PlantFiles: Pawpaw
Asimina triloba 'Shenandoah'

We planted 2 pawpaws about 8 years ago, and watched anxiously while they grew (and sent off many sucker plants).
Every year my husband threatened to cut it down because no blossoms and no fruits. I read up on it and found it takes about 7 years to blossom. THIS YEAR THEY DID!

Planted one fairly nearby under a 2nd 100 year old sugar maple--but out at the edge of maple's leaf circle. Both got good shade while young. 2nd one gets good afternoon sun as well.

I hand-pollinated both --- some pollen from the neighbor tree.
To be sure I also went to Swarthmore College Arboretum (Swarthmore, PA) and took pollen from its trees with q-tip and paint brush into a paper cup, then brushed it on.

NOW today (June 30) I count 15 pawpaw fruits forming on the 2nd tree-- about the size of a plum! Very exciting--watching them grow.

BIG MISTAKE -- thinking they would pollinate from Swartmore, we recently CUT DOWN the first pawpaw beause it sent up so many pesty suckers. Now, today, I see one fruit growing WAY UP in the 2nd tree--much higher than I could have hand-pollinated it. DUH.

"Selected by R. Neal Peterson as a seedling of Overleese. Large fruit with few seeds (approx 7% by weight). Flavor is refreshing and refined, agreeably mild and moderately sweet, with a pleasant, long-lingering aftertaste. Texture resembles a firm custard, firmer than wild pawpaws. Ripens in September in Kentucky. Patented 2004; propagation restrictions apply."