[NAFEX] One more story on the Bardsey Apple

Lon J. Rombough lonrom at hevanet.com
Sun Dec 30 20:03:46 EST 2007


Sent by UK NAFEX member Clive Simms.  He isn't on this list.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at 
http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association 
"Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
For even more grape lessons, go to  http://www.grapeschool.com
For all other things grape,   http://www.vitisearch.com


SPOTLIGHT ON VARIETIES

The Sainted Apple

When you plant them as young trees, one apple variety looks much like 
another, but once they fruit you can spot the winners. So you might 
think that creamy-pink apples with a refreshingly juicy, lemon-scented 
taste that have ripened on a single, gnarled tree on Bardsey Island off 
the northwest coast of Wales would have attracted attention years ago. 
But the Bardsey Island apple has remained a secret for generations. A 
birdwatcher who used the apples to attract ground-feeding birds did not 
recognise the variety, and brought some to the Bangor-based orchard 
specialist, lan Sturrock.

"The apples had such a pungent lemon smell," says Sturrock. "It was not 
like the fruit of anyother apple trees in our part of Wales. The tree 
is very old and gnarled and is clinging to one side of Plas Bach, the 
grandest house on Bardsey." Sturrock explains that the island was a 
place of pilgrimage from Celtic times and, according to legend, the 
burial place of saints. The remains of a 13th-century abbey attest to 
its lasting appeal as a holy site. "There’s no evidence of an orchard 
but the monks were presumably self-sufficient and might have had walled 
gardens. This tree could be the last survivor from the early Middle 
Ages.”

Sturrock contacted the Bardsey Island Trust, and it was agreed that he 
should take wood from the tree to propagate it. Patiently, he grafted 
buds from the tree on to a series of rootstocks and nursed them through 
the first couple of years. By early this year, he had 175 trees to 
.sell and once word got out. they were all snapped up within days.  
Graftwood from the tree has been sent to Brogdale Horticultural Trust, 
which has some 2300 varieties of apples as part of the
National Fruit Collection. The Bardsey apple will he observed and 
compared with the existing varieties. Only than can it be pronounced an 
undiscovered rarity - or matched with an existing one.

Sturrock notes that in spite of regular salt spray and the lashing 
gales that abrade its branches against the stone wall, the tree has no 
disease. He suggests that the saints, or rather their bodies, may have 
something to do with its sturdiness. "If there were hundreds of saints 
buried there," he theorises, "maybe there's plenty of bonemeal in (he 
soil."

Malcolm Smith (The Times, 2003)

Bardsey Island apple trees can be purchased from lan Sturrock on 01248 
371573 or
jansturr at clara.co uk    www.bardseyapple.co.uk
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