If you happen to be in Portland, Oregon, you can go to see the oldest living grafted apple tree in the state, a Bellflower planted in 1850. It was bought from Luelling and Meek Nursery in Milwaukie, Oregon, the first grafted fruit tree nursery on the West Coast. The tree is about 36 feet tall and has a 9-foot circumference. It's located at 4700 SW Campbell Court. You can read more about Bellflower apples and their history here.
Here are some more Oregon apples from 1910. Unfortunately, we can't see what varieties they were.
And here are the backs of the cards in the same order.
This one was sent to Master John Ockfen of McKenna, Washington.
They grew a lot of that giant fruit back in the day :).
ReplyDeleteLove those apples on the scales!
ReplyDeleteLooks like they are able to share the same railroad car with the peaches!
ReplyDeleteA couple years ago we were down in Hood River during the apple harvest. Drove to an orchard that had a variety called Yoko. It was so good that when we got home we called our produce stores and nobody heard of it. We finally called the orchard itself and they only had 2 trees, and all the apples are sold only at their farm. So, Christine, you have to go to Hood River during the harvest. That is the whole point of this long winded paragraph!
Thank you Steven. I will remember this, although by the time fall rolls around I will probably remember it incorrectly. Hopefully, some apple grower will make the connection when I ask for the John Lennon apple.
ReplyDeleteThey are fun postcards with their big apples.
ReplyDeleteOh my, that postcard of the horticultural display is a beauty!
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