North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 01:46 PM 9/23/2002 -0400, Tom wrote:
> Any good fruit explored lately?
Well, Tom, let me see...

I came across a really nice shellbark hickory on a dove shoot back at the 
first of the month.  Large nut, with shell thin enough that I can crack it 
with a little two-legged Quackenbush hand nut cracker.  Due to drought 
conditions here, many of the nutmeats are not well-filled, but it's good 
enough that I'm probably going to have to graft it into my collection. (If 
I can figure out how to post photos to the list, maybe I'll send one of it)
My local shagbark selection, which won 1st place at the KY State Fair this 
year, is taking the year off, after producing a heavy crop last year - the 
handful of nuts I've found underneath it are all blanks.

Some of the local persimmons have been dropping ripe fruits for as much as 
3 weeks, though in small numbers.
I've been collecting all the bur oak acorns I can beat the squirrels to.

I was in the Lexington, KY area this weekend with my boys, for the KY State 
4-H Shooting Sports competition, we spent a few hours at an entertainment 
complex(putt-putt golf, go-cart racing, batting cages, etc.).  In the 
landscaping around the putt-putt course, there was a nice little Callaway 
crab, loaded with heavy clusters of  tasty little apples, a Kousa dogwood 
with some nice, well-filled fruits, and several bushes with big clusters of 
blue-black berries - Aronia melanocarpa!

Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY