I just wanted to send you a brief note, letting you know how much I appreciated your shipment.  I have a small backyard orchard (about 35 trees in addition to some blueberries, muscadine, and grapes, etc.) and have received plants from various nurseries.  However, despite receiving from quality nurseries, I have never seen the TLC I saw evident in the order received from you.  The “green” peanuts, the individually bagged and tethered trees, and healthy plants were all noted and much appreciated.  It is obvious that you care a lot about what you do.  Thank you.  I hope you don’t get out of the business entirely.

I just wanted to tell you that I was one of the people for 2- 3 years now that has been on a waiting list for your pawpaws. You referred us to Nolin River Tree Nursery and I just have to tell you that the service I have received from this nursery has been absolutely first class!!! I ordered right away when you put the info out, and I even called 2 times over the winter to make sure they did not forget about me and check to make sure everything was still going to happen. They were extremely understanding and helpful! When I received my order yesterday, I was completely blown away by the size, and healthiness of the plants, and how well they were wrapped and kept moist and alive. And, I was completely surprised at their packaging. They used dried leaves in the box instead of styrofoam peanuts…how wonderful is that!!! What a great idea…I can now recycle the entire box both inside and out! Please know how extremely happy I am in finally receiving my trees, and in the absolute first class service I have received. I hope you are well, and have a wonderful summer!

Thank you for the 4 Shenandoah’s you sent me — all 4, although very pathetic looking when they arrived, have leafed out and look like they are all going to pull through.  I even had to pick off a zebra swallowtail caterpillar off one—very exciting for us as we raise butterfly and preying mantis’s every year.  We’ll let the zebra swallowtails alone next year.

Thank you also for recommending Nolin River Nut Nursery; they sent me a Sunflower, an Overleese and an NC-1, so I now have pollinators galore.  The trees from them were of high quality, shipped with most, if not all, of the taproot and feeder roots still alive.  They are all doing well and I am sure you made an excellent choice with Nolin River.

If at all possible, I would like to receive more pawpaws directly from you next year.  I know that you are licensing two nurseries to help meet the demand–does this mean that you will no longer be shipping out any pawpaws personally?  I have ordered trees from multiple sources in the past and have found that NO ONE does as good a job as you do with both the quality of the trees you send and the care in packaging.  May I still order trees directly from you?

Thank you for your time–I know that you are busy!

Wanted to let you know how pleased I am with the 3 pawpaws I got from you. All three are doing fantastically, never seen such healthy robust growth on any I have ordered before, and right now I am growing six other named pawpaw varieties. I cannot express how excited I am to try the fruit from these varieties. I know they are going to be fantastic!

Just thought I’d let you know that I bought two of your trees (a Susquehanna and a Shenandoah) from Forrest Keeling, rec’d them late November, wintered them over in their original pots and repotted this spring in much larger (5 gallon) pots.  Both have leafed out and are doing quite well. I plan to keep them potted for the next year or so until they can take full sun and then plant.  The plants as received from the nursery were good quality with well developed roots, and I got good service from their staff.  Thought you might like to know

You sell a high quality tree! I ordered first from Millers, who offered two cultivars, both thrived and fruited. The next year I splurged for six from a Midwest nursery [deliberately unnamed] —very small, pricey, and uninspiring. I ordered from you the next season and really there was no comparison. Of the six grafted pawpaw trees from the Midwest nursery, I have a couple left. All six of yours are 5 feet tall and thriving. If I ever grow anything commercially, I want the would-be grower to feel like I did when I opened up my order from you.

I must thank you again for the pawpaws I ordered. They are doing great. I had no luck with container and bare root pawpaws before. In fact, I am so pleased with their quality that I am going to recommend your trees to my all my nursery customers. I would like to visit, at some time in the future, to get some pawpaw growing lessons. Alright, that’s enough horn tooting, thanks.

Trees arrived in good shape. Have them planted and I think they’re smilin’ !  Pity is, I probably won’t live here for more than a few years, am returning to West Virginia when I retire. But I hope to instill an interest in the pawpaws to the family that buys the property. The trees are so beautiful, and the fruit is fantastic. So sad they’re not as abundant as they once were. You can be sure to hear from me in future years for some trees for my new place! Thanks.

The pawpaw trees I purchased from you in April 2004 and April 2005 are doing well. Almost all produced fruit this year — very nice flavor and size!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I opened my box of three trees this morning and was I impressed! I just wish that it hadn’t taken me almost two years to get my first ones from you. The packing was, without doubt, the most professional that I have seen from any nursery – large or small – and I’ve bought from many sources over the years.

I bought about 10 other pawpaws from two other sources this spring (they were priced similar to yours). Several had few or no roots, other than the tap root. And some had as little as five inches of grafted top growth. I won’t mention names, as I regard them both highly, but their trees were pretty pathetic compared to yours. I’m not just trying to blow smoke, but when someone goes that extra mile to provide a superior product in every way, I think that they deserve a well-deserved “THANK YOU!” for their professionalism.

If you have any “no-shows” for pick-up of their trees, please let me know and I will gladly buy them.

