North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Attend meetings of local/regional groups like the Home Orchard Society, MIDFEX, etc. and meet people.  Go to the scion exchanges most of the groups hold.  The old fashioned hard copy letter is a great way, since (at least in this point in history) the old timers who are most likely to have the really old obscure varieties don't use computers.  Join/contact historical societies and find old farms/homes, etc. where there might still be trees of  historical varieties.  Network with people interested in ANY kind of plants, as they may have fruit trees in addition to their special plants.  Place newspaper ads in free papers.  Get aerial survey photos and look for signs of ancient, abandoned farms that might still have old trees surviving on them.  Walk or bicycle through the oldest neighborhoods and go down alleys - fruit trees are usually in the back yards and the old alleys make it easier to spot them.   Go to garden club meetings and talk to the members.
Etc.
-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.
On Mar 19, 2005, at 8:13 AM, Thomas Olenio wrote:

Hello All,

Is there any good advice on how to search out obscure varieties?

There are obvious ones such as Google searches, and posting to Pomona and this list, but are there other strategies?

Thanks,
Tom