Powerhouse Fruiting Persimmon Trees Looks Great All Year 

Persimmon trees are fruit-bearing and fairly easy to grow. Naturally resistant to many diseases, the persimmon tree has foliage that varies in color from red, yellow and orange in the fall. Persimmon is a lovely ornamental tree with glossy green leaves and branches that give it a flowing appearance. The persimmon tree grows as a multi-trunked or single-stemmed deciduous tree to about 25 feet high and wide.

Known as diospyros, persimmons come in both astringent and non-astringent and are eaten alone or added to other foods, like salads. Non-astringent varieties are as crisp as an apple when ripe. Astringent must ripen to be very soft before it can be eaten. Asian varieties are harvested when the skin becomes translucent and the calyx separates, while American persimmons drop off the tree when ripe.

Persimmon tree leaves can be used to make tea and the ripe fruit attracts wildlife, including deer. Easy-to-grow persimmon trees are naturally resistant to many diseases, and they easily avoid late frost damage, as they are one of the last trees to bloom each spring.