Dumelow’s Seedling apple should be spelt Dummeller’s Seedling

Tombstone of Richard Dummeller, Shackerstone churchyard, Leicestershire

The gravestone of Richard Dummeller in Shackerstone Churchyard in the village of that name near Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire is of interest to fruit enthusiasts because Dummeller raised the well culinary apple Dumelow’s Seedling and there has long been debate as to how to spell his surname. In 1884, the eminent Victorian pomologist Dr Robert Hogg spelt it ‘Dumelow’s, but he also wrote that ‘This excellent apple was raised by a person of the name Dumeller (pronounced Dumelow), a farmer in Shakerstone’ in his Fruit Manual. Although he had known the apple for decades and it is recorded in the first 1866 edition of his Manual. A different spelling was used by Edward Bunyard the foremost authority of the 1920-30s. Bunyard records it as Dummelous Seedlling and credits its origin to Mr Dummelow. Other variants have appeared in fruit lists. But it seems that to honour its raiser the spelling should be Dummeller and the village name is Shackerstone!

Jim Arbury

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Fruit Paintings of Elisabeth Dowle

Beurré Hardy, Red Beurré Hardy pear painted by Elisabeth Dowle. Copyright Elisabeth Dowle.
Published in The Book of Pears by Joan Morgan (2015); Ebury Press

Elisabeth Dowle is internationally recognised as one of our leading botanic artists and now there is an opportunity to see many of her best-known works in an exhibition at Cannon Hall Museum, Barnsley, Yorkshire. The exhibition opened on 24 May 2019 and continues until 3 November 2019: http://www.cannon-hall.com/pears-and-apples-the-botanical-illustration-of-elisabeth-dowle

The Cannon Hall exhibition includes 12 of Elisabeth’s apple paintings and 15 of her paintings of pears. The exhibition is displayed in two adjoining rooms, creating intimate spaces and truly cabinets of treasures in which the paintings really sparkle. Well worth a detour if you are in Yorkshire over the summer.

Pear paintings fill the first room and there is special emphasis on the pears, as Cannon Hall has an historic collection of trained pear trees growing in a walled fruit and vegetable garden, close to the house. A number of these pear trees are very old, probably dating back to the nineteenth century, when the gardens were in their prime. The famous Cannon Hall Muscat grape was raised here and the original vine  continues to thrive in one of the glass houses.

Elisabeth has been awarded seven Royal Horticultural Society’s Gold Medals for her water colour paintings. The paintings featured in Cannon Hall exhibition were used to illustrate The Book of Pears by Joan Morgan (2015) and The Book of Apples/The New Book of Apples (1993, 2002)  by Joan Morgan and Alison Richards; published by Ebury Press. These paintings were made from pears and apples growing in the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent. Elisabeth’s work has been used to illustrate other books, featured on porcelain and calendars and are held in a number of private collections and institutions.

Fruit Forum

 

Pear trees trained against a wall at Cannon Hall

 

Cannon Hall Muscat grape fruiting at Cannon Hall

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Tropical Fruit Tour of Costa Rica

Fruits from Costa Rica

All of the fruits on display above can be found growing in Costa Rica. Their identities are given below by Charlie Strader of Fruit Explorations Inc, which is based in Florida.

From the left: Pachira aquatic, Costa Ricans call it ‘Poponjoche’. It is known by the common names Malabar chestnut, French peanut, Provision tree, Saba nut, Pumpo (Guatemala) and is commercially sold under the names Money tree. Licania platypus (Sansapote, or Sangre in Costa Rica), Mamey Zapote, achiote, cocoa, Eugenia uniflora (Surinam cherry).

We thought that visitors to Fruit Forum may be interested in a tour arranged by Charlie Strader to explore the tropical fruits of Costa Rica.

All the details are here: https://www.explorationsinc.com/costa-rica-fruit-tour.html

This botanical trip departs July 27 2019, contact:  email info@explorationsinc.com

 

And can any of our readers identify this fruit growing in Costa Rica:

Fruit Forum

 

 

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Fruit Blossom 2019

Laxton’s Epicure apple

As we have done for a number of years, we publish the blossom records for the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, undertaken and kindly supplied by Lorinda Jewsbury. These are records for a selection of varieties (standards and any new accessions) from all the tree fruit collections at Brogdale, Kent.

18^th April 2019

So far this season, the blossom in the NFC orchards has (in general) opened a couple of weeks earlier than last year. Some varieties took advantage of the mild March weather, with the plums, pears and a few of the early cherries in particular opening their blossom 6-8 days earlier than their recorded 10-year mean. However, a dip in temperatures and some pretty cold nights held the rest back and brought them more into line with their 10-year means.

The past couple of days have been much warmer here at Brogdale and the forecast for the Easter weekend is for even higher day-time temperatures. With brighter days and warmer nights, the coming weekend should see the apples and cherries really spring into action. Just this morning I noticed a handful of apples that had by-passed the 10% mark and fully opened 25% of flowers in one go. Although a few tend to do this each year, the number was quite noticeable today. Next week is likely to be a busy one for recording blossom, if the weather holds as predicted, and most of the remaining varieties should be open for business.

Lorinda Jewsbury

 

2019

PLUM

Cambridge Gage: 1^st April (10% open); 4^th April (full flower)

Czar: 26^th March (10% open); 30^th March (full flower); 16^th April (90% petal fall)

Denniston’s Superb (Imperial Gage): 23^rd March (10% open); 26^th March (full flower); 4^th April (90% petal fall)

Farleigh Damson: 29^th March (10% open); 30^th March (full flower); 16^th April (90% petal fall)

Marjorie’s Seedling: 2^nd April (10% open); 5^th April (full flower); 18^th April (90% petal fall)

Oullins Gage: 26^th March (10% open); 29^th March (full flower); 15^th April (90% petal fall)

Pershore Yellow Egg: 28^th March (10% open); 30^th March (full flower); 12^th April (90% petal fall)

Victoria: 29^th March (10% open); 1^st April (full flower); 10^th April (90% petal fall)

 

PEAR

Concorde: 12^th April (10% open); 16^th April (full flower);

Conference: 12^th April (10% open); 16^th April (full flower);

Doyenne du Comice: 16^th April (10% open); 18^th April (full flower);

Louise Bonne of Jersey: 2^nd April (10% open); 7^th April (full flower);

 

CHERRY

Early Rivers: 7^th April (10% open); 10^th April (full flower);

Hertford: 8^th April (10% open); 15^th April (full flower);

Lapins: 7^th April (10% open); 11^th April (full flower);

Merchant: 17^th April (10% open);

Stella: 15^th April (10% open);

Sunburst: 17^th April (10% open);

 

APPLE

Blenheim Orange:

Bramley’s Seedling:

Cox’s Orange Pippin:

Crawley Beauty:

Discovery:

Egremont Russet: 17^th April (10% open);

Falstaff: 18^th April (10% open);

Feuillemorte:

Fiesta/Red Pippin:

Gala:

James Grieve:

Jonagold: 18^th April (10% open);

Meridian: 18^th April (10% open);

Red Astrachan: 6^th April (10% open); 10^th April (full flower);

St. Edmund’s Pippin: 17^th April (10% open);

Worcester Pearmain:

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Korbinian’s apple/Korbiniansapfe

 

Korbiniansapfe/Korbinian’s apple, raised by Korbinian Aigner (1885-1966), a Bavarian priest

 

I read your article about Korbinian Apple and am looking to get a tree or scion wood …. any idea or help in finding such would be appreciated. Although I know it will become a different variety, I would ultimately settle for finding seeds, but that isn’t my ideal. The story of Father Korbinian is great and I want to celebrate that.

Matt Jackson

Korbiniansapfe/Korbinian’s apple was raised by Korbinian Aigner (1885-1966), a Bavarian priest, between 1941 and 1945 when he was a prisoner in a German concentration camp; it became widely planted in Bavaria, but was not named until 1985. For more details see our main website and here : The Apple Priest Korbinian Aigner.   At the bottom of this article a number of German nurseries selling trees are listed

Info@BaumschuleRitthaler.de
schwerdtfeger-obst@t-online.de
pflanzlust@t-online.de

 

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Pomegrante fruiting in London

Pomeganate fruiting in North London

Pomegranate trees rarely fruit in England out of doors, but this years’s summer has resulted in a crop of ripe fruit on a tree growing in North London.

Has anyone else discovered a pomegranate that has produced fruit this year?

