Nikita's Gift™ Hybrid Persimmon

Nikita's Gift™ is a cold-hardy, Asian-American hybrid persimmon developed in Ukraine's Nikita Botanic Garden. It combines the large, sweet fruit of the Asian persimmon (Diospyros kaki) with the winter resilience of the American persimmon (Diospyros viginiana), thriving in Zones 5b–9, and tolerating temperatures down to -26ºC (-14ºF).

Nikita's Gift™ persimmon trees typically grow 10–15 feet tall and produces only female flowers. Female flowers produce seedless fruit without pollination (parthenocarpically). Female flowers that are cross pollination with male American persimmon flowers can increase yields, and result in fruit with seeds. 

In late autumn, Nikita's Gift™ bears abundant crops of reddish-orange fruit that are astringent when firm but turn meltingly sweet when fully soft. It also offers brilliant fall colour with vivid orange-yellow foliage.

Nikita's Gift™ is a unique and rewarding choice for northern growers looking for tropical-flavoured fruit with real cold tolerance.

Our Nikita's Gift™ persimmons are grafted onto American persimmon rootstock.

Common names: Nikita's Gift™  Persimmon, Nikitskaya Bordovaya Persimmon

Edible: Fruit
Harvest timing: November (late)

Scientific name: Diospyros virginiana × Diospyros kaki ‘Nikitskaya Bordovaya’ (aka Nikita's Gift™)
Light requirements: Full sun 
Full-grown size: 10-15' tall x 8-10' wide
Cold Hardiness: Zone 6
Pollination: Produces only female flowers, but produce fruit without pollination (parthenocarpically). Cross pollination with male American persimmon flowers can increase yields and result in fruit with seeds. 
Wildlife: Fruit are attractive to birds and deer. Flowers support pollinators. 
Origin: Developed at the Nikita Botanic Garden in Yalta, Ukraine as part of a project focused on breeding cold-hardy persimmon hybrids.
Noteworthy: Cold hardiness of an American persimmon with the fruit quality of an Asian persimmon.