North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Hank Burchard <hank@burchard.org>]

My goumis, which came from Hidden Springs Nursery in 2004 with no 
varietal name indicated, have been something of a disappointment. I got 
my first crop this spring (in May!) and found the fruit -- of which 
there wasn't much -- rather insipid. From two plants I got barely two 
cups of juice. Perhaps the yield and flavor will improve in later 
seasons, but the goumi's performance is unimpressive compared to my 
autumn olives, also from Hidden Springs (my favorite nursery), which I 
use to make jelly.

The AOs -- which USDA has sensibly renominated "Autumnberry" because 
there's nothing olive-like about the fruit -- began bearing in the 
second year and regularly produce more than 20 pounds of fruit each with 
casual harvesting. They require no care, respond to top pruning by 
producing more and larger fruits on the remaining branches, seem 
indifferent to drought and temperature extremes, and shrug off extremely 
heavy browsing by the whitetailed deer that infest my property. I bought 
all  six varieties HS offers, and like them all, but the sport called 
Charlies Golden is so clearly the best that I have planted four more of 
them. The fruit is an attractive golden yellow, the yield is high and 
the flavor is outstanding.

Hank Burchard
Pecker Wood Farm
Amherst VA (7b)