sasanoa

Sasanoa is an exceedingly old, rare and beautiful sport of Rhode Island Greening found in Boothbay and Phippsburg, ME. As the seagull flies, the two locations are only a few miles apart and were both almost certainly grafted from the same source tree many generations ago. It was discovered in Boothbay by Peter Larsen and in Phippsburg by Barry Rodrigue. “Sasanoa” is the name given to the apple by Barry. I have never visited the Boothbay tree, but I have been to the Phippsburg tree on multiple occasions, the most recent being in 2023. That ancient tree was probably planted nearly two hundred years ago.

At first I assumed we had found a unique coastal-Maine cultivar. DNA profiling (AMHO 040) has shown that we have an unusual ‘sport’ of the triploid, Rhode Island Greening. For years I wondered why I was not finding old Rhode Island Greening (RIG) trees in Maine. Now I believe it’s because RIG was brought here 200+ years ago primarily as this, or possibly other, sports. As with all sports, the DNA shows it to be identical to the original cultivar, but the sport qualities are maintained when grafted.

The large, roundish, all-purpose fruit has a bright emerald green ground color that is covered with a netting of olive-green russet. We obtained our scionwood from the Phippsburg tree. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.