Today in the orchard
Today I spent several hours reviewing the DNA results for the historic apple collection at the New England Botanic Gardens at Tower Hill. Tower Hill stewards what became one of the most important “heirloom” collections in North America since being assembled by Stearns Lothrop Davenport and his apple friends in the mid-twentieth century near Worcester, MA. It has had its challenges including phenotypic errors, pests, disease and aging out, but it persists and has been a source of thousands of sticks of scionwood as well as a huge inspiration to apple researchers, orchardists, historians and collectors across North America and beyond. Including me!
At this point all 119 accessions in the collection have been DNA profiled. My goal today was to put together a document with all the results as well as suggested action items for those accessions that need further testing or research. I sent off a draft to the Historic Fruit Tree Working Group and received a number of corrections and additions from Cameron Peace to incorporate into the document. I will post a link to it in the coming days.
On Saturday, November 15, Todd Little-Siebold and I will give a presentation at Tower Hill that will focus on the history of apples in New England, including Tower Hill. If you’re in the area, come join us.