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Last updated: April 27, 2009 5:43 p.m.

An Appleseed tree has bloomed

By Cathie Rowand
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Cathie Rowand/The Journal Gazette

The first blossom on my apple tree.

Five years ago, I received in the mail two immature apple trees grafted from the supposedly only surviving tree planted by Johnny Appleseed on the farm of Richard and Phyllis Algeo in Nova, Ohio. One of the trees grew and the other is still about the size it was when it arrived in the mail. Today the tree that grew bloomed for the first time. As to whether the blooms will yield apples, it is doubtful. The other tree was supposed to grow, too, so that they could pollinate each other. I have planted crab apples as a substitute pollinator but they haven't bloomed yet this season.

I am also wondering what type of apple tree it is. I was told it was a Rambo apple tree. Some say this was Johnny Appleseed's favorite variety of apple. Others say he preferred wild apples. Now I hear that most nurseries are calling the grafts from this famous Alegeo's tree the "Johnny Appleseed" variety rather than a Rambo. Unlike the mid-summer Rambo, the Johnny Appleseed variety ripens in September. If my tree manages to produce apples this year, the time it ripens will help solve the mystery.

Journey through gardening season with Rosa Salter Rodriguez (feature writer) rsalter@jg.net, Anne Gregory (Web editor and writer) agregory@jg.net, Frank Noonan (copy editor) fnoonan@jg.net, Cathie Rowand (photographer) crowand@jg.net, and Michael Zennie (metro reporter) mzennie@jg.net.