I understand Garretson was bred out of Early Golden. It seems that as a rule, a variety only survives in commerce if it is superior in some way from what it was bred from. I keep reading that Early Golden consistently won taste tests at Wye, and nothing similar is reported about Garretson. What does Garretson offer that keeps it on folks’ radars? Is it superior to Early Golden in any way?
I started looking at Early Golden and it seemed it was a good start to American Persimmons. Many people recommend Prok persimmon for American.
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I don’t have Early Golden, but I believe it’s downfall was seeds. Kind of like Meader. Meader I do have and is good, but medium size with a couple seeds. EG has tons of offspring.
I’ve purchased a grafted ‘Garretson’ from Stark’s to set out this Spring in my cool 5A climate.
Last Summer I also grafted a scion from ‘Early Golden’ sourced from England’s Nursery. The variety was originally introduced by Emil Adelbert Riehl (1837-1925) of Alton, IL and despite the name, may be closer to mid-season than super early according to what I’ve read. The scion did take, but I’m not sure yet whether it has survived the Winter. I’m actually more excited about the ‘Garretson’ as my problem is having enough heat to ripen the fruit.
‘Garretson’ is believed to be a seedling of ‘EG’, but a clear history of the variety is hard for me to find. What little I’ve been able to find indicates that it was introduced by a Joel Vale Garretson (1833-1912) of Adams Co., PA. and distributed further by J. F. Jones Nursery. The first published mention of the variety seems to come from the end of the 19th Century. I’m hoping anyone reading this who knows more about its origin will post it here.
As far as some virtues of ‘Garretson’ :
– Prof. J.C. McDaniel (1912-1982) describes it as “one of the choicest of American persimmons hardy to Zone 5” and "matures slightly ahead of ‘EG’, with a slightly smaller but more delicately textured fruit, of a flavor that generally is rated superior to that of ‘EG’.
– Lon J. Rombough (1949-2012) wrote, "While Garretson will produce male flowers fairly often, Killen can go several years without producing any.” (I find this an interesting trait.)
– Prof. George L. Slate (1899-1976) at Geneva, NY reported it as doing well there in a climate very close to mine.
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That’s interesting info about Garretson. I’ve always been surprised about the dearth of history about its origins considering how popular it has been and still is. The short timeline between the discovery and release of EG through the Riehl nursery (~1880s from what I’ve read) and the reported introduction of Garretson is interesting. Will be nice if we ever get sequences of the two.
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I have grown both Garrettson and Early Golden for many years. I like Early GOlden. I simply find Garrettson to be fantastic. It is one of my favorite fruits overall. Even better, since we’ve been having lots more heat recently, some persimmons like H-118 Prairie, haven’t produced any fruit in such heat.
John S
PDX OR
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My H-118 doesn’t seem to like really hot summers either. Of the ones I have that seem to thrive in heat are Ruby, Golden Supreme and Miller.
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I like Ruby. It needs more heat to ripen than many others. I’m going to try to grow H-118 in a more shady part of the yard to see how it responds.
John S
PDX OR
In my book “Uncommon Fruits…” I wrote “About 1880, an early-ripening, flavorful, small-seeded American persimmon was discovered on a farm in Alton, Illinois.” I’m in the colder part of zone 5, recently rebranded as zone 6; Early Golden will not ripen here. I wonder how its flavor compares with Szukis and Mohler. I can’t imagine a better-tasting persimmon than either of these – and they reliably ripen here.
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