Exotic Fruit For Zone 6 (5 Cold Hardy Exotic Fruits To Try)

There are some great fruit trees for Zone 6 (including apples) – but sometimes, you want something a little more exotic.

So, what are some exotic fruit trees for Zone 6? Exotic fruit for Zone 6 include American Persimmon, Hardy Kiwi, Honeyberry, Pawpaw, and Red Pomegranate. These trees can survive outdoors year-round in Zone 6, despite the cold. Their fruit is also edible!

In this article, we’ll look at the details on 5 exotic fruit trees that can survive winter outdoors in Zone 6.

Let’s get started.

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Exotic Fruit For Zone 6

There are lots of exotic fruit trees that you can grow in Zone 6 if you keep them in a pot and bring them inside in winter. The following 5 can survive outdoors year-round despite the cold of Zone 6:

American Persimmon
Hardy Kiwi
Honeyberry
Pawpaw
Red Pomegranate

Let’s take a closer look at each one, starting with American Persimmon.

American Persimmon

American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is a persimmon species that produces fragrant flowers and edible fruit.

The leaves vary through the seasons from light green to yellow, orange, red, and crimson. The waxy, bell-shaped, cream or tan-colored flowers appear on the tree in May or June.

American Persimmon leaves are green in spring, but turn all different colors in fall.

Fruit first appears when the tree is around 6 years old. It is round to oval shaped, 1 to 2 inches in diameter, with an orange-yellow to red color.

The fruit is high in Vitamin C, and its flavor improves after it is subjected to frost. You can expect to harvest persimmon fruit in September through November.

American Persimmon trees grow up to 60 feet tall and 20 to 25 feet wide at maturity, so make sure you have some space for them!

American Persimmon tree leaves — American Persimmon trees can grow up to 60 feet tall.

This tree prefers full sunlight, and it is hardy to Zone 5. You can find American Persimmon trees from Fast Growing Trees.

Hardy Kiwi

Hardy Kiwi (Actinidia arguta) or kiwifruit is a perennial vine that produces small kiwi fruit without hair. So, it isn’t technically a fruit tree, but it will still grow fairly tall and produce edible fruit.

The leaves are dark green with red stems. The fragrant, white or cream-colored flowers appear in spring.

Fruit first appears when the tree is 2 to 5 years old. It is round to oval shaped, bigger than a grape, with smooth skin (no hair or fuzz) and a green color.

There must be both male and female plants to get fruit. You can expect to harvest kiwi in summer through autumn (September to November).

hardy kiwi fruit — You need both male and female plants to get Hardy Kiwi fruit.

Hardy Kiwi vines grow 8 to 12 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide at maturity. You can plant them fairly close together to give a dense wall of leaves to cover a fence.

This vine prefers full sun, but it can tolerate partial shade. It is hardy to Zone 3. You can find Hardy Kiwi vines from Nature Hills.

Honeyberry

Honeyberry (Lonicera caerulea) or honeysuckle is a deciduous shrub that produces small berries.

The leaves are green and oblong. The yellowish-white flowers are frost tolerant, and they appear in spring.

honeyberrry flowers — Honeyberry flowers are yellowish-white and frost tolerant.

Fruit first appears starting in the 2^nd year. The berries are long and almost cylindrical, with dark blue to purple skin.

You can expect to harvest honeyberries in spring to summer (late May to June).

honeyberry fruit — Honeyberries are long and almost cylindrical, with dark blue or purple skin.

Honeyberry shrubs grow 4 to 5 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide at maturity. Leave enough space between them for pruning and harvesting berries.

This shrub needs full sun. It is incredibly cold hardy (up to Zone 2!) You can find Honeyberry from Fast Growing Trees.

Pawpaw

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a deciduous understory tree that produces flowers with a yeast-like smell (to attract flies and beetles as pollinators), along with large, edible fruit.

The leaves are large and green. The reddish-purple or maroon flowers appear on the tree in April or May.

Pawpaw Tree Leaf View — Pawpaw leaves are large and green.

pawpaw flower — Pawpaw flowers are maroon to reddish purple and have a yeast-like odor to attract flies and beetles for pollination.

Fruit first appears when the tree is around 6 to 7 years old. It is large and oblong, 2.5 to 6 inches long, weighing 6 to 12 ounces, with a yellowish green color (with brown specks). A pawpaw tree has the largest native fruit in North America!

The fruit is high in vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and zinc. You can expect to harvest pawpaw fruit sometime between August and October.

Note that you need trees of two different varieties for cross pollination to get pawpaw fruit.

Pawpaw fruit is large and oval-shaped, with light green or yellow skin that shows some brown flecks when ripe.

Pawpaw trees grow 30 to 40 feet tall and 15 to 20 feet wide at maturity, so make sure you have plenty of space for them!

This tree prefers full sunlight, but it can tolerate partial shade. It is hardy to Zone 5. You can learn more about Pawpaw trees here.

Pawpaw Tree Medium View — Pawpaw trees can grow up to 40 feet tall!

You can find Pawpaw trees from TN Nursery.

Red Pomegranate

Red Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a deciduous shrub that produces bright red flowers and edible fruit.

pomegranate flower — Pomegranate flowers are bright red.

The leaves are oblong, glossy, and green. The bright red flowers appear on the tree in spring (late May) to fall.

Fruit first appears when the tree is around 3 years old (with full production starting in year 5 or 6). The fruit is a small sphere, 2 to 5 inches in diameter, with a reddish color (pomegranates vary quite a bit in color, depending on variety).