Mary Rawitzer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more news of pomegrantes fruiting in UK see our main web-site: http://www.fruitforum.net/articles/pomegranates-in-england

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Hogg’s ‘Fruit Manual’ reprint at bargain price

 

 

Dr Hogg’s Fruit Manual, reprint of 1884 edition

Readers of this Blog may be interested to know Robert Hogg’s Fruit Manual; A Guide to the Fruits and Fruit Trees of Great Britain, facsimile edition, once £40, has been remaindered, and is now obtainable from http://www.psbooks.co.uk for £8.99 plus pp £2. Catalogue no. 298, book no.505752.

Jim Streeton

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History of Thomas Rivers Nursery: reprinted 2018

Now reprinted 2018

Rivers Nursery of Sawbridgeworth: the Art of Practical Pomology by Elizabeth Waugh was first published in 2009. The book went out of print for a while, but we are delighted to tell you that it has been reprinted and is available once again. When first published, in 2009, we reviewed it on our main website under the title ‘The Rivers Nursery of Sawbridgeworth‘. There was also an article about the conservation of a remaining orchard on the site of the Nursery on this Blog: – ‘The Rescued Orchard and the Rivers Heritage’ by Paul Read. For more information on the Rivers Heritage Site and Orchard go to: www.rhso.co.uk

In brief this is a book of 200 pages illustrated with old photographs and maps. It is the story of an outstanding contributor to the history of fruit growing in Britain. A long-established family firm (1725 – 1987), the Thomas Rivers directors and the many local men and women who worked on the land and in the greenhouses developed the Conference pear and Early Rivers plum as well as apple varieties and oranges. The agricultural history of East Hertfordshire is entwined with the rise and fall of the business.

To purchase this book for £15 plus p&p, email www.rhso.co.uk

Fruit Forum

 

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Railway Star apple: found alongside a railway line

Spoorwegster or Railway Star apple

Spoorwegster, meaning Railway Star, is the latest chance apple seedling to enter nursery lists. It was spotted growing alongside a railway line in Limburg, Belgium by Joseph Grouwels, who took some cuttings and grafted new trees for his garden. Grouwels brought this brilliantly colourful apple to the notice of the NBS (Nationale Boogaartenstichting). They were impressed, propagated trees and included it in the list of varieties they sell. As well as being remarkable for its colour, Spoorwegster/Railway Star apple will keep well into the New Year, even in amateur stores. Probably a seedling of the famous Belgian apple Reinette Rouge Etoilé, which it resembles, except that it lasts longer and is a more striking colour. The star-shaped ‘dots’, lenticels, which give Reinette Rouge Etoilé its name, however, are less prominent. Its taste is said to be good.

Fruit Forum

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Late Blossom this Year

Morello cherry 23 April 2018 at National Fruit Collection, Kent. In flower 10 April 2017.

Here in North East Wales, no doubt due to the long chilly spring, we all have experienced in the UK, I have the peculiar anomaly this year of every early flowering fruit tree being late to flower and catching up with the later flowering trees.
 I cannot recall this unusual happening before but I have only kept accurate records from when I moved here in 2006. I’m keeping a record of what will and what won’t grow here in the Vale of Clwyd where we have a micro-climate and unusually low rainfall for North Wales.
 Things are certainly looking toward a bonus crop of fruit for me this year if the later fruit set on the peach and apricots is anything to go by.
 The hot dry weather from last week has pretty much suddenly burst everything into blossom in an overlapping cycle of events. The plums just overlapping the pears and the cherries overlapping the apples.

Right at this moment on the 27th April I have just into blossom 4 out of 6 apple trees, Charlotte first into flower on 24th April with Scrumptious, followed by Flamenco on 26th, Greensleeves is just opening its first flower buds today. The two Laxton Superb trees are just at the pink bud stage this year.
 Four pears: Beth was first with masses of blossom open on the 21st April this year, followed by Conference, Comice, and Williams’ still in flower.
 Also still in blossom 8 plum trees: Denbigh Plum, 2 Jubileum plum, Marjorie’s Seedling (also a mass of blossom this week), 2 Opal plums, Ontario plum and Victoria. The Victoria and the two Jubileum plums were first to flower this year on 18th April, closely followed by Opal and Denbigh, last was Marjorie’s Seedling on the 24th April. Cherries in flowering sequence this year were: Summer Sun, Early Rivers, 21st April, then Kordia on 23rd, Stella and Morello just starting to flower this week on 26th April.
 All three Apricots (2 Tomcot and 1 Large Early) and peach Redhaven all flowered later, in early March (under cover).

Philip Lunt

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