Plants I'm Growing: Pawpaws

Two days before leaving for an extended stay overseas (at the end of April), two pawpaw plants arrived in the mail – trees I had ordered almost three months earlier (the nursery shipped the trees when they were considered ready to plant rather than when they were purchased). I would like to have been at home to watch over them as they settled in, but I had to leave. In the first couple of months after planting, a new tree is always vulnerable, so I was worried about them, but I'm happy to say that with the help of friends and neighbors who agreed to keep an eye on the garden during my absence, they have both successfully leafed out and seem to be doing well. It will be a couple of years before they start producing fruit, but so far so good.