We owe the finding of three of these historic walnuts, the Cluster, Meylan and Poe to our friend Alex Suchan of Suchan Nursery in Upper Lake, Lake County, California. Alex, at age 88, was the dean of walnut growers and propagators in California. He has been a wealth of knowledge because he has been propagating walnuts since he was 14! His nursery has produced more than 200,000 modern walnut trees each year for the California Walnut industry. Still he has an appreciation for the heirloom trees he once grew as a teenager. In 2015 was still growing a dry farmed orchard of the Poe.
Happy to share his knowledge, Alex Suchan took Amigo and Jenifer, and later Adam, on a field trip, driving around his community to see these rare trees. He even took them to see the largest and oldest Franquette in California.
A huge THANK YOU to Alex for his interest in our project!
Walnut Discoveries
Chaubert
VERY RARE – Although the Franquette and Mayette varieties are of excellent quality, and form the foundation for today’s modern walnut industry, we have found a Gillet variety that is of even higher quality. The Chaubert is an amazing nut, very large, almost 100% light colored meats, with the best flavor we have tasted. We have offered tastes of this for a too many people who do not normally like walnuts, Jenifer included, and they love this walnut. An interesting note, Gillet had this variety listed in his catalogs under different spellings: Chabert, Chaubert and Chaberte. Spelling is a slippery slope in identifying old varieties.
The mother tree grows in North San Juan on an old stagecoach stop homestead. It’s a huge tree, well over 100 years old, and often produces in excess of 250 pounds of the highest quality nuts annually. Although many walnuts benefit from a pollinator to increase productivity this tree grows by itself and yet yields very high production.
Cluster Walnut (Juglans Racemosa)
Drawing from Felix Gillet’s Barren Hill Nursery Catalog – 1885
This unique walnut variety has been known to bear clusters of wonderful walnuts of up to fifteen nuts, unlike other walnuts, which bear at most 3-4 in a group. Here is what Felix had to say in 1885: “This remarkable walnut, also introduced into California and the United States by us, is a worthy rival of the Praeparturiens, and whose planting is warmly urged in France by the leading horticulturists of that country. The Juglans Racemosa derives its name from the Latin word racemosus, meaning abundant in clusters, full of clusters, which is the main characteristic of the Cluster Walnut, whose nuts grow on the tree in clusters of eight to fifteen, and even twenty to twenty-eight. Otherwise in habit, size, form and foliage, the Cluster Walnut does not differ from the Juglans Regis (English Walnut). When getting to bearing, the nuts are first found in bunches of two or three, which number is increased every year, when finally the tree gets to bearing those astonishing clusters of nuts form twelve to fifteen. We have seen one of these trees bear as many as 75 to 100 gallons of nuts; and in a good year 150 gallons.”
We owe the finding of this almost extinct variety to our friend Alex Suchan. The mother tree is located in Upper Lake, Lake County, CA. When we asked Alex about the Cluster he remembered a single tree that he harvested more than 50 years earlier on a parcel in Lake County. He took us to the grandmother tree, still standing but in a very precarious state of health and neglect. The neglect has caused the tree to reduce the number of nuts in a cluster to 5-7.
Mega Leaf Walnut
This is a high quality, thin shelled “English” walnut that appears to be very resistant to blight, codling moth and husk fly. The mother tree is a non-grafted seedling nearly 3 foot in diameter, bearing abundant crops even in the drought, with no human care. A most striking feature of this variety is the huge leaves, many larger than 2 hands in size. The grandmother tree is late to leaf out, thus missing most spring frosts. This will make a productive and striking landscape tree, with tasty, thin shelled nuts of good size. The nuts ripen in late September into October at 3900’ feet in the Sierra.
The grandmother tree exists on a historic orchard across a dirt road from the “Fit for the Czar” apple in Lowell Hill, at 3900’ in Placer county, CA. This was a gold mining town from the 1850s through the early 1900s and attracted numerous farmers and ranchers due to the deep forest soils, plentiful snowpack and good access to markets via close proximity to the Western Pacific railroad in Dutch Flat – a rip roaring mining town on the other side of the Bear River. We have located three distinct heirloom orchards still growing around Lowell Hill with no human care. The bears and squirrels are the biggest challenge to harvesting these crops as well as the long-term survival of the trees.
Meylan Walnut
VERY RARE – First imported and propagated by Gillet, this is an excellent flavored and productive nut from the Grenoble mountain region of France. The mother tree grows near Upper Lake, CA. It is resistant to codling moth and has a very low level of husk fly infestation, denoting natural resistance. Here is what Felix had to say about the Meylan in 1888:
“A new and most beautiful variety, much like Mayette, and originated near the little village of Meylan, in the east of France, the walnut district of France. The nut is of fair size: the smoothest of our collection. Very thin shell and excellent quality; buds out late. Much cultivated for exportation to the north of Europe.”
Our recent pilgrimage to the French walnut capital of Grenoble yielded much information and connections. The Meylan is considered the best variety for making walnut oil, and their walnut oil is by far the BEST we ever tasted, with hints of coffee and walnut aromas and taste.
We owe the finding of this almost extinct variety to our friend Alex Suchan. When we asked Alex about the Meylan he remembered the location of two trees that he began harvesting more than 50 years earlier on his farm in Lake County, and took us to see them. They were grafted onto Black Walnut rootstock at a height of 12-15 ft. The reason being was so that when the trees were eventually cut down they would be able to make long, beautiful walnut planks.
Poe Walnut
VERY RARE – This is a selection of the Praeparturiens (Fertile) walnut introduced by Felix in 1871. Mr. Poe of Scotts Valley in Lake County made this variety regionally famous. It was considered the premier in-the-shell walnut of its day according to walnut guru Alex Suchan. Here’s what Felix had to say about it:
“The points of superiority (to other walnut varieties) are many: First—It bears earlier than any other kind, bearing sometimes when three years old; hence its name Praeparturiens—fertile or precocious. Second—It blossoms late, three weeks later than other varieties thus less liable to be killed by late frosts, and rendering its crop secure every year. Third—Its pistillate blossoms are fully out at the time its staminate blossoms or “catkins” are in full bloom, which is another guarantee for a regular crop every year.”
The Pacific Rural Press (the ag mag of the day) had this to say in 1879: “The shell is thin, and the kernel full-fleshed and exceedingly well-flavored. The skin which surrounds the kernel is also notably thin; and, as this skin contains the bitter principle, its thinness is very desirable. It is owing to the thinness of inner skin that the kernel owes its almost unalloyed sweetness. The nut is certainly one of great promise.”
We owe the finding of this variety to our friend Alex Suchan. In 2025 Alex was still growing a dry farmed orchard of the Poe, once the industry standard in California but fell out of favor for the newer varieties.