Plant · P-426

Persimmon Japanese

Diospyros kaki

Some persimmon varieties have to go soft and nearly overripe before their tannic peel stops puckering the mouth; others, like Fuyu, can be eaten crisp like an apple. The tree bears well with very little winter chill - as little as 100 hours - making it one of the few temperate fruit trees that flowers reliably where winters barely turn cold, though a warm spell can trick it into breaking dormancy too early and losing new leaves to a late freeze. Fruit ripens in autumn and hangs on the bare branches into winter, feeding deer and squirrels as readily as people, and grafted trees start bearing in just two to three years.