white apricots.

Anyone growing these? Are they as wonderful as they sound? If you are growing them what zone do you live in?. I think I am going to order some for next year, before all the nurserys are out of them....

Also , if you have ordered them, do you have any suggestions for a source?

Kathy, I have not heard of many people having success with them outside of the west coast so it is a bit of a crap shoot. The one variety known to do well all over the country is called Afghanistan, but it is unfortunately not available from any nursery. I have devoted a little patch to white apricots and have half a dozen varieties, aiming to see which ones will work in my climate. If you ask me in a few years I will have a better idea. If you want to take a crap shoot yourself, Bay Laurel Nursery sells two varieties of white apricot tree.

Scott

I am always up for a good experiment.. So I went ahead and ordered two trees from a place called Sanhedrin nurseries? Anyhow.

What varieties do you have? How long have you had yours?

I have a bunch of varieties.. Canadian White Blenheim, Shekar Pareh, Noori, Afghanistan, Sukphany, Lasgerdi, and a couple others. Most of the white apricot varieties are from the persia/central asia region. CWB could also be from that area in spite of the name, its origin is unclear. My trees are from 1-4 years old. Sanhendrin gets its trees from Dave Wilson if I recall, the same place as Bay Laurel. So you probably got a CWB and a Shekar Pareh.

Lets hope we have some good luck!!

Scott

You are correct I bought two Canadian White Blenheims. I suppose I thought with Canadian in the name they would be pretty cold hardy?

KathyJo, Is Sanhedrin in Willits? If so, they are a wonderful place, very helpful! I'm moving up to that area soon and have chatted with the owner on the phone and in person and he is very knowlegeable.

KathyJo, it is unclear how hardy CWB is, the origin of it is murky despite the Canada in the name. Most Apricots are hardy to zone 5 so you should be OK.

The fullest history of CWB is found in Andy Mariani's varieties list. He says:

Unknown origin but [Andy] obtained from Canada with scions labeled "Early Blenheim". Medium, oval to oblong fruit. Skin pale yellow. White, sweet flesh, firm. Spectacular bloom. Sprays of pinkish, perfumed blossoms. highly ornamental but cropping is suspect. May need substantial chill. Healthy, vigorous tree may be planted for its landscape value with occasional production of superb white fruit a bonus.

Andy is in a low-chill area so his comments about cropping may have to do with the chill only.

Scott

It gets pretty chilly here on my hill..

Thanks for all the information. I hadn't been able to find that much. I just thought the fruit sounded like it would taste wonderful.

Patricia, All I know about the nursery is , it's in Northern California... I am not familiar with Willits.