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Plant · P-427
Diospyros virginiana
American persimmon fruit is bitterly astringent until it goes fully soft-ripe, usually only after the first hard frost, at which point it turns exquisitely rich and sweet. Left alone it suckers into a thicket, which makes it useful free hedge and coppice stock if the margin is mown or grazed, and a chore if it is not. Its fallen fruit draws foxes, opossums, raccoons, skunks and deer, so it works well as a deliberate wildlife decoy planted away from anything more vulnerable, and it tolerates growing near black walnut.
Record at a glance
Vertical layer
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The deeper layer
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors