Montana Mango Apricot

Overview

Luke was completely taken aback the first time he tasted this wild, presumably Manchurian apricot seedling, which has been thriving in Missoula for at least 75 years. Introduced to us by our friend Doug Hawes-Davis in 2020, this is hands down the best-tasting Manchurian apricot seedling we've ever tried.

Despite several setbacks in grafting this variety (entirely due to our own errors), we're thrilled to finally offer it grafted onto Manchurian Apricot, which should be well worth growing.

A Flavor That Surprises: Notes of Mango

When Luke first bit into the fruit, the flavor immediately reminded him of mango. The ripe fruit has a sweet-tart profile with intensely tropical notes and a color to match—rich yellow with an orangish-red blush, just like a mango.

Cold Hardiness

• Hardy to at least -35°F

• May be even hardier, though the mother tree grows in a somewhat protected location

• It survived the sub -30°F winters of the 1980s, giving us confidence in its resilience

While most Manchurian apricots are known to handle even colder temperatures, we are erring on the side of caution in listing its hardiness until we have more data.