Olpea, my Gold Dust were not nearly as red. I also recall a slight tip on them which your peaches don't have. So, my guess would be wrong variety. From Googling I pulled up Desert Gold as a similar DWN peach which is more red - ? The one thing that does match is small size, Gold Dust never sizes up very big for me.

I would put up a picture of one of mine but the squirrels decided they were good and took them all this year. It also means I don't have a strong this-years memory. A dozen traps and shoots later and I think I have saved most of the other varieties.

Scott

Thanks Scott,

Yeah all these peaches are pretty flat at the calyx end (like an O'Henry peach).

What really threw me was the solid red color and all the red in the flesh. Why would they name it Gold Dust with all that red? Even the most shaded peaches are solid red.

I think I'm going to write Sanhedrin and ask for my money back on this one. I placed an order with them just to get this peach.

Scott,

I contacted Sanhedrin Nursery w/ an email and photos. They in turn contacted DWN (it was a Dave Wilson tree). DWN sent back a response and a pic (see below). They maintain my tree is Gold Dust and the difference in color is due to local climatic differences. I don't entirely buy this explanation in that it's been my experience any tree that produces double red peaches, produces them on a consistent basis, and it's a notable characteristic (almost always mentioned in a description).

Still their photo does show a peach with some red in the flesh and the calyx end is very round (like my peach). It also looks like their peach has little fuzz, which again matches the peaches I picked off this tree.

So perhaps I do have a Gold Dust. Of course there's always the small possibility I have a more red sport of the same variety.

Sanhedrin nursery did offer to refund the purchase price of the tree, which I declined, as I'm no longer certain the tree was mislabeled. They addressed the situation in a very professional manner.

olpea:

What does the peach taste like?

Olpea, I did find one deformed fruit the squirrels skipped over this year and it looked pretty much identical to the DWN pictures as far as skin coloring. It is a low fuzz peach. The seed is also small which looks like your fruit as well. I have never seen peaches consistently vary so much in coloring, but the DWN guys are experts so its hard to say where the truth lies.

Maybe the flavor can be a clue. Gold Dust has plenty of sourness and has a touch of orange flavor in the background, and the flavor is rich like a later peach. It never ever splits pits and internal fruits (in the interior of the tree) can have soft spots on them.

Scott

"I have never seen peaches consistently vary so much in coloring"

I agree. A typical peach with some percentage of blush (i.e. Garnet Beauty, Allstar, ect.) sometimes have a little more color, some a little less, but I've found double red peaches are consistently red. I'd be surprised if my tree would ever produce a peach like the DWN peach pictured above.

Fruitnut,

The tree only produced about 10 fruit this year, so I really don't have enough to do a fair taste evaluation. At first I was disappointed in the flavor, but some of the later ripening fruits were pretty good. My wife thinks it has undertones of plum.