Cold-Hardy American Persimmon Varieties
The persimmon most people have eaten is Asian — Fuyu or Hachiya — and it is a zone 7 tree. The American persimmon is a different species and a far tougher one, native from Connecticut to Texas and hardy to roughly minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit. The fruit is smaller and seedier but sweeter, and the tree asks almost nothing: it fruits on poor ground, resists most pests outright, and needs no spray programme at all.
These 12 named varieties fix the two things wild seedlings get wrong. The first is ripening date, which is the whole northern problem — Meader and Early Golden finish well ahead of frost, while later selections gamble on a long autumn. The second is astringency, and the rule is absolute: an American persimmon is inedible until it is fully soft, at which point it becomes one of the best fruits in North America. Most varieties are female and need a male pollinator nearby unless listed as parthenocarpic, in which case they set seedless fruit alone. Sorted by ripening.
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| Variety | Ripens | Zones | Self-fertile | Notes | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prok | Late Aug-early Oct | 4-8 | Yes | very large fruit, sweet and mild; excellent for fresh and pulpGrow this for large fruit and heavy seedless crops on a lone female; one of the most widely planted improved selections, though flavor can be milder than smaller-fruited varieties. Chill figure is a species-level estimate. | Browse growers |
| Early Golden | Sept-Oct | 4-8 | Partial | sweet, flavorful; the historic quality standard, good fresh and pulpAn ~1880 heirloom that parented many modern cultivars; it can throw a few male flowers, so nearby females may set seedier fruit. Chill figure is a species-level estimate. | Browse growers |
| H-118 | Sept | 5-8 | Yes | large red-orange fruit, very high quality; good fresh and pulpA precocious, consistent Claypool selection (also sold as Early Jewel / Prairie Star) that ripens very early, useful for extending the season at the front end in shorter-season sites. Chill figure is a species-level estimate. | Browse growers |
| Meader | Late Sept-Oct | 4-8 | Yes | sweet, rich, mild; good fresh and for pulpThe classic beginner pick: exceptionally cold-hardy (bred by Elwyn Meader in New Hampshire) and reliably sets seedless fruit as a single tree, so plant just one. Chill figure is a species-level estimate. | Browse growers |
| Szukis | Sept-Oct | 4-8 | Yes | sweet, high-quality medium fruit; good freshBears both male and female flowers (a chimera/polygamo-dioecious selection), so it fruits alone and doubles as the pollinizer if you want seeded fruit on other females such as Yates. Chill figure is a species-level estimate. | Browse growers |
| Elmo | Oct-Nov | 5-9 | — | large, soft, sweet orange fruitA Claypool selection (A-118) sold for large October fruit. Sourced from a nursery catalog only, for existence. That catalog also calls the fruit non-astringent and ready to eat at picking, which is not true of any Diospyros virginiana; since the catalog is demonstrably wrong there, its zone-4 hardiness rating is not relied on either. Zones are given as the species range confirmed by extension sources. If you are in zone 4, treat Elmo as untested and site it accordingly. No per-cultivar chill figure exists in any source, so chill is left blank. | Browse growers |
| John Rick | Oct | 5-8 | Yes | large, richly sweet, few or no black specks; top-rated fresh eatingSelected by Prof. J.C. McDaniel of the University of Illinois and named for grower John Rick; prized for large, clean, richly flavored fruit that makes attractive speck-free pulp. Chill figure is a species-level estimate. | Browse growers |
| WS8-10 | Oct-Nov | 5-8 | Yes | very large, honey-sweet blushed orange fruit; excellent fresh, hangs lateA late-ripening Jerry Lehman selection (numbered WS8-10, named for his wife Barbara) that holds very large fruit into fall, giving fresh persimmons after most other varieties finish; can crop so heavily it needs propping. Chill figure is a species-level estimate. | Browse growers |
| Yates | Oct | 5-8 | Yes | high-quality, sweet, tasty medium-large fruit; good fresh and driedYates and Juhl are the same cultivar (Juhl introduced ~1956, re-found by Ed Yates in 1983). A hardy, precocious, heavy-bearing later variety that extends the harvest past Prok and Early Golden. Chill figure is a species-level estimate. | Browse growers |
| C-100 | Fall into winter | 5-9 | — | 1-2 inch fruit, highly astringent and greenish-yellow until ripe, then yellow-orange to red-orange and sweetA James Claypool selection whose fruit resembles Morris Burton in look and taste, with notably good red fall color on the tree. Fruit hangs from fall into winter. NC State does not state self-fertility for it, so self_fertile is left blank rather than assumed. No per-cultivar chill figure exists in any source, so chill is left blank. | Browse growers |
| Killen | Fall | 5-9 | Yes | medium-sized orange fruit, firm texture, good flavor, clean unblemished skinThe smallest-growing named American persimmon on NC State's list at 20-25 feet, which makes it the realistic pick for a yard that cannot host a 60-foot tree. NC State says the fruit begins to ripen in fall but does not rate it early or late, so no ripening-order claim is made here. No per-cultivar chill figure exists in any source, so chill is left blank. | Browse growers |
| Morris Burton | Fall | 5-9 | Partial | small to medium orange-red fruit, sweet honey-like flesh with tender skin and few seedsNC State rates this the best-tasting common persimmon cultivar, and it is the 1800s heirloom behind many newer selections. It bears early for a persimmon, often in its third year, and colors red and yellow in fall. It produces root suckers. No per-cultivar chill figure exists in any source, so chill is left blank. | Browse growers |