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.
