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| Sarah Juniper binding a new graft of 'Rose of Ciren' onto M27 stock. |
With the end of the snowdrop season I am able to get away from Colesbourne in daylight again - and there is a lot of catching-up to do. Back in October 2010 I wrote about the rare apple variety 'Rose of Ciren' and said I'd be getting material of it grafted that winter. That never happened, thanks to the hard winter, and another attempt in January this year had to be aborted because of snow.
This afternoon, however, I finally got to Dursley with a bundle of graft wood for the attention of Sarah Juniper. Sarah is the daughter of Dr Barrie Juniper, who was one of my tutors at Oxford and a great apple enthusiast, not only in cultivation, but also in the wild, having tracked down the wild apple to the forests of Central Asia. Sarah has inherited his enthusiasm and although her main trade is the making of shoes in period styles (see her website), a sideline is the grafting of apples and pears for enthusiasts, or those like me, who wish to preserve an old and obscure variety by propagating it. Without much good material to work with, Sarah had to do her best with 'Rose of Ciren' but she managed to find enough to produce seven new potential trees; now it's up to me to ensure that they grow.
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| Apple 'Rose of Ciren' |
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May I ask the indulgence of Mr Grimshaw’s space to ask if Ms Juniper or anyone else offers a similar service grafting pears?
ReplyDeleteWe have a very big old Pitmaston Duchess that has long since outgrown its position against the wall of a building that now needs restoration work, so the tree must regretfully go.
After a few sulky years (we came to it 12 years ago) the tree has woken up, responding (I assume) brilliantly to recent cold winters producing loads of characteristically gigantic fruit – most of them over 400gm and some over 500gm. Last season they were also virtually canker/scab free.
We would very much like to be able to repay this generosity by planting its offspring when the works are done, but lack the skill and suitable stock.
Can anyone advise please? – to nicholasclaytons.demon.co.uk
Apologies - I tried to be clever avoiding the @ that should be between nicholas and claytons.demon.co.uk
ReplyDeleteSuch trees are as integral part of our cultural heritage as great works of art and their preservation equally important. And then, you can eat them!
ReplyDelete