-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [GV] [Fwd: [Rus-Frank] A question] From: Samis <samis@attbi.com> Date: Wed, May 8, 2002 8:01 pm To: <jenkinsgen@nwinfo.net>, <GER-VOLGA-L@rootsweb.com> The thing that immediately comes to mind is that your great grandmother may have brought some seeds of blackthorn or sloe over from Russia. Another possibility is a very hardy sort of other plum. The sloe is actually a plum species, Prunus spinosa. The very spiny bushes/trees are bushy (they produce suckers) and grow 3 to 12 ft. tall. The fruit is bitter or astringent, but can be used in jellies, syrups, and conserves as well as added to herbal tea and of course used to flavor gin (or vodka). It produces dense clusters of white flowers in early spring. Although the plants are slow growing, they produce fruit heavily. One selection of sloe from Hungary that is hardy to minus 35 degrees F. is sold by Oikos Tree Crops, PO Box 19425, Kalamazoo, Mich. 49019-0425 (phone: 616/624-6233; email oak24@aol.com).--Sam Brungardt, St. Paul, Minn. --------------------------------------------- On 5/8/02 8:58 PM, "jenkinsgen@nwinfo.net" <jenkinsgen@nwinfo.net> wrote: > Maybe someone can help him with question. > > Gene > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [Rus-Frank] A question > From: "Kenneth Crips" <w7itc@hotmail.com> > Date: Wed, May 8, 2002 6:07 pm > To: RUS-SARATOV-FRANK-L@rootsweb.com > > As a small boy in the early '60's My Great Grandmother > Schmidt who was, of course, from Frank Russia, had a fruit tree she was > very proud of. This small tree, really a bush, was supposed to be from > Frank. She called it, forgive my memory, a shalay berry. > The fruit of the "tree" looked like a rather blue plum. The growing > habit this "plum" had was like a bush plum and it had thorns like > wild plums used in the windbreaks in this part of the country. > I would love to have them growing in my yard. Does anyone have > a clue as to what this plum could be? > > Kenneth A. Crips W7ITC, Cheyenne, Wyoming