North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Bernie Nikolai <bnikolai@shaw.ca>]

While I like the book and have personally spoken with the author, its important to realize this book was written over 20 years ago, as amazing as that sounds!  The apple cultivars recommended for zones 3 and colder are now completely out of date and obsolete in my opinion.  Of course, there is no mention of the outstanding new apple and cherry cultivars that are just now being tested and released by the University of Saskatchewan that are hardy to -45F or even colder.  Not a knock on this book, just pointing out reality for cold climate fruit growers.  In a nutshell his zone 1, 2 and 3 apples are first and second generation, and there are far better and hardier apples now available or about to be made available.

Bernie Nikolai

Edmonton, Alberta

zone 3/2