Pawpaws

The pawpaw tree is a small native tree that produces the largest fruit of any that is native to North America. It is now very rare in the wild here in New Jersey, but it is such a valuable plant that we should have more of it.

About twenty years ago my husband ordered four seedling pawpaw trees from a garden catalog and planted them near the edge of our woods. Only two of them survived (turns out that's typical), but they are now mature and they bear fruit every fall. I like the fruit so much that I plant more little pawpaw trees every year (first photo).

The fruit is the most obvious great feature of the pawpaw tree (second photo). Pawpaw fruit was a favorite of the Native Americans. It is approximately fist-sized, but full of large seeds, so we eat it with a spoon. It is sweet and custardy, with a flavor similar to banana and mango. There are some recipes using pawpaws, but I haven't tried any. On the internet it is possible to order pawpaw jam and some other products, and sometimes a farmer's market or specialty store in this area will sell the fresh fruit for a few weeks in the fall.

Some other valuable aspects of pawpaw trees are that they grow in shade or partial shade, though they will grow faster with a bit more sun. They grow well next to black walnut trees. They like moist or average soil, not dry or swampy. And they are gloriously deer-proof, after the first season. All you have to do is protect the trunks against buck rubbing.

If you are worried about global warming, pawpaw trees are native all the way to northern Florida, so climate change holds no dangers for them. They are attractive trees, with dark red flowers in spring and leaves up to a foot long that turn yellow in fall (third photo). Pawpaw trees average about 25 feet tall and have a pyramidal shape.

Pawpaw trees are host plant to the caterpillar of the beautiful zebra swallowtail butterfly. That butterfly is not often found in New Jersey, but maybe if we plant enough pawpaw trees its numbers will increase.

The pawpaw tree has some challenges for its owners, though. You need two trees that are not clones to produce fruit. The trees send up root sprouts, a mixed blessing that may be controlled by mowing, though we intend to keep every one of ours. We have six small trees from root sprouts so far, the largest of which flowered for the first time this year. The pawpaw tree has a long, fragile taproot, so they should ideally be planted as small seedlings, container-grown. If you want pawpaw trees, try to find a nursery that offers seedlings grown from seeds from pawpaws native to New Jersey.

The last pawpaw fell off our tree a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we missed it; the fruits are delicious, and we are always competing with the animals to see who gets them first!