Description

Hut 3 The pawpaw is a patch-forming (clonal) understory tree with large, simple leaves. Flowers are a brick red color, and consist of 3 sepals, 3 outer petals and 3 inner petals. Fertilized flowers produce the largest edible fruit native to North America. Pawpaw flowers are perfect, in that they have both male and female reproduction parts, but they are not self-pollinating. These self-incompatible fowers require cross pollination from another unrelated pawpaw tree. Our pawpaws are seed grown, so each of our trees can cross pollinate another tree within our inventory. Cool fact:  Although pawpaws frequently grow in clusters (think pawpaw patch), the trees in a patch are often genetically identical and connected underground by roots (and thus, in biological terms, are a single plant). Attracts birds and butterflies. Larval host to zebra swallowtail butterfly and pawpaw sphinx moth. Naturally found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottom-land and hilly upland habitat – that’s the habitat in which they are happy! Height: 15-30 ft. Spread: 15-30 ft. Family: Annonaceae Bloom time: April to May Sun: full sun to part shade Water: medium to wet Rain Garden According to Rutgers University, Asimina is “rarely damaged” by deer. photo credit: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova