growing native fruit trees: pawpaws and persimmons, with lee reich

APPLE TREES—the fruit everyone thinks they want in their backyards—aren’t easy to grow East of the Rockies, as those who have tried probably noticed when they produced blemished fruit (or required multiple pest-defeating tactics on a strict schedule). And if you’re keeping track, apples aren’t native. Fruit expert Lee Reich offers up two unusual but delicious American native fruit-tree beauties that require little more than to be planted. In print or the latest public-radio podcast, how to grow pawpaws (top photo) and persimmons to perfection.

Lee’s tips for growing pawpaw or American persimmon couldn’t make it sound more appealing, or simple:

“Plant it, water it, and keep weeds and deer away for a couple of years, and then do nothing,” he says. No fancy pruning (like those apples crave), no particular pests–and a big, juicy harvest. More details on how to choose which variety to grow are included in the highlights from the April 29, 2013 edition of my public-radio show and podcast, transcribed below. To hear the entire interview, use the streaming player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

growing american persimmons

THE AMERICAN PERSIMMON is Diospyros virginiana— the dios part of the genus name meaning god. Lee says it has a flavor “like a dried apricot, if you soaked it in water, dipped it in honey, and gave it a dash of spice,” though when unripe you really don’t want to bite into one, he warns.

Lee’s tips:

In Zone 5, an American persimmon can easily be kept to 25 feet, says Lee, but in Maryland, where he used to live, they got to 50 feet. Pruning can keep them in scale if needed. Though D. virginiana is hardy to Zone 4-10, in that cold end of its

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