THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601230119
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
A row of wild persimmon trees grows in my yard in an unkempt hedgerow on a rise in the ground that was once part of an ancient dune line.
The trees line one side of my property, stretching from the street all the way to the back, a location that is no work of man.
The persimmons obviously were planted there over time either by strong northeast winds or creatures that carried the burnt-orange persimmon fruits full of big flat seeds up and down the landscape.
The persimmons grow among sassafras trees, wild blackberries, grapes and other native plants. Together, they provide a long narrow band of wildlife habitat adjacent to my driveway.
When I first saw this odd L-shaped lot where my house is now, I was sold on it because of the persimmons and other plants that grew in that wild tangle. Despite the fact that the architect said it would be almost impossible to build a house on the lot, I was determined.
Not many people could be so lucky as to have a grove of persimmons in their own yard, I told him.
This spring you can start a stand of native persimmons in your yard if you choose. The Virginia Dare Soil and Water Conservation District has included persimmons in its annual seedling sale this year. Persimmon seedlings cost $3 apiece or you can give your yard a whole persimmon grove - 10 for $18.
Call the conservation district office, 427-4775, for information and order blanks. Orders must be in by Feb. 2 and seedlings will arrive in March when they will be available for pickup at the office down at the Municipal Center's agriculture building.
Other seedling choices this year include dogwood, bald cypress, pines, goldenrain and sassafras trees. Knowing what I know now, I would buy a few sassafras to plant amongst the persimmons, too.
Sassafras leaves are a favorite food of the beautiful palamedes and spicebush swallowtails and may lure these butterflies to your garden flowers. Birds enjoy the blue-black berries of sassafras in late summer and early fall.
Oddly enough, the sassafras has three different leaves - plain with no lobes, mitten-shaped with one thumb and mitten-shaped with two thumbs. All turn a dazzling red and orange in the fall, lending beautiful color to my yard.
As for persimmons, they drop their leaves earlier in the fall and leaf out later in the spring than other trees, thus giving another dimension to the look of the landscape. The dark brownish-gray bark is interesting looking too because of the deep cracks that separate the chunky pieces. When the persimmon's round orange fruits ripen, they, too, are a brilliant part of the fall landscape.
As for the fruits, be careful of only one thing. Plant the trees where the birds, raccoons and possums can easily reach them to dine, but not where humans do much walking. Many a ripe persimmon squished on the bottom of my tennis shoe has made it into the house and onto the rug before I realized it. But that's because the persimmons fall along my driveway where I walk each day with the dog.
Some years when I'm feeling energetic, I gather the persimmons each morning when I go down to get the paper. I rinse and dry them and put them in the freezer. By Thanksgiving I have more than enough to make persimmon bread or pudding from traditional old Princess Anne County recipes.
Unripe persimmons have a really terrible tart, astringent taste. It's always been said that a persimmon isn't ripe until after the first frost but I have found that when they fall from the tree, they are usually a rich orange color - nice, soft and edible. But beware of the hard, pale orange persimmons that sometimes fall from the tree in a windstorm!
The botanical name is ``Diospyros virginiana,'' referring to fruit of the gods from Virginia. A truly native plant, the persimmon is a fruit of the gods for many reasons and not all of them edible.
P.S. To learn more about native plants, visit the display sponsored by the South Hampton Roads Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society this weekend at the Virginia Flower and Garden Show. Show hours are from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. There also will be a garden marketplace, gardening experts will speak and other horticulture groups will have displays. Admission is $5 and children under 12 are free. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: This spring you can start a stand of native persimmons in your
yard if you choose. The Virginia Dare Soil and Water Conservation
District has included persimmons in its annual seedling sale this
year. Persimmon seedlings cost $3 apiece or you can give your yard a
whole persimmon grove - 10 for $18.
by CNB