Last year around this time I was looking for fruit tree scion wood, and my search led me to the website of Tom Brown in North Carolina in the US. Even though Tom was willing to cooperate, we quickly discovered the Netherlands doesn’t allow the import of apple tree scion wood from the US without lots of red tape, so the discussion ended.
So much of Tom speaks to what it means to collect and share heirloom and heritage varieties. Tom not only has a very impressive collection of heritage apples, mostly from the US south, but he’s done everything possible to collect stories and other documentation to go along with them. The roots of Tom’s interest in his apple collection lie in his childhood and passions as a young man.
Not only has the world lost so many heritage plant varieties over the years, but we’ve lost the passions that go along with growing, documenting and hunting for them.
Tom recently rewrote and reposted the story of how found the Junaluska apple, and sent me a link. Note too the link on the bottom of the page that leads to the various descriptions of the apple he found. Many of us grow the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans in our garden each year, and now thanks to Tom a Cherokee apple from that time is also available.
If you live in the US and are looking for an apple tree to grow, consider buying this or others from Tom via his website.
I saw a really interesting show the other day about a gardening company in the UK who have an extensive collection of potato varieties that are rare or endangered. I wonder if there is something similar in the US where people can get rare seeds from and try to grow them?
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for publicizing Brown’s work. Isn’t it wonderful? I have four heirloom apple trees, and I’m hoping to add to this collection with grafts. Eating apples from these trees means I am eating apples from trees that are sometimes hundreds of years old, since they’re propogated by scionwood. It makes me feel so closely connected to history.
Sorry for the slow reply. I’m in the US (Chicago) for the Thanksgiving holidays, and don’t have regular Internet access.
Hi Gardening,
The situation in the US is a little different because in the UK and Europe old varieties are mostly illegal, due to EU seed laws and food standards. In Europe, varieties not explicitly made legal are illegal, even though you can sometimes find them for sale anyway. The Real Seed Catalogue is an example of a company in the UK that sells ‘informal’ seeds.
In the US old varieties are legal, and much easier to find. For example, Baker Creek sells a lot of old seeds, but there are a lot of other places as well.
By the way, Baker Creek will send seeds to the UK and Europe, as will most other US seed companies. What you have to pay attention to is if the seeds are suitable for the UK climate. For example melons and okra probably won’t grow well in the UK, except in a greenhouse. At least here in Holland, there’s no problem with importing the seeds either.
Also, if you see things on this blog you’re interested in growing, maybe I can send you some seeds or at least tell you where to get them.
Also, on my links page off the front of this blog, I list a number of companies most of whom sell old varieties and will ship to Europe.
Christina,
Aren’t apple trees great! I’m having a great time so far collecting scion wood and grafting it. Last year I found a good source of old Dutch and European varieties.