CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1493819
34 March 2023 Way down yonder Gardeners who want to grow fruit trees in our region can go with varieties of apple, plum and pear. Others are just as happy in the pawpaw patch. STORY AND PHOTOS BY ROGER MERCER A 1-inch pawpaw flower gradually turns from green to dark purple. Maureen Mercer wonders when the pawpaws will be ready to pick. Pawpaws aren't picked. They're picked up after they fall. FEATURE Huh? Yep, pawpaw trees. e native pawpaw tree is covered in mid- August with fruits that can exceed 1 pound each. e fruits are the largest and sweetest of any fruit tree native to the United States. Because they are native, pawpaws need no spraying, little watering and no protection from late freezes. ey may need a little fertilizer aer they start growing. W hat is the best fruit tree to grow in the Cape Fear region? I have given 40 years of thought to this issue, and the answer is in. Can you guess the result? It's not peach, not apple, not plum. It's pawpaw. I haven't fertilized mine in many years, but I think I will give them a little organic fertilizer this spring. e trees produce small, drooping flowers in early spring. e flowers are green and mature to dark purple. In fall, the drooping, 6-inch leaves turn a rich shade of buttery yellow. e effect in the landscape can be stunning. e tree does have a few drawbacks: • e fruits must be peeled, but the thin peeling comes off easily. • e roots send out runners that come up as new trees. So, plant where you can mow around the tree and you won't have to pull up the deeply rooted runners. • e tree needs a couple of hours of shade each day. Full sun in a hot, sandy, open field will produce poor growth. • It needs water in dry spells that last more than 10 days. • It has large seeds, twice the size of watermelon seeds. You can remove them before eating. I just spit them out. • e richly nutritious fruits are very high in sugars. at's not good for diabetics. I limit my intake to one or two a day. • You do not pick pawpaws. You pick them up. e fruit decides when you can eat it. ere is a nursery rhyme that goes: "Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' them in the basket."