Here's our annual reminder that John Chapman's legacy lives on at Parkview Field as of our trees was directly raised from the last known living tree he planted in Ohio!
A Rambo Apple tree, a descendant of the apple trees Chapman grew near Nova, Ohio, was recently planted next to the Old Fort here in Fort Wayne. Cuttings (small pieces) of the original tree were grafted onto different root stock (already growing trees). According to the Old Fort Palisade newsletter, these grafted trees were planted throughout the Fort Wayne area years ago ā two of them still growing at the Johnny Appleseed memorial gravesite. Fort Wayne gardener Carsten Retrum raised a grafted Johnny Appleseed Rambo Apple tree at his home. In December of 2016, he donated the tree to the Old Fort. It will serve as a symbolic memento of the legacy Johnny Appleseed has in this area. Copied from Johnny Appleseed's Legacy Lives On in Fort Wayne by Louisa D. on Mar. 15, 2017 on the Visit Fort Wayne blog.
About Johnny Appleseed Authenticā¢ Apple Trees the Johnny Appleseed Authenticā¢ Alego apple tree is a piece of America's pioneering legacy, first came to attention in 1995, after decades of stewardship on the Harvey-Algeo centennial farm in Ashland County, Ohio. Trees Grafted from the Last Known Surviving Tree Planted by Johnny Appleseed at PlantMeGreen.com.
Our Johnny Appleseed tree is bearing apples this year!
Our Johnny Appleseed tree is bearing apples this year!
Native North American Apples and Eating Apples
October 9, 2022 post by USDA Agricultural Research Service on Facebook: Apple orchards today can produce about 10 times more than they did 100 years ago, thanks to researchers at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Plant Genetic Resources Unit in Geneva, New York, and their partners at Cornell University. Learn more about this and some of our other apple research https://loom.ly/UWvTm5g
[see Mo Rocca video with more about Johnny Appleseed apples and origin of wild apple trees]
Crab apples are various species of the Malus genus with 30-50 species usually a small decorative apple tree native to North America and elsewhere now grown mostly for their colorful spring flowers. Eating apples are Malus domestica. The original wild ancestor of Malus domestica was Malus sieversii, found growing wild in the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan from Apples on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. See the Mo Rocca and the Native Apple Trees video below for more on the eating apples origin from Kazakhstan.
MiamiĀ “Chiefess” Tacumwah gave birth to Pechewa or Richardville in 1761 near an old apple tree somewhere west of theĀ Saint Joseph River, in theĀ villageĀ ofĀ Kekionga.Ā This fruit-bearing tree, with its trunk alleged to have measured twelve feet in circumference, became a part of local tradition.Ā It was an early example of a European tree foreign toĀ North AmericaĀ and played an interesting role during the siege ofĀ Fort WayneĀ in 1812.
The tree is suspected to have sprouted from an apple seed accidentally dropped or deliberately planted by an early French trader or priest visiting the Three Rivers region. It was destroyed during a heavy spring storm in 1866, however, its main trunk was left behind for some time.Ā It produced fruit said to be small and usually ripened in October. Ā Jesse Lynch Williams, of Indiana Internal Improvements renown, was quoted as saying, “We need not question its identity. There are specimens of the hardier varieties in this country now bearing fruit at the age of 150 to 200 years.”
Mo Rocca on CBS News visited the Johnny Appleseed Festival in 2017 and his video shows his visit to Kazakhstan where eating apples originate.
CBS Sunday Morning November 26, 2017 on YouTube Was Johnny Appleseed for real? Where did apples originate? And how do horticulturists develop better and better varieties of the fruit? Mo Rocca visits the Johnny Appleseed Festival in Fort Wayne, Ind., and goes on a cross-country search for the history of apples, including a new variety - the Cosmic Crisp - coming soon to a produce market near you.
[shows what Johnny's apples might look like and discusses origin of wild apples in Kazakhstan where 150,000 seeds from wild apple trees were collected for furthering apple research]
It's National Johnny Appleseed Day! Here is a look back at Mo Rocca's visit to the Johnny Appleseed Festival in Fort Wayne, Ind., from 2017. https://cbsn.ws/2xo2eUa [video link is How's them apples" a longer YouTube video posted above]
This video is a short clip from an hour long podcast on The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast which you can find at: www.orchardpeople.com/native-apple-trees
The interview features Paul Kron, Research Associate at the Plant Population and Evolution Research Lab at the University of Guelph: http://www.husbandlab.ca/
Most of the Husband lab research on Malus coronaria has taken place at rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge, Ontario Rare is an excellent spot to see Malus coronaria trees in a publicly accessible area: https://raresites.org/
The show host is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website OrchardPeople.com: https://orchardpeople.com/
A well written article about the power of DNA analysis as a tool to aid fruit explorers in the re-discovery of lost apples. The setting for this story is in the UK but it mirrors the work of MORP and others in North America.
"In the family tree of British [and North American] apples, there have long been some prominent holes. It's the equivalent of a great-grandfather whose name has been forgotten. He's there in all the old photographs, staring out at you. But who is he?"
Did you know that MORP has located American "unknown founder 5" in an orchard in Weber Canyon, Colorado? Two grand old trees remain. Will we ever know its historic name again? We hope so, that is part of the work we do with the assistance of DNA experts, but in the meantime we will continue to preserve this unknown cultivar along with hundreds of others with similar stories. Best of all you can too! Check out trees available for sale to support this work: https://montezumaorchard.org/shop/
Cheers to fruit explorers (and scientists) around the world and to the orchard owners where the trees remain (and to those willing to grow them again)!
Discover the fascinating world of wild and cultivated apple varieties at the USDA’s Apple Collection in Geneva, NY with Ben Gutierrez, USDA’s Apple and Tart Cherry Curator. Tune in to the Orchard People radio show for an informative episode on all things apple and tart cherry. https://loom.ly/HgC_AQY
of our trees was directly raised from the last known living tree he planted in Ohio! 
