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Deadline Approaching to Purchase Fruit Plants from Watauga Extension’s Annual Fruit Plant Sale

Watauga County Cooperative Extension’s annual fruit plant sale will end on April 2nd.  The types of fruit plants being sold are apples, blueberries, raspberries, thornless blackberries, strawberries, and asparagus.  Proceeds from the sales will benefit horticultural programming, opportunities for youth, and community Master Gardener projects.

     Fourteen varieties of hard to find heirloom apples will be sold. These are the old time varieties that were an integral part of every farm but are no longer commercially available. What is special about these trees is that they are grafted on a semi-dwarf rootstock.  The way this works is 2 plants are joined together to get the best qualities of each.   The top part is from heirloom apples of yesteryear that offer such great flavors and versatility of use.  The roots are from a tree that only gets 15-20 ft. at maturity, so this keeps the tree smaller and more manageable. Trees will be 2-year-old bare root plants, about 4-5 feet tall that are ready to plant in the orchard.

     Four different varieties of 3-year-old blueberry plants will be sold in 1 gallon containers.  Strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, and asparagus plants will be sold as bare root plants, which means they do not come potted in soil. This is an effective way to start new plants early in the season and allows the plant to be sold at a lower cost

     Orders must be placed and prepaid no later than Monday April 2nd.   Orders can be dropped off at or mailed to our office, located at 971 W. King St, Boone.  Checks should be made payable to Watauga NCCES. Pickup of your pre-ordered plants will be on Friday April 13th from 12pm to 6pm and Saturday April 14th from 9am to 12pm.  Come by our office or see our website at www.watauga.ces.ncsu.edu for order forms and variety descriptions.