North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Sarah Kehler Ewing <skkewing@yahoo.com>]

Hi Richard and others,

I have been unable to get my hands on an "real" quince tree so my quince 
seedlings are from some grocery store fruit and therefore I have no idea what 
they are or how they will do here.  I'm happy to try growing just about 
anything and have had some unusual successes.  But I'm willing to admit that 
it is possible that my Cox's Orange Pippin that has done so well for me may 
simply be something hardy mislabelled.

Before I get to the list I'm going to share the four-fold philosophy behind 
my "husband-funded private research station" (lol!):

1) Conservation:  Up here in a rather marginal growing area there aren't as 
many choices in what fruit trees to grow and there is getting to be less 
choice all the time.  I'm frankly alarmed at the yearly loss of varieties and 
sources.  In Canada in the last few years alone we have had some of our major 
nurseries carrying rare/hardy varieties shut down due to retirement or death 
including: Woodwinds Nursery, Roblyn Eyrie Farms, and Sprout Farms.  I also 
notice that most of the hobby collectors that are saving some of the most 
stunning varieties are 20-30 years older than me and that concerns me.  Even 
though the short sighted Alberta government has long since shut down it's 
fruit research stations in favour of oil and gas, someone needs to preserve, 
share, and pass on the good stuff that was developed for our region.

2) Research:  I didn't get to finish my Ph.D. in Biochemistry, but science is 
in my soul and the desire to investigate things has always been a part of who 
I am.  Since I'm tied down with kids right now, agricultural research is a 
natural choice.

3) Consumption:  My husband and I have 6 kids and they eat a lot so it pays 
for us to grow as much as we can to feed ourselves.  Not to mention I am a 
second generation organic grower and I fully believe in the philosophy behind 
not using any chemicals and not eating food grown using chemicals.  A short 
story in support of that view is that an aunt did a family history (huge 
Mennonite family so lots of people to look at) and found that every single 
one of my relatives who farmed with agricultural chemicals died of liver 
cancer or leukemia.  It didn't matter if it was the males out spraying or the 
females living nearby and washing the clothes.  It didn't matter if they were 
fruit farmers in the BC Okanagan or grain farmers on the SK Prairies..  And 
the city dwellers had absolutely no cancer of any kind.  Hard to argue with 
those odds in my genes!  Not to mention with kids around I feel more 
comfortable knowing that I am spraying soapy water!  'Course I
 should admit that I usually joke about the only difference between an 
Organic fruit farmer and a Conventional fruit farmer up here is theoretical 
because no one up here actually sprays anything for anything!  And I also 
like to eat odd things: green, purple, and orange cauliflower, purple and red 
fleshed potatoes, purple, red, and yellow carrots...

4) Business:  Eventually I would like to be able to have my kids help work in 
the orchard and be able to use any money made to help them go to college..  I 
was 14 when I started my first successful business (goat dairy) and so I have 
a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit too.

If you look under my Pear tree list you will notice some very exciting 
Russian pears.  Russia has been developing super hardy, large, tasty pears 
since the 60's or so and I have been lucky enough to get my hands on some 
budwood that was smuggled in.

I'd love to hear from anyone in Canada who would like to exchange budwood.... 
I'm not real interested in jail time for smuggling right now, maybe someday!

Okay, nuff said and here is the list I put together for a local fruit group 
I'm a member of.

Sarah 
zone 3
Edmonton, AB



Trees being grafted in 2009 (hopefully available in the future).

Apples: 74

Adanac, Almata, Alnarp 2, Antonovka Kamenichka, Atlas Red, Autumn Arctic, 
Bill's Red Flesh, Blushed Calville, Breaky,
Burgundy, Chenango Strawberry, Cherry Cox, Cinnamon Spice, Crab 6, Crimson 
Beauty, Duchess (Red), Early Harvest, Gascoynes Scarlet, Geneva 163, Geneva, 
Geneva Crab, Glowing Heart, Golden Sweet, Graventein Red CL 9, Green Sweet, 
Hall's Pink, Hanson's Red Flesh, Heyer #20, Hidden Rose, Irish Peach, James 
Grieve, July Tart, Katherine, Lubsk Queen, Maiden Blush, Mantet, Melba 
Platts, Morden 359, Moscow Pear, Mother, Niedzwetskyana Crab, Norbil, Norbil 
2, Noret, Norhey, Norjus, Norlove, Norrusset, Oriole, Pink Beauty, Pink 
Pearl, Pink Pearmain, Pinova, Pitmaston Pineapple, Princess Louise, Quinte, 
Red Flesh, Red Glow, Renown, Ribston, Scarlet Surprise, Scugog, Shelley, 
State Fair, Sweet Bough, Sweet 16, Valentine, Vista Bella, Wickson Crab, 
Winekist, Wisley.   
    

