Hi Don,
I see and hear a term that is used from time to time that I am not
sure what it means and I hope you can help me out. I see or hear the term
like "second leaf" in regards to a tree. Does that mean that the tree is
one year old from grafting and starting its second year of growth?
In your e-mail today you used the term "fifth leaf". Here again
would that mean it is four years old and starting its fifth growing season from
grafting? This same terminology was used when we went to Italy and I
wasn't sure what they meant by that there either.
Thanks,
Bob
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2008 8:08
PM
Subject: [NAFEX] Peach
Identification
Mark:
Your description matches a peach called "Flat
Wonderful", and I have one in its 5th leaf. Source of my tree was
Gurney's, though it may be sold by other nurseries as well. I am quite
sure this is a relatively new variety, developed at Rutgers
University.
Peento peaches are usually notably smaller than the round
types, but Wonderful can produce pretty good size peaches on a healthy tree
when properly thinned. (I saw some Peentos at Safeway the other
day at $2.99 a pound that were about 1/5 the size that my tree
produces.) The most unusual feature of the fruit is its texture, which
resembles that of the older canning peaches grown in California, and is often
described as "rubbery". I don't like that rubbery word for this peach,
which I prefer to describe as firm. Flavor is excellent, and the firm
texture makes this peach particularly useful for applications such as fruit
salads. I often peel the larger peach varieties, but never peel
Wonderful because it doesn't seem necessary due to it smooth skin. The
firm texture might also make it useful for commercial growers, since it should
be highly resistant to bruising from handling. The stone, which is a
small thing in the middle of the doughnut, comes free easily. This
pea
ch ripens in Northern Virginia in early to mid August.
Wonderful
is the most beautiful of more than a dozen peach varieties I have grown.
Blossoms are large and a very deep, purplish pink, and the early leaves are
dark purple, shading to green later in the season. My tree is very
vigorous and healthy, and shows no inclination to disease, though the tree is
still young and perhaps it's a little early to make that call. This is a
good year for my tree, and it is full of rapidly-growing peaches even after
rigorous thinning. I am bagging them now in shoe store try-on footies,
as I do with all my peaches.
I don't know where in its genetics this
peach picked up the purple leaves and dark blossoms. There is a peach
rootstock called "Rutgers Purple Leaf", and I speculated that the colors might
come from the rootstock, but that doesn't make much sense either.
Whatever the case, I am very pleased with my Flat Wonderful tree, and would
recommend it highly for anyone who would like a peach with these
characteristics, as well as extraordinary spring beauty.
Don Yellman,
Great Falls, VA
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