We have a wonderful, diverse history of fruit growing in this country and are fortunate to have many collections of precious fruit types representing cultivation from the earliest times of settlement to the present. Unlike the Svaalbard “Doomsday” seed vault in Norway, fruit collections of heirloom apples, pears, cherries and all manner of fruit are in the ground and subject to climate change, variations in growing conditions and new or old pest pressures. Maintaining these precious collections becomes more difficult with each passing year. What strategies must we consider for these living things in order to be available to future generations. Come to Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday, October 10 and hear Dan Bussey give a free presentation on Saving the Heirloom Apple, beginning at 2 pm.  Visit www.towerhillbg.org for more information and directions.

Dan Bussey was born and raised in Wisconsin in the house his father built in the middle of the family farm orchard. Being surrounded by old apple trees since the time he could remember likely contributed much to Dan’s interest in planting trees and having his own orchard. Dan has collected heirloom fruit varieties since 1979. Along with the orchard, Dan operated a community cider press for 24 years and is now the Orchard Manager and apple historian for the Seed Savers Exchange. Discovering information on old apple varieties has been his lifelong passion and he has compiled a soon to be printed, 7 volume encyclopedia of apples that have been grown in North America since 1623. The Illustrated History of the Apple in North America is the largest work on apples of its kind ever published and will be available later this year.  Image from the New York Times.