Zimmerman Pawpaw

Zimmerman traces to a genuinely significant early pawpaw breeding effort: George A. Zimmerman undertook an 18-year pawpaw breeding project near Piketown, Pennsylvania, beginning in 1923, eventually growing an orchard of more than 60 named and unnamed varieties — likely encompassing nearly all pawpaw varieties known at that time. One of the varieties in his collection, sometimes documented as a related or synonym selection, was "Osborne," which Zimmerman received from a grower named Arthur W. Osborne, who had collected it just 15 miles away in Spiceland, Indiana — reflecting how concentrated early pawpaw discovery and breeding activity was in that small corner of Indiana and Pennsylvania during the early 20th century.