I’ve been excited about this unusual fruit tree ever since I first got into gardening. I learned about it first from the amazing book by Lee Reich Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden. It’s largest native fruit in North America, which while not the greatest of accomplishments- coming from the land of blueberries, cranberries, and other minute species- it’s still pretty cool. It’s also the exclusive host of the Zerba Swallowtail butterfly. Who is, as you can see, a very attractive fellow.
The fruit is supposed to taste like a mix of custard and banana. But then I wouldn’t know about that, would I?
After hearing about it, I immediately rushed out and bought three named varieties from an awesome, little known nursery in Tennessee called Hidden Springs Nursery. While the plants were very healthy, one didn’t transplant well, as is common for these dudes. One died a mysterious death , and the other got run over by a large truck (don’t ask).
Well, according to Albert Einstein, who is generally thought as a guy who knew what he was talking about, ”Insanity: is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I don’t know if or how this applies to me, but after those disappointing failures I obtained some seed through an online trade. They all germinated, and I transplanted them right next to the old ones, only to see the same sorts of things happen. I now have three Pawpaws and they all suck. Would you like to see a picture of one of my thriving three year old trees?
Six inches in three years. So yeah. At least it has leaves on it now, which wasn’t the case a few months ago.
VeggieGardeningtips.com has a great article on growing PawPaws that made me want to weep this morning. If you haven’t added this amazing site to your RSS reader yet, then you should. You could add me while you’re at it, by the way 
Well, insanity is a hard habit to break. I think I determined that I’m going to go ahead an get a couple more trees this year.
Your paw paw tree actually looks very healthy and attractive to me despite its size. Yes, six inches of growth in three years would be somewhat disappointing. I wish you could see some of the trees that we were harvesting last weekend, but then you would weep for sure!
They were very beautiful trees, loaded with fruit, and one was taller than the house that it was growing next to. But it had to be well over 25 years old. We also have small groves of paw paws growing wild in some of the state parks here in PA. Good luck with your paw paws.
Love your Zerba Swallowtail Butterfly. I am a Monarch Butterfly fan. I have updates on my blog of their migration from Ontario to Mexico where they winter.
Kenny,
I would love to see some mature trees. I’ve never seen one in person, just in pictures. They are supposed to grow wild here, but just about every sqaure inch of this area has been logged several times, and since Pawpaw is an understory tree they quickly vanished. I really hope my pictured tree takes off a little this fall, I put a log on either side of it (as you can see in the pic) so people would freakin stop stepping on it.
plantbuddy,
I love monarchs too. Unfortunately we don’t get them often here. Every now and then I’ll see one. I remember for a school project back in 5th grade or so we watched them form into butterflies from caterpillars. I’ll never forgot how beautiful it was.
I have loved pawpaws ever since I touched one in Mast arboretum in Nacogdoches and it fell off in my hand (I swear I didn’t pick it). I have been planning to plant several that I grew from seed but I didn’t know they don’t transplant well. Now I will worry about them! Good luck with yours. A good pawpaw is so delicious.