I can't believe it. I went to my parents' house to look at a couple of volunteer peach trees that are growing on their property. A deep-red/burgundy flower caught my eye.
About 1.5 years ago, I really started getting into edible gardening. I found out that pawpaws, asimina triloba, were not just some fantasy fruits in a song. They actually exist and are native to the southeast US. Well, I ordered two pawpaw plants from Gurneys. They were small when I got them, and they haven't grown much in the year that I've had them.
Imagine my surprise when I looked around my parents' backyard and spied not just one, but a whole patch of pawpaw trees. I don't know how long they've been there, but I don't recall seeing them when I was a little girl about 20 years ago. Some are of fruit-baring age, so they had to have been there for at least 8 to 10 years. My dad said that he remembers seeing the red flowers but never has seen any fruit. If you look closely, you can see a flower hanging in front of the large limb. There are many more flowers, but they are so spread apart and high up that my cheap camera won't photograph them clearly.
If you look at the picture, there is a cluster of 3 trees just right of center. The right-most and thinnest of the trio, the one towering above the edge of the building, is a pawpaw - the largest pawpaw and probably the father of all the offshoots. The next two trees on the left are not worth mentioning. If you look to the left of the largest tree in the trio, you will see two tall, skinny twin trees in the background. Those are pawpaws too. And there are many more. It is just hard to photograph them all.
Well, I got a shovel and started to dig immediately. I removed 4 small trees and the dirt surrounding them. I am going to attempt to plant them on my property. My research shows that transplanting pawpaws is generally not successful, so I hope they all make it. These plants should cross-pollinate nicely with the two trees I purchased from Gurneys if they ever get larger. I started thinking about what my dad said about never seeing any fruit. My research indicates that he needs a genetically different pawpaw tree to cross-pollinate with his existing pawpaws. You see, if all those little trees are root shoots from the larger tree then they are all clones and incapable of pollinating each other. I just ordered two more pawpaw trees from Hartmann's Plant Company. I plan on planting one in my parents' backyard and the other in my yard. If my trees ever start producing, I'm going to have more pawpaws than I know what to do with, not to mention the pawpaws in my parents yard once they get a pollinator.
I wish you good luck with growing the pawpaws. You'll love them once you get a chance to actually eat one. They have 4 largish brown seeds inside, but the rest is this smooth, custardy flesh that tastes like a perfect cross between banana and mango. Makes wonderful jelly or jam!
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