Origin of Imur Prior Beta and Sterling Old Norway

sjamesNorway · August 16, 2015

Imur Prior Beta is listed as Norwegian in Tatiana's, and discussed as such in several posts in T'ville. Tatiana writes "According to Vent Marin, this variety was developed in Norway specifically for the areas with short summers." I find no reference to the variety on any Norwegian websites. There are seeds of three Norwegian varieties in the Norwegian Gene Resource Center (NorGen): Norderås Busk (Bush), Tante Ci (Aunt Ci), and Old Norway. The three are documented by Tatiana, who calls Old Norway "Sterling Old Norway" - because the source is said to be from the 1994 SSE yearbook and Sterling Illinois. NorGen has a different story, and calls it simply Old Norway (my translation):
"Grama (grandma?) Minnie Ethyl (Ethel?) Hooker got seeds from her father in 1899. and grew the variety in her garden in Paris, Michigan. She gave seeds to Seed Savers in 1972, and the variety has since been preserved there. The seeds came to NorGen in 2001, together with other vegetable varieties from Seed Savers."
As far as "Imur Prior Beta" is concerned, it doesn't sound Norwegian. Perhaps Tatiana's "Also known as: Early Swedish" is correct.

Steve

August 16, 2015	#1
sjamesNorway Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Norway Posts: 1,049	Origin of Imur Prior Beta and Sterling Old Norway Imur Prior Beta is listed as Norwegian in Tatiana's, and discussed as such in several posts in T'ville. Tatiana writes "According to Vent Marin, this variety was developed in Norway specifically for the areas with short summers." I find no reference to the variety on any Norwegian websites. There are seeds of three Norwegian varieties in the Norwegian Gene Resource Center (NorGen): Norderås Busk (Bush), Tante Ci (Aunt Ci), and Old Norway. The three are documented by Tatiana, who calls Old Norway "Sterling Old Norway" - because the source is said to be from the 1994 SSE yearbook and Sterling Illinois. NorGen has a different story, and calls it simply Old Norway (my translation): "Grama (grandma?) Minnie Ethyl (Ethel?) Hooker got seeds from her father in 1899. and grew the variety in her garden in Paris, Michigan. She gave seeds to Seed Savers in 1972, and the variety has since been preserved there. The seeds came to NorGen in 2001, together with other vegetable varieties from Seed Savers." As far as "Imur Prior Beta" is concerned, it doesn't sound Norwegian. Perhaps Tatiana's "Also known as: Early Swedish" is correct. Steve