Pears: 9  Beurre Hardy, Clapp Favorite, Olia, Phileson, Pioneer #3, Red 
Fleshed Pear, Ritson, Starkrimson,Sugar Pear.                   


Plums: 10  Foffonoff, Geddes, Ivanovka, Patterson Pride, Ptitsen #5, Supreme, 
Tecumseh, Toka, Waneta, Zapie.


Peaches: 7  PF 1,7 and 12, Rising Star, Sha Zi Zao Sheng, Ta Qiao Yi Hao, Zin 
Dai Bao     


Apricots: 4  Debbie's Gold, Harcot, Hargrand, Harlayne.


Cherry Plums: 9  Alace, Beta, Delta, Epsilon, Kapa, Omega, Sapalta, Sigma, 
Wessex #9   
      

Sour Cherry: 1  Schatten-morello.


Sweet Cherry: 5  Hedelfingen, Salmo, Sam, Stella, Van.

 
Trees purchased for 2009 planting:

Apples: 13   Alexander, Boughen’s Delight, Collet, Kirk, Milwaukee, Norcue, 
Norson, Red Astrachan, Redfree, Wealthy, William’s,    William’s Pride, 
Yellow Transparent.


Apricots: 3   Capillano, Lorraine, Precious.


Cherry Plums: 5   Dura, Mannor, Oka, Opata, Ruby.


Plumcots: 3  Simon, Yuksa, Aprico.


Pears: 13  Flemish Beauty, John, Montreal Bosc, Northbrite, Nova, Parker, 
Parklot, Patten, Ritson, Sauvignac, So Sweet.


Mazza Cherry: 2  Mazy, Maza.


 
Trees already growing on my farm:

Apples: 52      

Alberta Buff, All Purple Jason Jansen (red-flesh), Battleford, Beautiful 
Arcade, Collet, Carlos Queen, Carrol, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Duchess of 
Oldenburg, Fall Red, Fort Mac Mac, Frostbite (Minnesota 447), Garland, 
Goodland, Haralred, Haralson,  Hazen, Heyer #2, Hibernal, Honeycrisp, Joyce, 
Lee #17, Lodi , MacIntosh, Millstream (Simred ), New Brunswick, 922 End, 
Noran, Norda, Norkent, Norland, Norquay Delight, September Ruby (Ruby Red), 
Simonette 1847, Parkland, PF 5, Prairie Magic, Purple Passion, Redant, Red 
Pippin, Red Wonder, SK Prairie Sun, State Fair, Summer Red, Sunnybrook, 
Sunrise, Vick’s Pick, Westland, Wodarz, Y6211, Zaychuk #1, Zestar.

Apple-crabs/Crab-apples:  9  Brandywine, Centennial, Chestnut, Dolgo, Kerr,  
Red Wonder (red flesh), Rosybrook, Trail, Trailman.

Pears: 26       

Bogataya (Russian), Bokaya  (Russian), Bolshaya  (Russian), Clapp’s Favorite, 
Curly Pear, Decabrinka (Russian, Of December), Early Gold, Federovski, Golden 
Spice, Hayatama (Asian), Kenko (Asian), Kikusui  (Asian), Kransobokaya 
(Russian, Red on the sunny side), Krazulya (Russian, Beauty), Krazura 
(Russian), Luscious, Martin, Ovalkaya  (Russian, Oval shaped), Roppo, 
Shinseiki (Asian), Summercrisp, Simonet, Tait- Dropmore ,Ure, Vekovaya  
(Russian, Fantasy sort of like Disneyworld), Westfort.

Cherries:  32   
Biga, Binga, Black Nanking, Cerise de L’Ile, Evan’s, Giant Nanking, Lapins, 
Lee’s Black Flowering Nanking, Black Cherry Lake, Black Cherry Raven, Pink 
Candles Nanking, Rose, SK  Carmine Jewel, SK Crimson Passion, SK Cupid, SK 
Julliette, SK Romeo, SK Valentine,

Apricot: 11, Cowley, Manchurian, Morden 604, Scout, Sunshine Farm, Westcot.

Plums: 20       

Auenbacher Prune, BF 91, Brookgold, Brookred, Fofonoff, Greengage, Grenville, 
Ivanovka, La Crescent, Mt. Royal, Norther, Patterson Pride, Pembina, 
Pipestone, Ptitsen #10, Sprout’s Sunshine, Supreme, Tecumseh, Toka, Wagenheim 
Prune.

Peaches :   7,  Chui Lum Tao, Tzim Pee Tao,

Cherry Plums:  2,   Convoy, Sapa.       

Honeyberries : Blue Belle, Berry Blue, Blue Bird, Blue Velvet, Blue Pear, 
Cinderella, Polar Night , Polar Jewel, Svetlana.