I saw and tasted my first persimmon when our Master Gardener class took a tour of Auburn's experimental station in Jemison 10 years ago. The fruit tasted like nothing I had ever experienced before.
When I went hunting for them in the grocery store, I discovered them in a small basket in the exotic produce section, for $1.00 each. This was not going to work for my frugal soul so the next logical step was to grow my own. Persimmon trees were not available at the local big box store. The first nursery I searched had a potted tree for (drum roll sound) $80. I was seriously disappointed but not defeated.
At the time, Cedar Creek Nursery was just a new start-up but the folks there were (and still are) willing to help. They had a source for persimmon trees for $25 but there were none available at the time. I waited for six months but finally the call came, there was a shipment of persimmon trees for me to choose from! I chose the perfect little tree, brought it home and lovingly planted it using all the good techniques for tree-planting that I learned in my Master Gardener classes.
I was told that it would take just three years for my Fuyu persimmon to begin bearing fruit. When three years passed, I began looking for persimmons--no joy that year, or for the four years after that. I began to wonder if I had purchased the one dud in the crop.
This spring, after the worse drought in my lifetime, the persimmon tree decided it was time. All summer, I watched and waited while the persimmons grew. When the first two ripened in late September I was crushed to discover that the birds had been waiting too. How did they know how wonderful persimmons taste?
I learned that persimmons can be picked a little early and allowed to ripen indoors. This works but it takes days longer to ripen than if they were on the tree (but I don't have to share with those pesky birds).
I wish I could tell you exactly what a persimmon tastes like. It has the texture of an apple, and the color of a ripe peach but the flavor is uniquely its own. Now that I will have a tree full of persimmons each year, I will have to discover creative ways to incorporate them into my diet.
For now, they are just amazingly delicious! They are worth the wait.
This year's satsuma crop can only be described as outrageous. It was just as if our little tree felt badly for the abysmal crop of three last year and wished to make up for itself.
For gardeners in central Alabama, the first frost of the season is a major event. I've spent the last several weeks making plans and preparations for that date when most of the green, growing things will say "good-bye" for the winter.
Tonight is the big night with temperatures forecast to drop into the upper 20s for the first time this fall. It was hard to imagine this fact yesterday afternoon while it was in the mid-70s, warm enough for shirt sleeves and for our tortoise to play in the backyard while I worked.
However, we are ready. The fruit is all harvested, the remaining veggies are all picked, and the tropical plants are relocated to their indoor winter windows. My two-year old grandson, James, was quite delighted to be told that he could pick the peppers and toss them in the bucket. He proudly counted them as he dropped them in.
While choosing flowers to make a bouquet for my daughter, I noticed that there was a cluster of late-blooming purple cone flowers in the back corner of the garden. I headed over to cut them to mix in with the red roses, ivy, and diamond frost. 
We love the fun American traditions of the holiday; who doesn't love to play dress up and acquire huge quantities of candy that you can measure in pounds!
I saw and tasted my first persimmon when our Master Gardener class took a tour of Auburn's experimental station in Jemison 10 years ago. The fruit tasted like nothing I had ever experienced before. 
At the time, Cedar Creek Nursery was just a new start-up but the folks there were (and still are) willing to help. They had a source for persimmon trees for $25 but there were none available at the time. I waited for six months but finally the call came, there was a shipment of persimmon trees for me to choose from! I chose the perfect little tree, brought it home and lovingly planted it using all the good techniques for tree-planting that I learned in my Master Gardener classes.
This spring, after the worse drought in my lifetime, the persimmon tree decided it was time. All summer, I watched and waited while the persimmons grew. When the first two ripened in late September I was crushed to discover that the birds had been waiting too. How did they know how wonderful persimmons taste?
I learned that persimmons can be picked a little early and allowed to ripen indoors. This works but it takes days longer to ripen than if they were on the tree (but I don't have to share with those pesky birds).
Tucked in the back of my native shade garden grows a thinly leaved, leggy-looking shrub that merely disappears into the background for most of the year.
Its Latin name is Euonymus americanus but it goes by a plethora of common names: strawberry bush, bursting-heart, hearts-bustin-with-love, or my favorite, heart's-a-bustin. 