'Nikita's Gift'™ Hybrid Persimmon

'Nikita’s Gift'™ is a cold-hardy, Asian-American hybrid persimmon tree developed in Ukraine’s Nikita Botanic Garden. It combines the large, sweet fruit of the Asian persimmon with the winter resilience of the American persimmon. 

'Nikita's Gift'™ persimmon trees typically grow 10–15 ft tall and can produce fruit without pollination (parthenocarpic), though cross pollination with a male American persimmon can increase yields. They thrive in Zones 5b–9, tolerating temperatures down to -26ºC.

In late autumn, it bears abundant crops of reddish-orange fruit that are astringent when firm but turn meltingly sweet when fully soft.

Like most persimmon trees, 'Nikita's Gift'™ offers brilliant fall colour with vivid orange-yellow foliage.

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 root stock.

Common names: Nikita's Gift Persimmon

Edible: Fruit
Harvest timing: October - December

Scientific name: Diospyros virginiana × Diospyros kaki ‘Nikitskaya Bordovaya’
Light requirements: Full sun 
Full-grown size: 10-15' tall x 8-10' wide
Cold Hardiness: Zone 5b (-26ºC)
Pollination: Can bear fruit without pollination (parthenocarpic), but cross pollination with a male American persimmon can increase yields.
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 for breeding cold-hardy persimmon hybrids.
Noteworthy: Cold hardiness of an American persimmon with the fruit quality of an Asian persimmon.