Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Charlie's Golden

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Hank Burchard <hank@burchard.org>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Charlie's Golden
  • Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:28:50 -0400

Hello Hector and John. I'm an Autumn olive (or Autumnberry, as USDA and I now prefer) nut, with all six of Hidden Springs's cultivars in bearing along with a dozen plants I've collected from the Blue Ridge to Ohio. It is a superb plant, producing scads of fruit whilst fixing nitrogen and supplying browse for deer and cattle. I bristle at hearing it called an "exotic and invasive" species. In the first place, I think it's time to grant citizenship to a shrub that was introduced into America in 1825 (you could look it up). In the second place, the species "invades" mainly hedgerows, abandoned fields and waste places such as "reclaimed" (ha!) strip mines, where it acts as a nurse species that eventually is shaded out.

John, if your Charlie's Golden doesn't absolutely delight you, it must be at best a distant relative of Hidden Springs's cultivar. I like all their others, but the CG is such a standout I have bought five of them and now pretty much leave my other Autumnberries to the songbirds, deer and wild turkeys. The coons, possums, bears, groundhogs and squirrels ignore them, which amazes me; the deer browse the leaves whilst carefully avoiding the fruit, for which I have found no explanation. I make jelly of CG, and can expect 25 to 35 pounds of fruit per shrub, depending on how assiduously I harvest. The juice produces an extraordinarily handsome and tasty jelly, which is in such demand from family, friends and neighbors that I finished my last jar in August and am impatiently awaiting this season's harvest.

I heartily recommend Hidden Springs's Charlie's Golden. Plant one carefully and cosset it and it will bear in the second year. Stick it in the ground and neglect it and it will bear in the third year.

regards, Hank Burchard
Pecker Wood Farm
7b central Virginia
Message: 4
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:51:57 -0500
From: "Hector Black" <hblack1925@fastmail.fm>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Autumn Olive question
To: <swim_at_svc@yahoo.com>, "North American Fruit Explorers"
<nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <001201c90a9f$30a8b390$0b01a8c0@hectordesktop>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hello John,
Charlie's Golden is a Hidden Spring's variety unless someone else has
taken the name. You should try some of the others. We're about to start
harvesting in a few weeks.
Hector zone 6 middle TN
----- Original Message ----- From: John S To: 'North American Fruit Explorers' Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 10:57 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] Autumn Olive question


I am familiar with Ruby, Garnet and Charlie's Golden (haven't tried Hidden Springs' ones yet), but was wondering if there are any other named or interesting cultivars out there. Could anybody comment regarding other varieties?
I'm growing Garnet currently but so far not impressed. Have a local
growing wild plant that produces larger and better tasting fruit.

I'd also be interested in obtaining some seed from a yellow or other
unusual variety for experimentation (could provide some Garnet seed later
this year).

Thanks

John




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page