North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

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

At 03:07 AM 10/30/2002 +0000, you wrote:
> In the current issue of Smithsonian Magazine is an 8 page article on old 
> apple varieties...
> In the website page (linked below) is a synopsis, I noticed the entire 
> article may be downloaded at the bottom of the wepage.
> Hopefully clicking below will get you there, Del
> <http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues02/nov02/apples.html>

Thanks for the link, Del.
I happened upon Tim Hensley's Urban Homestead Nursery a number of years 
ago, thanks to a similar article in Southern Living - long before I became 
aware of NAFEX.  Tim was most helpful in answering some of my questions 
about old Southern apple cultivars, and provided me with scionwood from 
some varieties I could not find anywhere else at the time.

I'll offer up a couple more potential sources for 'antique/heirloom' apple 
varieties:
Orchard Lane Growers
5014 Orchard Lane
Gloucester VA 23061
Rollin Woolley, the proprietor, has taken responsibility for preserving the 
Burford Brothers' collection of fine old apple varieties, and offers a good 
selection of contemporary and antiques.  I've not had an occasion to order 
from OLG, but have corresponded with Rollin on several occasions, and he 
seems to be quite a nice fellow - rather like most of us(NAFEXers).

Another one I've been pleased with:
Lawson's Nursery
2730 Yellow Creek Rd.
Ball Ground, GA 30107
770-893-2141
Jim & Bernice Lawson have a little mom & pop type operation, with a number 
of good old north GA/SC/NC regional varieties in their offerings.  I've 
been quite pleased with the trees I ordered from them in the past.  They'd 
been having some health problems(I believe they're both elderly), so I 
don't know how well the nursery is running these days.


In addition to Tim Hensley and Lee Calhoun, there are a number of other 
apple explorers who are constantly on the lookout for 'Old Southern' and 
antique/heirloom varieties which are presumed lost or extinct.  A couple 
I'm familiar with, are:

Tom W Brown
7335 Bullard Rd
Clemmons, NC 27012
336-766-5842
apples@netunlimited.net

Joyce Neighbors
1039 Lay Springs Rd.
Gadsden, AL 35904
Joyce has written and (I presume)self-published a book, "Apples: Collecting 
Old Southern Varieties", based on her experiences of 20 years  searching 
for and collecting old Southern apple varieties.
I haven't exchanged correspondence with her in a couple of years, but at 
that time, she was offering scionwood from a sizable number of the close to 
200 apple varieties she'd collected.   I still need to get with her and 
order some scionwood of "Loachapoka", if for nothing other than nostalgia's 
sake, as that little wide spot in the road, just a few miles from my 
boyhood home, produced some of the best apples I'd eaten, produced from 
that worn-out east Alabama soil.



Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY