentucky coffee trees that someone gave me but they did not survive.
Hey Stephanie! That’s great that you’re planting so many fruit trees and looking to plant more native tree species. We need more people with your mindset.
I’ve got a few more native trees queued up for future weeks, but for right now I have updated the above persimmon post with a directory of all my previous posts about the other plants that I will be growing for the 2025 season in my backyard nursery.
I hope you find them useful!
I have yet to have much success growing Kentucky coffee tree so sadly I don’t have many notes to share.
Thanks for stopping by. 🙏
Excellent profile of a wonderful tree fruit! I frequently post about the joys of persimmons and, like you, I do enjoy the native varieties. I also find the numerous cultivars to be a wonderful eating experience. Nikita's Gift is proof of a loving God, friend. As are Fire Crystal, Roseanka, and Giombo. As for the crunchy Asian types, I'm all about the Jiro--Makaewa Jiro being at the top of that list. Tam-Kam is also a banger.
Yes!! PERSIMMONS!!
I haven’t quite found a way that I enjoy the crunchy cultivars. I did find quite a few hybrid cultivars while on my excursion out at Cliffs place that were quite tasty.
It could’ve been a bad year, but the flavor was seemingly absent in a lot of the Asian cultivars I had this season.
I’m quite fond of the caramel butterscotch tones that are often present in the American varieties and I just haven’t been able to find that flavor in an anything other than the American types but the search continues!
That'd be a hard yes, sir. We need to connect irl. Much simpatico.
Send me a message and we can exchange info and set up a chat!
Well I'm really interested in that seedling stock! Sounds like a tasty native.
Are sure thats not a Nikita's? That flavour profile sounds really close.
Yeah I’m certain. It’s not grafted and the fruit is substantially smaller. That makes me interested in planting Nikita’s though. Dang it!! 😅
Yeah, I am way more interested in the astringents than the Asian cultivars. A good ripe Makaewa Jiro (I'm butchering the spelling) is nice, tho. But the most flavourful Asian cultivar is still less tasty than a good ripe native.
That’s what I’m after! I have a friend that has a tree nearby and it tastes spot on a citrus butterscotch candy. Like orange marmalade or something with butterscotch. I can’t eat them fast enough when the tree is dropping. But they’re no bigger than a nickel.
If a plant breeder in the future could get the flavor from that tree in a fruit the size of the Asian/hybrid cultivars they’d make a whole dollar. I almost guarantee it.
I can send seed next year/scion wood, if interested.
Fantastic article!
Excellent description of it tasting like marmalade.
I like the idea to add persimmons to venison sausage.