Who would have thought the planting of a Golden Russet apple tree and highbush blueberry bush on the MRG (near the umbrella sculpture) back in 2019 would involve an ensuing drama? Each year there has been a search mid-summer, when the fertile plain along the Mascoma River power-charges the growth of entangling vines, shrubs, and tall grasses and an annual hide-and-seek for both apple tree and blueberry bush. Beavers have felled the tree. (Pathos) Apple Corps member. Jack Spicer, successfully grafted branches onto the stump and revived the tree (Ecstasy!) . . . and then the tree was lost yet again, engulfed in the tangle dangle vines.
Last August, it was the intrepid Bart Gueti who ventured forth and located the tree in a tangle of vetch, woodbine, sumac, and tall grasses . . . and it was Bart who discovered the stump this past winter. Were it not for the shiny metal of the hardware cloth wrapped around the stump, the tree might have been lost yet again. Another bold adventurer, Joan McGovern, made her way through the overgrowth with an Ikea bag of tools. She located the tree, snipped, and pulled vegetation, cut and folded back the cage, and freed the graft from its confines
The lost highbush blueberry, fully immersed in milkweed, sumac, vetch, and vines was also located; and, even in its cramped and shaded quarters, looks remarkably healthy, though quite small for a 6 or 7 year old bush..
A narrow path that leads through the tangles to both the blueberry bush and the grafted apple tree has now been cleared. Thanks to Joan for the hard work on a very hot day! We hope the next drama for this apple tree and blueberry will be the fruiting of three varieties of apples: Golden Russets, Cabot Russets, and Cinnamon Girls and a bounty of blueberries!
The Mascoma River Greenway 