North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

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

Interesting story, Naomi.

We started planting mulberries, mainly as a result of my wife's fond 
remembrance of sitting in the branches of a large tree in her neighbor's 
yard in Elizabethtown KY, eating the berries along with the birds.  The 
owners waited until she went away to college to remove that tree because 
they knew how much she enjoyed it - so, I never got a chance to sample the 
berries from that one, but there were a number of them growing along the 
creekbank and in the woods behind her mother's house - but none of those 
were anything to write home about - most I encountered were the bland, 
insipid, white-fruited types.
There was a particularly prolific and tasty lavendar-fruited M.alba in the 
yard of the farmhouse we lived in near Rocheport MO, while I was in grad 
school at MU, and the kids (well, me, too) used to love to go out and graze 
on that one when it was in fruit.  I still have fond memories of my kids 
toddling around with purple-stained hands & faces - and diapers.

Someone mentioned Pakistan mulberry.  AJ Bullard discussed this one in a 
POMONA article(Summer '98, if I remember correctly)  years ago.  He 
indicated that in its native Islamabad, 28F was the lowest temperature it 
had ever been exposed to, so was 'iffy' for zones 7 & colder.  On his 
recommendation, when I got one, I planted it with the graft union below 
ground level.  It froze back to the ground every winter for three year - 
and they weren't all that tough, as KY winters go.  It would re-sprout and 
grow 8-10 ft each year, but never fruited for me, so I took it out.
I've since gotten some Pakistan scions and high-worked them about 6-7 ft up 
in an unnamed M.albaXrubra hybrid which is grafted onto M.alba 
rootstock.  Spring should tell whether or not high-working will allow this 
and some other 'tender', large-fruited M.alba selections will survive here 
or not.

Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY