Great Garden Series

Old Colorado Apples - Past, Present, Future

With Jude Schuenemeyer: Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project

Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project (MORP) was co-founded by Jude and Addie Schuenemeyer in 2008, who drew upon their experiences in horticulture and managing a nursery. Their lifelong journey began when they discovered many forgotten old apple trees in the region, inspired by requests from elderly clients about apple varieties they remembered from their youth. MORP works to preserve Colorado's fruit-growing heritage and restore an orchard culture and economy to the southwest region.

The roots of Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project (MORP) were established when co-founders Jude and Addie Schuenemeyer began their horticulture careers in 2001. For fifteen years, they ran a nursery that had originally been in business for over 50 years and had a lot of older clientele who often asked about apple varieties they remembered enjoying as children. In asking around, the Schuenemeyers realized just how many old trees still grew in the region – hidden or right in plain sight – sometimes forgotten, and other times revered by the families who always remembered. In collaboration with the Montezuma County Historical Society, they founded MORP in 2008 with the belief that the remarkable orchard culture and economy that once thrived in southwestern Colorado could be rebuilt.
After the couple purchased a peach orchard in McElmo Canyon, Jude attended an orchard restoration workshop in Capital Reef with some of our Nation’s most renowned fruit enthusiasts, and taught himself to graft from books. Thus began their efforts to find and graft from heritage trees returning one to the trees owners when possible, bringing a piece of living history back to the place where the parent tree stood for more than 100 years. For them, to pass back a tree that was grafted by someone’s grand or great grandparents is priceless.

Jude and Addie also plant young scions grafted from these trees in their McElmo Orchard as a genetic bank- a way to preserve the rare varieties found. They hope, however, to do more than just build and preserve a collection of old apple varieties. They hope to capture and preserve the history of the region as a fruit-growing center in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as well as restore a lost fruit economy.
In 2014, MORP put together an Advisory Team and organized under 501c3 fiscal sponsorship in order to systematically collect, document, and share the work done so far; and to secure funding to make further progress towards its goals.

Since its founding, MORP has established school, community, and conservation orchards to preserve Colorado’s rare and endangered apple cultivars.

Great Garden events happen every fourth Wednesday of the month, April-September, presented by the Durango Botanic Gardens, CSU Extension Office, & Durango Public Library. For more details visit www.durangobotanicgardens.org/events.

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