Heirloom Fruit Orchard

The High Plains Environmental Center (HPEC) planted an heirloom fruit orchard near our visitors' center in 2017 to preserve a portion of the region's agricultural heritage. The orchard includes heirloom species of apples, cherries, plums, peaches, and raspberries. These varieties were selected to celebrate and preserve an important piece of Colorado’s agricultural heritage, which can be traced back to the 1860’s.
Our friend, Scott Skogerboe, a highly skilled woody plant propagator, has discovered how to get many native shrubs to grow from seed and has helped to make these plants available for Colorado horticulture. Scott has also spent his life collecting apple varieties that were once grown locally, as well as many other varieties of historical interest. Many of these trees have found a home in our heirloom fruit orchard at HPEC. We interviewed Scott to get the back story on some of these apple varieties.