Today I went to the CRFG scion exchanged and have started making local contacts. One member, Pete, has a large patch in Los Altos Hills about 15 min. away. Some other member indicated you had worked with him at one point. Hopefully I can talk with him more as today was a little hectic. I also met 2 other gents that are interested in exchanging pollen. I would like to personally congratulate you on your grand endeavors to help propagate this unique and delicious Native American fruit; it is totally amazing. Future generations will all be greatly indebted to you for you research and I would like to personally thank you. Perhaps someday industry will find the correct combinations to make it a viable commercial product. In the mean time we enthusiast will keep your dream alive, and enjoy every bite of it. I hope you will enjoy your retirement in the sound knowledge that you have greatly increased the future of this yummy fruit.

I have a couple of your trees that I got a few years ago from Stevik, who used to work for you. I live in Charlottesville VA, and have gotten to be friends with Michael McConkey at Edible Landscaping. I have a 1/2 acre orchard around my house, and have been helping people plant orchards in this area for the last couple of years.

Your pawpaws at my house came into production this year, and I was impressed! I have eaten a lot of wild pawpaws, but your pawpaws were truly amazing. Size, flavor, and fruit/ seed ratio were all spectacular.

I have been learning how to graft and propagate various kinds of fruit trees. (I am teaching a sustainability class at my house these days, which includes, among other things, how to propagate fruit trees.) I am wondering if it might be possible next summer for me to come to Harper’s Ferry for some instruction in pawpaw grafting. I tried a few this year, but without much luck.

Thanks for your work in this field. The fruit production and breeding process has been so dominated for so long by trees that are suited to commercial chemical application, it is important for our future that we propagate trees that grow without pesticides. And your pawpaws are an amazing and welcomed part of that!

I received the 9 trees I ordered in good condition and am most pleased.  They appear to be flourishing now a month later.  Will keep you informed in the future regarding their progress.   As a person who ships parcels around the world, I must commend you on your packaging — a real professional job.

Your three pawpaws (one of each variety) performed with amazingly rapid growth the second season, after mainly root growth the first season as you forewarned. I am extremely impressed by the rapid healthy thick-stemmed new growth — and this in a blazing hot climate toward the south end of pawpaw’s range, where most other selected varieties just struggle along. I have now grown a few score of pawpaws, including a half-dozen other grafted varieties of well known type. None came close to this initial growth rate I got with all three of yours. I expect possibly to be eating fruit next year, the third season. Even as initially received they were far stockier than others I have ordered from here and there. I am really impressed at the fast thick growing of yours (after initial concern at how little root there was on the field grown trees I received). I look forward to obtaining more and especially the additional varieties soon to come out.

Trees arrived in good shape. Have them planted and I think they’re smilin’ !  Pity is, I probably won’t live here for more than a few years, am returning to West Virginia when I retire. But I hope to instill an interest in the pawpaws to the family that buys the property. The trees are so beautiful and the fruit is fantastic. So sad they’re not as abundant as they once were. You can be sure to hear from me in future years for some trees for my new place! Thanks.

RE: Rappahannock Variety

I wanted to let you know that I do find the flavor of Rappahannock quite distinct from others I have tried. I cannot quite place it other than to say it somehow is more “tropical” if that makes any sense. There is a flavor component that reminds me of some fruit I have had in south Florida that I do not detect in other varieties. Maybe musky?? Guava?, I cant quite place it but it is alluring to me. The texture is also a little different than most. I gave (a friend) one of my large fruits to taste and he told me he loved it. The words he used were juicy and refreshing and now he wants to add this variety to his orchard. Rappahannock is among my favorite varieties and seems to perform quite well in the southeast.  Hopefully KSU will put a better photograph up soon.

I spent the conference convincing anyone growing pawpaws that yours were superior.  Then the tour clinched it.  They could see and taste for themselves! Shenandoah is such an incredible tree! It dropped a stealth pawpaw on me this year – in spite of my efforts to remove all blooms in its second year.  That tree is 7′ tall and beautiful.  Everything a pawpaw should be – pyramidal, healthy, precocious, with tasty fruit. And you can quote me.

You sell a high quality tree! I ordered first from Millers, who offered two cultivars, both thrived and fruited. The next year I splurged for six from an Arkansas nursery, very small, pricey, and uninspiring. I ordered from you the next season and really there was no comparison. Of the six grafted pawpaw trees, I have a couple left. All six of yours are 5 feet tall and thriving. If I ever grow anything commercially, I want the would-be grower to feel like I did when I opened up my order from you!

RE: Pawpaw Species in Florida

I must thank you again for the pawpaws I ordered. They are doing great. I had no luck with container and bare root pawpaws before. I now realize that is because they weren’t root pruned, at least not until the time of sale when their tap roots were severed. In fact, I am so pleased with their quality that I am going to recommend your trees to my all my nursery customers. I would like to visit, at some time in the future, to get some pawpaw growing lessons. Alright, that’s enough horn tooting, thanks.

I would be happy to collect pollen. The pawpaws are leafing out now. The only flowers I’ve seen are on the trilobas and parvifloras. Let me know what you’re looking for and which species. Some are prettier than others, some get larger than usual, and every fruit that I’ve tasted was rather bland. The most concentrated diversity around here seems to be near the I-10 and I-75 intersection. I know of one cow field with at least three species in that area. I have a slim-leaf variety with wide leaves.