Description
A cold hardy tree growing at high elevation in the historic Old Fort orchard, Hesperus, Colorado. DNA does not currently match any known cultivar in the dataset, but does match to other unknown trees in Montana and Wyoming confirming it was once widely prized in the Rocky Mountain region.
DNA results show that one of its parents is Alexander (cold hardy apple from Russia) and the other – although unknown – is related to Reinette Franche. Furthermore, this apple is the parent of Redwell a University of Minnesota introduction (origin 1911, introduced 1946) showing it was used in breeding for cold hardiness.
Although we have not yet seen its fruit the above shows we do know a lot about why it was a chosen apple. Please grow one in your backyard or orchard so we can get to know its apples again.
This is one of MORP’s endangered Guardian Trees. We encourage you to grow it and add it to Fruit RegisTREE to help with our preservation efforts.
