It may be hard to imagine during these coolish springtime days, but intense summer sunshine is right around the corner. If you’re considering adding a shade tree to your garden to cool things off in August, then perhaps you should consider the lovely persimmon tree.
The persimmon, a deciduous tree that grows 25’ tall and wide, offers distinctive year-round pleasure. In spring, its limey green new growth sprouts quickly and consistently. Come summer, its ovate leaves have become leathery, darker green, and up to 4” wide by 7” long, providing deep, welcomed shade and an almost tropical appearance. By autumn, the leaves have turned brilliant crimson, orange, and yellow, and provide the proverbial crunch crunch crunch underfoot. Finally, in the depth of winter, the persimmon tree is almost a comical sight, with shiny orange baseballs dangling from leafless branches—a cheery contrast to a gray December day.
And besides, how could a fruit tree possibly be bad whose genus, Diospyros, means “fruit of the Gods?”
In addition to its striking seasonal attributes, the persimmon fruit is a healthy addition to any diet, boasting a high potassium content and more fiber, minerals, and phenolic compounds than an apple. It is also a mecca for over 30 species of birds. And the next time you’re out on the golf course, remember that the wood you’re swinging is most likely persimmon. Ditto the fancy inlay work on your jewelry box.
But, you may be thinking, what about all that squishy fruit?
True, persimmons are an acquired taste, often falling into the black or white categories of “I love them” or “I hate them.” As Pocahontas’s Captain John Smith reported back to the English, “. . . the fruit is like a medlar, it is first green, then yellow and red when ripe. If it not be ripe it will draw a man’s mouth awire with much torment. But when it is ripe, it is as delicious as an apricot.”
Even if you don’t think the gelatinous fruit is as delicious as an apricot, you may be surprised by the number of cake, cookie, ice cream, bread, and pie recipes in which to use your prized, and usually prolific, fruit as a healthy and unique sugar alternative. Then again, if cooking with persimmons isn’t your thing, you can always simply display them in a decorative bowl inside where they make beautiful, colorful autumnal displays.
Native to China thousands of years ago and then introduced in Japan, the persimmon has become Japan’s national fruit and one of the traditional foods of the Japanese New Year. The first persimmon cultivar arrived in California in the mid 1800s, making it one of the earliest commercially grown fruits in the United States.
There are many varieties of persimmons, but Diospyros kaki ‘Hachiya’ dominates with about 90% of the commercial market in the United States. It is an astringent fruit, shaped like a large, pointy-bottomed tomato. Again, the key to enjoying your persimmon is to wait until it is fully ripe, whether right off the tree (if you can beat the birds) or having sat in a bowl for a while inside. Fully ripe means waiting until it is mushy, bright orange, and jelly-like inside. (The ‘Fuyu’ persimmon has gained in popularity in the past few years. This is probably because it is eaten when firm, crunchy, and sweet, just like an apple, shiny skin and all. It looks different than a ‘Hachiya,’ sort of like a smooth mini-pumpkin, flat and squat.)
Persimmon flowers are inconspicuous, usually appearing in groups of one to five per twig as the new growth appears, typically through March. Our temperate climate is perfect for these trees, and they have a low chilling requirement (less than 100 hours), so they are reliable fruiters. They will tolerate partial shade, are not picky about soil, require little fertilizer, and are also somewhat drought tolerant, although the fruit will be larger and tastier with regular irrigation.
Life feels pretty good when you’re reading a good book in the shade of a persimmon tree. However, during gusty Marin afternoons, watch for brittle branches: strong winds may snap off a few, especially if they’re heavily laden with fruit. Even on non-windy days, watch for swinging children! The first day that we moved into our house a sweet six-year-old decided to try out one of the branches on our “new tree” and ended up with the branch in her hands. That was my first clue that this tree would be off limits for climbing and swinging.
These trees are relatively problem free, although squirrels, deer, coyotes, rats, opossums, and birds are fond of the fruit and gophers will go after the roots. Nice if you want wildlife. Not nice if you want persimmon bread.
