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Goodby, Macoun. Hello, King David?

A ribbed Macoun apple
Macoun
A dark red King David apple
King David

Macoun, the queen of vinous apples, is just not 100% if grown in Virginia.

King David, apple of the South, does not reach its peak here in New England.

I shall miss Macoun.

I am not going anywhere. But the climate is.

The Nature Conservancy finds that the climate in neighboring Vermont is likely to "become like that of southern Virginia."

The good news, I guess, is that Virginia boasts some great apples.

They just aren't the ones that do well up here, for the most part. The ones linked intimately with our sense of place.

The ones we love.

Sure, people grow northern apples in the south. Vintage Virginia Apples lists many familiar varieties, including McIntosh.

But do they grow well there?

I have heard boasts that McIntosh (a Canadian variety) does not realize its full peak qualities south of Maine. Even today.

What hope then for the breed in the brave, new, hotter future?

Also climate and apples in this thread on Twitter

Comments

  1. Interesting article! Another reason for more people to learn to graft.

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    Replies
    1. Also another reason to stop dumping carbon into the atmosphere! Or we'll be growing oranges, not apples.

      Delete
  2. I am planning to move to Washington State upon retirement. I will be taking scions of my So. Cal. apples...

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  3. Kinda why Im growing 500 apple varieties, just to experience the differences from year to year. Our heat this year pushed the medlar to blet/decay considerably earlier, very strange, like months earlier.

    ReplyDelete

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