I am aware this thread is over a decade old but it pops up on google when you search for pawpaws in Savannah, and I just wanted to make sure everyone knows that YES, pawpaws are native to Savannah, it's just that dwarf/small-flower pawpaws (asimina parviflora) are more common this far south than common pawpaws (asimina triloba). I've found OVER thirty small-flower pawpaws on Roger Warlick Drive, along the walking path that leads to the recreation field, as on July 14th 2021. Many of the plants even have fruit, and there are more on the other side of the road as well! If you are also wandering here from google, looking for where to find pawpaws in Savannah, Georgia, check out iNaturalist.org, / iNaturalist, it's a world-wide database of plants and animals that people submit, so you can find any plants that people have found in your area! Even if none show up where you are, don't be dismayed! You might be the first person on the site to obverse them, like I was with the /literally more than thirty/ plants I found just in a few days of looking! The more people who add to the database, the more locations we'll be able to share! None of the pictures are showing up from the earlier posts, but iNaturalist is also an awesome way to learn how to identify the plants, because you can see hundreds of examples, taken at all different times of the year! Long post short: Pawpaws can 100% be found in Savannah, Georgia, it will just most likely be the smaller small-flower pawpaws instead of the larger common pawpaws. But if just one person has a pawpaw tree that animals are allowed to eat from, those seeds will spread and common pawpaws might become more common here too! Don't give up hope! Check out iNaturalist to see if there are any that have been seen near you, and even if there aren't, it doesn't mean there aren't any, it just means you can be the first to add them!

I didn't know that they are rare. My Mom always talks about gathering them by the river when she was young. I think that it might have been Asimina triloba though. If you're interested in Asimina triloba here is a link to an interesting sight. Also Gurneys has a paw paw of some kind. Here is a link that might be useful: The PawPaw Foundation

Hi Jesse, per a visitor to my place this week, the Thompson Park trees don't appear to have any fruit remaining. There are 3 public groves you might try instead: 1) in Cranbury, NJ near 13-1 Maplewood Ave. (grove on way into park to east); 2) Rte. 130/Horizon Center Blvd. Hamilton Twp., off the jughandle at approx. 40.198481, -74.641449 ; and 3) Allentown, Heritage Park on Indian Run off Robbinsville Allentown Rd. at approx. 40.180782, -74.591362 . Or visit me in Hamilton, NJ; call for directions and schedule a visit 609.731.3882. There are other groves and trees here and there; groves require light and genetic diversity to enable fruit set.

Do you think it is going to become shady under your tree/s? In the wild here, paw-paw forms little groves within the woods and it is shady. However, the only time I have seen it grown in a home yard, it was single trees that were limbed up amd did not even seem to be producing suckers. It was sunny under those trees. If not too shady, you might get pole beans or squash to scramle up the tree. A long time ago I was able to do that with an ash tree about the size of a mature paw-paw. Some sort of onion or garlic added in seems practical. Perhaps one whose leaves you would use, rather than the bulb, so that you would not have to disturb the tree roots too much. Would you be interested in "spring beauties/fairy spuds?" Sunny or shady they could go underneath the paw-paw since they complete their growing cycle mostly before paw-paw leafs out. They producee an edible tuber no bigger than the end of my thumb (usually smaller), but their early spring blooms mark where to dig them. They will persist and spread n the soil as long as you like. I don't know if your summers are hot, but here, I've been told gooseberries like a bit of shade in summer, so maybe you might try gooseberries a few feet away, on the northeast-ish side of the tree/s. Alexander, what are you thinking are the challenges to be met planting paw-paw with other things?