Today in the orchard
Sasanoa tree and Barry Rodrigue, The Basin, Phippsburg Maine.
The rain came with gusto one day before the official beginning of the rainy season (“April Showers bring…”). The snow that piled up a couple of days ago ran in rivulets across the driveway and into the stream to the delight of the ducks. I did a bit of work outdoors, cutting some scionwood including ‘Sasanoa’ an emerald green and russeted sport of Rhode Island Greening. Sasanoa is a provisional name for the tree discovered by Barry Rodrigue down in ‘The Basin’ in Phippsburg. Whatever community was once there is long gone, and the scattering of remaining ancient apple trees are now reaching the end of their lives.
I last visited the Sasanoa tree in 2023. I was able to salvage a few scions off it, but I suspect that by now the hollow, twisted tree is probably dead. I always wondered why I’d rarely found Rhode Island Greening (RIG) trees in Maine. It appears that I had, I just didn’t know it. Evidently RIG sports were not unknown in Maine 150+ years ago. They DNA profile as RIG, but they look really different. We found another probable sport in Boothbay, not far from Phippsburg as the crow flies. The two apples are very similar. Perhaps both trees were grafted from the same source.
