Hi everyone! I've followed this thread with growing interest, and finally took the next step by posting hete :) . I am a professional gardener, and my interests lie heavily on pomology and dendrology (yup, a tree hugger!). I have a vision to introduce cultivars of mulberries, american persimmons, paw paws, nuts, and cornelian cherries to my country of Finland. Now to many it would seem that being as far north as alaska might impose some challenges, but thanks to gulf stream, our southern end is beginning to be the equivalent of USDA 5b/6 ..but of course that's regarding only the low temperatures. At Köppen-Geiger climate we at the south are at Dfb , for those who use that. I'd like to talk about all potential plants, but let's focuse on paw paws...now we have of course insane amounts of light at the peak of the summer, will that help or hinder paw paws, I'm not sure. Last two summers have been wet and cold, and I suspect that no paw paws would have ripened. But then again, I remember summers with +30 Celsius (86 F) , and some winters that went as low as -30C (-22F) . Most of the time however we stay near the -20 C (-4F) at winter, so the low temperatures really are not an issue. However the growing degree days might be...and so I am especially interested in trying the absolutely most earliest cultivars! I really don't care about the size right now, I just want to PROVE to me and to others here that you can actually grow paw paw in the open and outside :D The excel sheet that someone posted is most excellent tool and I thank for that. Now to questions: -Do you have any special recommedations to try? -Should I also focus on growing seedlings ( I have four one year old seeldings, and 50 seeds in the fridge, all from Oikos) to find special case that grows well here? -Do you think that root stock will make a real difference? -When do you think is the best time to graft paw paw, and how thick the trunk should be before I try that? I thank everyone for any help bringing paw paws (and others) to my country :) -Janne

I do not know where you live, but here in Tulsa, OK, the markers can last a long time, but I re-write the names on the markers each year. It is so hot here that I water often, and I think the sun must do something to the writing. I am not familiar with labels or other methods that you are writing about here. I will look them up. I have 156 roses, and have them all marked using the pencil that the company sends. My problem is that we do not have a sprinkling system, and I knock them over with the hose, or step on them. I also think that roaming little animals step on them. By about three years, it seems that the metal on the stake parts begin to rust and come off. We have had few days this summer with temps under 100. We have broken all kinds of records for heat and drought. If you live in a state with decent weather, you might have more success than I have. Sammy

Dear moontraveler, When you used the word "hybrid" it is hard to know what you mean exactly, a hybrid normally referring to a cross between two separate species, but I have a hunch that you are referring to SEEDLING paw paws, as opposed to named cultivars. In answer to WHERE folk get or buy their trees, we'll I've just had shipped to me (in L.A. Calif.) 7 highly touted cultivars from a wonderful nursery in Oregon called One Green World... They came in by fedex in special packing boxes, ALL perfectly secured by ingenious methods, all without the slightest damage. These were the varieties Mango, KSU-Atwood, five Peterson-Paw Paws (Susquehanna, Shenandoah, Wabash, Potomac, Allegeny). I have three 3 ten year olds I bought at a local nursery that don't offer these any longer -- Sunflower, Rebecca's Gold, Wells) I happen to live in citrus country, very, very hot and dry in the Summer which is NOT a Paw Paw friendly venue, but I babied these trees like noting else I've ever grown -- shade cloth all summer for five years, six inch mulch, misting stands, AND letting my hose run at very low pressure just about all day when the temperatures reached 110 degrees plus...they are ten feet tall now and need no sun protection, the leaves not even burning, and a pretty impressive crop of delicious fruit...which I have a hard time getting others to taste. The Peterson cultivars are supposed to be highly superior, much bigger than what my fruit I get now, these ready to fall of or e picked with first week of September. I simply LOVE this fruit and have ten all inter spread amongst their more tropical cousins, cherimoyas and Atemoyas, which thrice here if you water them enough. Hope I have been of some help, Guy

That's when you resort to writing depressing garden poetry, or satire (or both). Once upon a morning dreary, while I pondered weak and weary Over many a cold and omnous forecast in the newspapor, Suddenly, there came a dropping, as of rain so gently plopping, Softly falling, dripping, sopping, falling over heath and moor. ÂÂTis not snow, at least, I said, neglecting to look out the door - ÂMerely rain, and nothing more. Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak November And the deer had just dismembered all my plants ([those] herbivores). Eagerly I wished the summer; winter, it is such a bummer Nary does one see a hummer* in the garden anymore. Though Grevillea victoriae blooms brightly as before, Rain, it keeps them all indoor. Presently my heart grew stronger, for the sound of rain no longer dripped and dropped and plipped and plopped as so incessantly before. ÂWell! said I, ÂA welcome ending to the rain so unrelenting! Now, before the chance eludes me, I had better go outdoors. For so many tasks awaited, miscellaneous lame chores - So I opened wide the door. Deep into that daylight glaring, long I stood there cursing, swearing, For now from the sky was falling snow, and not rain as before; Making not a sound they drifted, subtle, soft, by wind uplifted Flakes of whiteness now alighting Âfore the threshold of my door. Silence, it deceived me sorely; winter with its icy hoar Settled now its frigid score. Back into the kitchen turning, closing door to keep from freezing, From the cold air briefly wheezing, pitching out the newspapor, For its forecast had deceived me, and the snow that fell now grieved me, So I sat before the TV to find out what was in store. ÂNow, said I, Âto get the latest Âbout this blizzard which now roars, TWC** will know for sure.' But I soon became disgusted, finding they could not be trusted, For their forecast still suggested rain was all Âtwould be in store. ÂSurely, said I, ÂAny Joe can look outside and see the snow That falls upon my garden so, though TWC ignore. So I cast aside the rèmote, snowy blast preparing for, Stepped once more outside the door. Now I knew the task before me, to protect these plants so warmly Lest they freeze and die, as in the frigid wintertimes of yore. So I labored, although vainly, for the snow had now quite plainly Covered leaf and stem completely, blanketing the garden oÂer. Even so, into the greenhouse, yet untouchèd by the hoar I hauled many plants, though sore. But the nighttime, eÂer foreboding, now upon me came in closing, Ere I knew it all was dark, and on the snow fell as before. And the wind now came up blowing, further worsening the snowing, While the temperÂture was lowÂring, so I had to get indoor, Lest the stinging crystals biting freeze my body to the core, So at last I went indoor. Now the garden, it lies frozen; IÂm regretting I had chosen Many plants not suited to this climate far from milder shore. And the memÂry of my losses gnaws upon me, while I tosses Fragments of the plants that froze upon the burning heap that roars, Yes, a bonfire to dispose of all the plants that grew before - Now quite dead, forevermore. *Anna's hummingbird **The Weather Channel