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: Pass It On
The late Elmer Swenson so enjoyed the grapes he bred that he would send cuttings and seeds to anyone who wanted them. He purely sparkled when he talked about his grapes, and he had a lot to be proud of. His grapes have gone to many different countries and have changed the course of grape growing in many parts of the U.S., Canada and other countries where cold weather limited grape growing in the past.
I have a good number of his grapes planted in my own collection, and many of them do very well here in Oregon. I'm also able to grow varieties that Elmer would have had trouble with in his cold northern Wisconsin location, so I can make crosses that he might have had difficulty doing. I don't grow the seeds out myself any more, but instead send them to people in other areas who grow the vines out and look for new selections that hopefully will stand up to their conditions, but will be an improvement over older varieties.
Elmer Swenson took grapes that had been bred and selected by people before him and used them to create new and better grapes that improved the lot of thousands of people who could grow good grapes in places where old varieties couldn't grow. Those grapes will continue for decades or even centuries into the future.
I hope that what I'm doing will honor the work of people like Elmer Swenson and will set more grapes on the way into the future to help improve things for future grape growers.
In the end, even if a person is forgotten, if something he created or helped create continues on after him and continues to do good, he will have given of himself in one of the highest ways possible.
The late Elmer Swenson so enjoyed the grapes he bred that he would send cuttings and seeds to anyone who wanted them. He purely sparkled when he talked about his grapes, and he had a lot to be proud of. His grapes have gone to many different countries and have changed the course of grape growing in many parts of the U.S., Canada and other countries where cold weather limited grape growing in the past.
I have a good number of his grapes planted in my own collection, and many of them do very well here in Oregon. I'm also able to grow varieties that Elmer would have had trouble with in his cold northern Wisconsin location, so I can make crosses that he might have had difficulty doing. I don't grow the seeds out myself any more, but instead send them to people in other areas who grow the vines out and look for new selections that hopefully will stand up to their conditions, but will be an improvement over older varieties.
Elmer Swenson took grapes that had been bred and selected by people before him and used them to create new and better grapes that improved the lot of thousands of people who could grow good grapes in places where old varieties couldn't grow. Those grapes will continue for decades or even centuries into the future.
I hope that what I'm doing will honor the work of people like Elmer Swenson and will set more grapes on the way into the future to help improve things for future grape growers.
In the end, even if a person is forgotten, if something he created or helped create continues on after him and continues to do good, he will have given of himself in one of the highest ways possible.