Pawpaw (Asimina) Triloba Pawpaw 3 Gal.

Pawpaw
Asimina triloba

Grow these rare Appalachian delicacies! Pawpaws are delicious WNC Native small fruit trees that grow delectable green-skinned, yellow-fleshed fruits. Fruit flavor tastes like a creamy, custardy, banana-mango - simply amazing!! Moisture lovers. Need at least 2 plants for pollination. Remarkably few pests or diseases. Host plant to the zebra swallowtail butterfly.

🦋Butterfly host plant: The Zebra Swallowtail butterfly (Eurytides marcellus) relies on the Asimina genus as their host plants. Host plants are critical to butterfly reproduction and survival. If you would like to help keep these gorgeous butterflies from going extinct, plant some Pawpaws today!

💧Moisture lovers - plant them just above wet areas of the garden. In the wild, these can be found growing along waterways, such as the French Broad River. They like to live up on the banks and then dip their taproots into the water table.

🌞Light: Full sun to part sun. They'll have their best flowering and fruiting in full sun (6-8 hours of direct sunlight).

12-20’T.

Zones 5-8, cold hardy down to -20F.

💚Plant Nerd: Pawpaw farmers often grow their trees on steep slopes, and then provide irrigation, so they have the perfect world of ample water and good drainage.

Pawpaw fruit is extremely delicate when fully ripe, which is why it is exceedingly rare to find the fruits for sale, and why most people have never gotten to taste these wonderful fruits.

To see a mature cluster of these, check out the Asheville Botanical Gardens at NCSU.

🪰A little funky - To attract their pollinators (flies and beetles), the flowers smell a bit funky - avoid planting these right next to your front door, if you can help it.