It looks like they were saved with some help from Fedco!
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Wonderful news. I have always liked Fedco. Enjoy reading its catalog to learn something or being amused.
If I lived close to Fedco, I would not miss their annual tree sale. Their trees are healthy and large.
This story makes me want to support Fedco even more. Thank you for posting it.
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Yeah, Fedco’s great. They definitely go out of their way to run their business in a way that aligns with their ethics. And they’re great about giving back and supporting the rural Maine economy.
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they’re Mainers. need i say more! 
they even sell trees / scions discovered up here in Aroostook county. my garfield king y. transparent came from them. the original tree was found in ft. kent on charette hill… we used to pick it when i was a kid. biggest apple tree I’ve ever seen around here. it was always a race to see who would get the apples once they ripened.
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You mentioning Aroostook county made me remember that the Hayford Sweet I grafted a couple years ago came from there. Have you ever eaten one?
no. did you get it from fedco?
Yep, a couple years ago. It’s got a few more years to go before it will fruit I imagine. I also grafted Fletcher Sweet from Fedco that year. It has been less vigorous. I’m thinking I will try another scion of both varieties from Temperate Orchard Conservancy this year.
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i grafted sweet sixteen and frostbite on my sergeant crab and liberty and empire on my y. transparent. the y. transparent fruited for me this summer in 3 rd. leaf so i imagine you may get some pretty soon. i only got 6 this time but they were huge. maybe the 2 grafts will bloom and fruit for me next summer. will be pretty cool to see red and yellow fruit on the same tree. i like the fact fedco looks to keep native found apple varieties available. i plan to get some more scions from them next year. i also have 5 pear scions from them that i put on my mountain ash. one of them, Stacyville is a southern Aroostook variety found on a old homestead.
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I hope so. My Hayford and Fletcher Sweet were bench grafted to b118s. I usually don’t allow anything to bare fruit until year 5 at the earliest, many varieties won’t bear until year 6-8 anyway. I think you’ll like Sweet Sixteen and Frostbite. I lost my Stacyville (same as Stacey I think?) on OHxF97 a couple years ago.
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did cold kill it? supposed to be z3 hardy. my y . transparent came as a 6ft. tree so probably a little further along. if it set a large crop i probably would have pruned out many.
Cold combined with lack of snow cover would be my best guess.
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mines protected a little by a large spruce so maybe it will make it.
I have 3 or 4 of the Maine apples. Not the same ones you mention. And they are young grafts.
But, my scion of Stacyville pear did not take to a seedling pear…so that scionwood purchase from Fedco didn’t pan out.
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Nice update, history, and good news on Tower Hill in this interview with Mark Richardson, New England Botanic Garden’s Director of Horticulture, who has overseen the apple orchard restoration project.