Time to start the pawpaw, redbud and persimmon seeds!
My friend Richard just gave me another 20 pawpaw seeds from the only fruiting pawpaw patch in Minnesota I know of. My pawpaws from a friend in Chicago haven't fruited yet, but Richard is excited to get pollen from their flowers for his breeding program if they flower this spring. These will get me to around 40 pawpaw trees.
Another friend sent me a full pound of American persimmon seeds, around 700, from Wisconsin, about as far north as you can find them. They've been stratifying in the fridge since November.
And the redbud seeds from southern Minnesota hardy trees in my backyard have been scarified and stratified too. I'll be planting a cultivar from an old redbud tree discovered in South Dakota for even greater cold hardy genetics this spring and cross it with mine. Those I'll plant in central-northern Minnesota to really test them to see if -40F phases them.
I've realized that my Minnesota property is looking more like Missouri every year. So many southern species now flourishing here. Exciting and horrifying at the same time.
Then there are the magnolias, and the pecans, and the tupelo's, and the chinkapins, and the hybrid chestnuts.
I need more land 🤣
