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Walnuts are one of the oldest tree-grown foods known to man, dating back to 7000 BC. Inscriptions on Mesopotamian clay tablets reveal that walnut groves were part of the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Today, 99 percent of U.S. walnuts are produced in California, the source of two-thirds of the worlds walnut supply. Commercially grown walnuts are typically English walnuts, which actually originated in Persia and are not hardy in the Midwest.
Black walnut trees, however, grow naturally in Midwestern woodlands. If you are fortunate to have one of these trees and the space to grow it, it will need little care from you. As a landscape tree, walnut provides light shade and bright yellow fall foliage, although its nuts can be a nuisance in some landscape settings. Walnut trees are long-lived, sometimes exceeding 200 years of age.