These are seeds of Asimina triloba, a fruit tree native to the eastern US. A pawpaw is a really attractive small tree and the leaves can reach 18" long. They can tolerate a fair amount of shade, being understory trees. Asimina species are also the only hosts for the Zebra Swallowtail - http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/johnson/hort/Butterfly/ZebraSwallowtail.htm.
It's a very tropical looking tree and the fruit have a tropical aroma and taste. The fragrance is powerful and one pawpaw ripening on the counter will fill the kitchen with what I think is the smell of every tropical flavor candy combined. The fruit is soft and squishy like custard. To be honest, I'd rate the fruit's aroma and the tree's appearance as being superior to the actual fruit, but I eat them when I have them. They'd probably make an awesome smoothie, but I didn't think to try that until all the fruit were gone.
These seeds are a cross of Prolific and Overleese, two named varieties. Named varieties should give you earlier fruiting and more reliable quality, so I'd recommend you plan to graft named varieties on the seedlings after a couple years of growth. They graft easily and plenty of people trade scionwood. I think I have six varieties now (I graft more every year) and can provide scionwood when the time comes.
Depending on how many people want some, I'll ship at least six or more seeds. I only started seeds one time and had a germination rate of 5/6 or some such fraction. But that might have been unusual success. They need to stratify in the fridge for the winter or you can plant them out now and let them overwinter. They grow unbelievably slowly for the first few years because all their effort goes into roots. You probably won't see the plant until well into next summer. But they begin to grow fast after maybe 4 years and can fruit a year or two after that. They aren't self-fruitful, so you'll need two trees or a branch of a 2nd variety grafted into one tree.
You can find out more at Kentucky State University's pawpaw website - http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/default.htm.
It's a very tropical looking tree and the fruit have a tropical aroma and taste. The fragrance is powerful and one pawpaw ripening on the counter will fill the kitchen with what I think is the smell of every tropical flavor candy combined. The fruit is soft and squishy like custard. To be honest, I'd rate the fruit's aroma and the tree's appearance as being superior to the actual fruit, but I eat them when I have them. They'd probably make an awesome smoothie, but I didn't think to try that until all the fruit were gone.
These seeds are a cross of Prolific and Overleese, two named varieties. Named varieties should give you earlier fruiting and more reliable quality, so I'd recommend you plan to graft named varieties on the seedlings after a couple years of growth. They graft easily and plenty of people trade scionwood. I think I have six varieties now (I graft more every year) and can provide scionwood when the time comes.
Depending on how many people want some, I'll ship at least six or more seeds. I only started seeds one time and had a germination rate of 5/6 or some such fraction. But that might have been unusual success. They need to stratify in the fridge for the winter or you can plant them out now and let them overwinter. They grow unbelievably slowly for the first few years because all their effort goes into roots. You probably won't see the plant until well into next summer. But they begin to grow fast after maybe 4 years and can fruit a year or two after that. They aren't self-fruitful, so you'll need two trees or a branch of a 2nd variety grafted into one tree.
You can find out more at Kentucky State University's pawpaw website - http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/default.htm.