There are over 15,000 varieties of apples, but 90% of apples sold in stores are comprised of only 15 varieties.

Nick Botner owned a 40 -acre farm in Molalla, Oregon where he collected apple and other fruit trees. He had 4,500 varieties of apple trees. It was the largest private collection of apple trees. The USDA’s collection is only 2,000.

There are several organizations dedicated to finding and bring back these apples. Temperate Orchard Conservancy is grafting Botner’s trees to clone them. The Lost Apple Project finds lost orchards and collects apples for identification. This year they found 20 lost varieties.