Persimmon

The bright green leaves change to a bright golden yellow in the fall making this tree highly prized as an ornamental tree. It is very important as a wildlife food. Plant a persimmon at the woodland's edge or in an open field. Its average length is about 4 inches. Persimmon wood is hard and dense. It is one of the first invaders of old fields with the seeds brought in by wild birds and animals. While persimmon grows on many kinds of soils, it attains its greatest size on sandy, clay soil in bottoms. This deciduous tree provides fruit for birds and the buds and leaves are a source of food for deer, opossum, gray and fox squirrel, quail, raccoon, wild turkey, red and gray fox and coyote. Approximately 90% of our Persimmons are females, so purchasing 10 or more should insure fruiting. Our Persimmon trees are unsexed. It is used for golf club heads, handles for files and carving tools, billiard cues, shuttles and mallets. Persimmon trees are well known for its delicious orange fruit and bark which resembles alligator hide. In a good environment and with good care, fruiting will begin in year six and continues for fifty years or more. The leaf is rather leathery and dark green. Its dark-green leaves conceal small fragrant white flowers that are replaced by pale-orange fruits, which ripen after frost. The American Persimmon tree, Diospyrus virginiana, is a native fruit tree with attractive edible fruit. ... details