The Genus is Magnolia from the family Magnoliaceae and the subfamily being Magnolioideae. The Species is virginiana. It's Common Magnolia it's also called: laurel magnolia swamp bay swamp-laurel sweet bay magnolia sweet magnolia laurier doux

I suspect that Kurt is correct, that DWN uses D.lotus as their persimmon rootstock. The few D.lotus fruits I've seen have been tiny little dime-sized persimmons; never ate one, so I can't attest to their flavor. I'd recommend replacing it - or finding someone locally who can re-graft it, or teach you how to - it's not rocket surgery! Have a look at our buddy Joe's grafting tutorial(linked below) - this is what I do for all persimmons. Here is a link that might be useful: Joe Real's Bark Grafting Tutorial

Hi guys, theme is old and I do not know if it's still active. I would like to get in touch with Kristian from Hungary and I was wondering if somebody's got his e-mail? I want to have hardy kaki (persimmon) in my backyard but can not find it in my country. Would seek in neighboring and Hungary is one of them, by the way I am from Serbia. I have tried to contact people from Bulgaria but with no success. So if someoene has some contact or knowledge about hardy persimmon on Balkan please send me. Greetings, Martin.

The date-plum is very rare in Bulgaria (Eastern Europe), but it's cold hardy for zone 6. I know two people who grow them, and one of them has a single tree which bears fruit with few seeds (like one seed per 20 fruits) and swears there is no other d. lotus in a 10-km radius. The other guy grows kaki and virginiana, but has known and loved the lotus from his youth - always had them at home and says they taste like "marmalade". That is, very sweet. I don't think he has both male and female trees for fruit to set. I got a few seedlings from him a year ago, but they are still too small to blossom. And, yes, I have heard people in Bulgaria say the d. lotus is not good for eating, too small and full of seeds. So there you have it - "marmalade" and "no good". I personally have tried the fruit only once, but a lot of them. However, they were picked off a tree in January, after snow and what not, and then stored by my dad in a polyethylene bag for two weeks, i.e. were a little mouldy. They were not overly sweet, and a bit too dry, but palatable in my opinion. I believe if they had been picked earlier in December or November, they would have tasted much better. I also find it interesting that they guy in England used the date-plum as rootstock for the American persimmon. Some people here claim that the lotus rootstock is incompatible with virginiana and will eventually reject the graft. I don't know for sure, but I would prefer using virginiana as a rootstock for other virginiana cultivars.