'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.