A wild find- the story behind our
new apple- Wild Granny.
Diggers’ Sales and Hardware Manager, Keith, heads bush to go
fourth and propagate!
When we look around at the apples either in our
supermarket or the local fruit & vegetable shop, we
see the same small number of varieties and subtle
colour differences, with the exception of the green
Granny Smith. This heirloom cultivar originated in
‘Eastwood’ a suburb of Sydney in 1868, from a chance
seedling propagated by Sussex-born Maria Ann Smith,
(nee Sherwood, 1799-1870) which came to be known
as the ‘Granny Smith’. One of the first Nurseries to
propagate this apple in Victoria was ‘Shepherd’s’ down
on the Mornington Peninsula, who to this day produce
fruit trees for the Diggers Club.
When I was a small child, my family would spend the
Christmas holidays camping on the banks of the Little
Snowy Creek, 7 or so kilometers past the small town of
Mitta Mitta on the Omeo highway. This tradition I kept,
by taking my young family and introducing them to the
pleasures of the bush. Today, as adults, they continue
to keep the tradition alive. Mitta, was once a thriving
gold town, with a lot of Chinese miners working the
area. In the surrounding bush you can see plantings
of non-indigenous species, that have grown from the
seeds of Heirloom fruits consumed by these explorers.
Along the sides of the roads, you can see lots of fruit
trees that have grown from seeds of fruit dropped by
the wayside. The fruits from these ‘seedlings’ rarely
rate a mention taste wise, you are left disappointed by
their lack of flavor.
Last Easter my daughter and the extended family
went camping to the usual site, but this time they had
4 wheel drives, to explore tracks in the surrounding
hills. Along one of these track they found an
apple tree laden with the most beautifully coloured
fruits, pink-red with streaks of golden yellow in
lines extending down to a soft yellow base. There
was no disappointment with the flavour and they
consumed so many, but importantly, saved so many
to bring home and share. When I first saw this fruit
I was amazed by its colour and its fragrance. The
taste was so fresh and sweet, unlike any apple
I had eaten. I brought a bag of these apples to
Heronswood and, along with six New Season apples
from the Fruit & Vegetable shop, we conducted a
taste test. The varieties were, Granny Smith, Golden
Delicious, Fuji, Kanzi, Pink Lady, Royal Gala and our
Heirloom seedling from the bush. Each apple was
rated on taste, appearance and texture.
The results taken out of a possible 100 were as
follows, Granny Smith 65, Fuji 68, Golden Delicious
60, Pink Lady 82, Royal Gala 74, and our Heirloom
mystery variety scored a total of 80, placing it second
overall.
In April I located the tree, and photographed and
gathered the remaining fruits. August we returned
to collect cuttings to be grafted onto our rootstock,
and in November we photograph the tree in bloom,
thus completing the story. Limited stock of this newly
discovered Heirloom is now available to share this
amazing apple with members of the Diggers Club.
Above: The oh so wild granny, and left, the fruit ready for taste
testing.