Should we give a boost to the neglected pawpaw, Asimina triloba?
Because we see it in our woodland areas from time to time
and perhaps because it is essentially a wildling here, we pay
little attention to the pawpaw. Would you believe the fine state
of Ohio recently declared the pawpaw its “official state fruit”.
In a recent news story I read that this neglected fruit has its
own ‘Johnny Appleseed,’ a college teacher in the Midwest who
surreptitiously sows pawpaw seeds hither and yon. He was quoted
as saying he wished us to create more than we consume- green the
world.
Native
to this area, the pawpaw was carried to the Midwest by Indian
tribes as they followed game westward. It is the only temperate
zone member of the tropical Annona family. Pawpaw, sometimes
written paw paw or papaw, is a small, large leaf tree, sometimes
as tall as twenty feet and as wide, forming a suckering thicket
or copse as an understory in the woods. However, these trees can
be planted in the open in well-drained moist soil as a
decorative addition to the landscape.
If you
wish to transplant a seedling tree to your lawn, they have to be
found very young. You can identify the pawpaw seedling by the
two leaves, drooping like a hound dog’s ears, hanging at the top
of the naked stem. These seedlings grow long taproots and once
those taproots grab hold they will not resettle in your front
lawn. All of this makes purchasing them from a specialist a fine
idea. One specialist is
www.petersonpawpaws.com, a nursery in West Virginia. Neal
Peterson was a young geneticist in the mid-seventies when he
rediscovered this delicious fruit.
Another source is Edible Landscaping Nursery
in Afton, Virginia that features ‘Mango’, ‘Select’, and ‘Davis’
varieties. These choices have been selected over time for their
fine fruits, but they are not self-fertile so two plants are
needed for pollination. If you search, you may find newer
varieties that are self-fertile. When pawpaws are planted in a
lawn and you prefer a single tree rather than a small grove, the
suckers can easily be controlled by mowing. Not fussy as to soil
and unbothered by pests or diseases a pawpaw will begin bearing
in six to eight years. The fruit ripens in late summer to fall
as it turns a faint yellow green. If picked too soon they are
astringent: fully ripe they are pleasantly aromatic with sweet
custard-like flesh tasting similar to banana, mango, vanilla or
pineapple?
As further enticement to try this delicious
fruit, chilled pawpaw is said to have been George Washington’s
favorite dessert. If you are wondering if this fruit is so
delectable why do you not see it in stores, the answer is that
it does not ship well. Scientists are working to correct that
failing! At the Kentucky State University there is a twenty-year
research program with the goal of developing pawpaw as a
marketable commodity. Kentucky farmers need an alternative to
growing tobacco.
Pawpaws' flower in the spring and the
three-part brown and violet blooms, which appear before the
leaves, are pungently fragrant. If pollinated they are followed
by clusters of curved banana-like fruit. That appearance has
inspired common names, i.e. poor man’s banana, Kansas banana,
Missouri banana. One garden book suggests that since the flowers
are pollinated by the carrion-seeking blow-fly, it would help to
hang scraps of old meat in mesh bags in the flowering branches-
hmmm.
A further note: the leaves are aspen-yellow
in the fall and the zebra swallowtail butterfly chooses this
species only to hatch their young.
A WARNING: It is
extremely important to read the label on anything you purchase
to apply in, on, or around your property. The latest alarm has
been attached to something as common as mulch. A product used as
mulch and made from the leftover material in processing
chocolate from cocoa beans is cocoa mulch sold in garden supply
stores. This product may contain theobromine, the chemical
present in cocoa bean shells. If theobromine is in the mulch, it
may be lethal to dogs and cats. Cats are not likely to sample it
but as you know, most dogs will eat anything that doesn’t bite
back. As you know, there is always difficulty in verifying
information, but it is always wise to be cautious when untested
items appear in the marketplace.
A seed
story: Master Gardener Debbie Bartok-Newton is sharing this
experience with Asian lily seeds: “I collected the dried seed
pods and a few weeks ago I scattered the seeds on some composted
potting soil in a cardboard box, watered with seaweed fertilizer
(for seed germination) and covered in plastic wrap. I now have a
box full of green stems in my living room sunny window and I am
so excited. I’ll plant the whole box in the spring but I expect
it will take several years before they are blooming size.” Way
to go Debbie!