Today in the orchard
Scott Skogerboe came to visit us for two days. Scott has worked in the nursery trade for several decades out in Fort Collins, Colorado. He’s an apple geek as well as a plant explorer and plant historian. One of his special interests (among dozens) is Niels Hansen, the plant explorer who found and introduced Dolgo Crab and the red-fleshed apple, Niedzwetzkyana. Hansen also bred and introduced many of the hybrid plums we grow in our orchards as well as dozens of other plants. Fittingly, Scott brought us a small grafted tree of a Dolgo seedling he’s selected for us to trial up at Finley Lane.
For years a mutual friend kept trying to get us together. Then we finally met in Boulder at an apple conference a couple of years ago. He was in New England for a wedding this past week and detoured up to see us. Although we did tour pretty much every tree and garden on the farm, we spent many hours at the kitchen table just talking plants as a much-needed gentle rain blessed the landscape. It was a wonderful visit. When he left, we loaded him down with a major stash of apples to take back to Fort Collins.