Turkish Cowboy are our newest seedling that we’ve been growing. The mother plant has been located in a cold spot near the river channel of the Clark Fork in Missoula for over 40 years. The tree rarely suffers from any tip die back and is extremely prolific. The name comes from the fact that these apricots have one of the best textures out there, similar to a dried Turkish apricot. They’re slightly crunchy on the outside, but chewy and juicy on the inside. The flavor is above average and the apricot can turn a beautiful dark orange/red when exposed to sun. The size of the apricots is medium/large (up to 2 inches). Since these apricots have survived over 40 years in Missoula and seen sub-30 degree temperatures, and may possibly survive down to -35 or more. Turkish Cowboy did not bear in 2024 because the blossoms were dehardened from a warm December and then while they didn’t have their armor, we had a polar vortex where the mother tree saw -27F and possibly even -30F and the flower buds were toast. It’s unknown the lower limit of these, but if you want to give it a shot, it would be worth the risk. Try some of other other cold hardy apricots like Westcot and Morden 604 is you experience sub-35F winter cold. Whether you’re growing Turkish Cowboy out in a cold climate in order to get true-ish to type apricots that will resemble the mother, or whether you want to use this apricot for breeding work, this is a good selection to start from.