Hi everyone,
AFFN has been working now for about 5 years to establish a ‘library orchard’ for persimmons and pawpaws (and other fruit and nut species of eastern North America). We are set up as a non-profit 501.c.3 to give the organization longevity of funding and permanence of space in doing this work of cultivar preservation. Our website is affnorchard.org.
The AFFN orchard’s purpose is to collect as many named cultivars of pawpaws and persimmons as possible into one place, to give growers a back-up source for their cultivars. We also seek to aid the general community of growers, so that named cultivars are not lost to time, as so often seems to be the case. Many of the trees at AFFN are still quite young, and are not yet yielding scion wood, but this is increasing year by year.
As of Fall 2025, we have collected approximately 120 pawpaw cultivars, 170 Diospyros virginiana cultivars and 45 Asian-American persimmon hybrid cultivars.
Let me extend my thanks on behalf of AFFN to everyone who has so far made plants and scion wood available to AFFN. The library orchard will be as good as we collectively make it!
In subsequent topics, I will put out lists of trees that could be added to the AFFN orchard. And I may reach out to members individually who have cultivars. I invite everyone to participate in this preservation effort and look forward to getting to know those whom I have not met yet.
AFFN stands for “Appalachian Foothills Fruits and Nuts”. Our orchard is located in eastern Tennessee in Zone 7a at about 850ft of elevation.