Paw Paw Questions (3): SUNFLOWER CULTIVAR SELF-FERTILE? *The ÂSunflower Paw-Paw cultivar is often commercially listed online as self-fertile; however, some websites which seem somewhat Âscholarly seem to indicate that this cultivar has never been actually proven to be self-fertile. IÂve even seen is said that they are "partially" self-fertile  whatever that means (maybe it means unreliably, but occasionally; or maybe it means only a few of the flowers will be able to be self-compatibly fertile. Has anyone grown a single specimen and yet received fruit and/or knows the answer to this question? NATURAL POLINATION OF PAW-PAWS *I was considering, if the ÂSunflower cultivar is not really self-fertile, planting 2 separate Paw-Paw cultivars. Since they are mostly only pollinated by flies and Âscavenging beatlesÂ, how far is the most I should keep them apart? FORCED POLINATION OF PAW-PAWS Can I detach the flowers of one Paw-Paw and then bring it over to the (attached) flowers of another Paw-Paw and fertilize the flower which is not detached in this way? Thanks, Steve

Like most other perennials, the bloom period is seasonal, not all summer long. Deadhead, keep well watered and fertilize in late winter or early spring. Contrary to what you may have read, fertilizing IS recommended but avoid any high phosphorus blends (middle number). A well-draining, quite organic soil in full sun is ideal.

Anigozanthus flavidus is one of the easiest to grow, and best to slightly abuse here in northern California, but does do best with perfect drainage and siting to keep it dry and sheltered from cold wet winds in winter. As it is native to seasonally swampy peaty soils in western Australia, it shouldn't reasonably be expected to have much frost tolerance, but it does take short periods of low 20'sF and come back from the roots. In fact, it is often burnt back to the roots to generate fresh foliage free of black ink spot disease, which is also very common on older plants here, and eventually disfigures the plant and weakens it. So losing top growth annually to frost shouldn't be an issue if the plant has strong roots. This plant does best with good drainage, full sun, and good air circulation. It will continue to bloom into winter here if given some protection from extreme wet and winds. If you have room to bring it into a cool greenhouse or sunporch, and treat it as a container plant, you will no doubt have a larger more vigorous plant come summer. If they are available as vigorous one or five gallon plants in spring from California, this might be a more practical way of enjoying the plant. One of my personal favorites, but then they look great here at least 10 months of the year, and are not at all demanding. I highly recommend the cultivar 'Harmony' for deeper, lusher green foliage and beautiful deep orange red stems and yellow flowers on stalks to 5 or 6 feet tall.

Sandy - Though I now live in NC, I am originally from OK (central) so I know your region well. There are most likely wild pawpaws in your area. They range in damp woodlands all the way to Canada so there is no reason you wouldn't have them. My garden is also large and I went crazy planting and propagating more pawpaws and there is a downside to having a large collection of pawpaw trees - all the fruit is ripe at the same time. You will struggle to eat, freeze, or give away multiple wheelbarrow loads of fruit each day for weeks in late August. I have found that if you have one non relative planted in the same row or very close to a row or cluster of named varieties you will get good pollination. My favorite is 'Sunflower' so I now have a row of them with one no-name seedling as a pollinator. My trees bloom most often in mid February when we have a spell of warm weather. I dump garden debris and leaves at the base of the trees and there are always small flies buzzing around mid winter when it is above freezing. Those flies do the pollinating for me.