# @ahs_gardening on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DMyOKp7zn3Z
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/55035732-ahs-gardening-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/6945f261cf.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-07-31T19:57:19.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** American Horticultural Society | American Gardener Magazine (@ahs_gardening) — https://gondola.cc/ahs_gardening

## Caption

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🌿 NATIVE PLANT OF THE WEEK⁠
American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana, Zones 4–10)⁠
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This one’s for the foragers, wildlife lovers, and anyone who appreciates a tree with deep roots in both ecology and culture.⁠
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American persimmon trees are native across the central and eastern U.S., and their wrinkly, orange fruits have been feeding humans and animals for centuries. Indigenous communities made persimmon bread. Today, fallen fruit still feeds foxes, raccoons, deer, birds—even the occasional skunk.⁠
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Want to grow your own? Since persimmons are dioecious, you’ll need both a male and a female tree to get fruit. Plant them in full sun and give them sandy, well-drained soil (though they’ll tolerate poor soil and tough conditions). In ideal spots, they’ll grow tall and statuesque. In rougher terrain, they adapt and stay shrubby.⁠
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🍂 Pro tip: Don’t pick too early—persimmons are perfect when soft, sweet, and just a little wrinkled. The fruit can be described as date-like and reminiscent of an apricot. ⁠
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Their name comes from the Algonquian word putchamin, and the genus Diospyros? It literally means “fruit of the gods.”⁠
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📖 Read more in “The Pleasure of Persimmons” from our Sept/Oct 2010 issue at ahsgardening.org.⁠
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📍 Native to central and eastern United States, from Connecticut to Kansas south to Florida and Texas. ⁠
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🌱 Grows 30-80 feet tall and 20-35 feet wide. Persimmon prefers moist, well-drained, sandy soils and will tolerate hot conditions and poor soils. It grows best in full sun to partial shade. In less desirable conditions, the tree will have a shrub-like appearance. ⁠
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#persimmons #AHSgardening #AmericanGardener #persimmontree #sustainablegarden #fruitgarden #nativeplants #NativePlantOfTheWeek #AmericanPersimmon #AHSgardening #WildlifeGarden #FruitOfTheGods #ForagersDelight ⁠
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📸: Katja Schulz, Magnus Manske, USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab⁠⁠
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## Tags

fruitgarden, persimmons, ahsgardening, sustainablegarden, nativeplantoftheweek, foragersdelight, wildlifegarden, persimmontree, fruitofthegods, nativeplants, americanpersimmon, americangardener

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