There is no way of determining the variety of your peach, or the variety from which the seed came from.

A soft fuzzy red peach describes a multitude of peaches.

I would suggest your fond memory was the result of eating a truly tree-ripened peach, not so much the variety of peach. Juice running down your arm is a given for any tree-ripened peach.

There are superior tasting peach varieties, but the difference isn't hugely profound.

For some favorites varieties from members of this forum, search "2010 peach report".

And remember, memories are like a good bottle of wine. They get better with age.

If the tree was from a planted pit, it was not a named variety. The way to get another tree just like it is to go and cut scions from that tree and graft them onto rootstock. If the tree is gone, it is gone.

You should be able to find something close to that peach. There are a lot of really good peach trees. Do some reading of past notes on this site. There is a lot of discussion about which peach varieties are good.

Yes OP I agree with olpea and oregonwoodsmoke, you should find peaches that do well in zone 7. Find out how many chilling hours you get in your area and that will eliminate a lot of varieties that either need more or aren't hardy enough.

a good web site to find out about chilling hours of peach varieties is bay laurel nursery's online catalog.

When I was a kid the Elberta peach had fuzz on it about an eighth of an inch long. Now an Elberta peach is almost like a nectrine with almost no fuzz at all.

Still and Elberta Peach?

They are not going to loose that name.

So if you had an Elberta peach in the past. It's not the same now.

Olpea, thank you for sending me to the 2010 peach report. There is a ton of useful info there. Oregonwoodsmoke, you are right....there is a lot of information on this site. As a matter of fact, that is all I've done today. Girlbug2, thank you for pointing out the chilling hour info. I'm totally new to this, and not familiar with that at all. K2marsh, that is interesting to know. Also, I found scottfsmith's report on heirloom peaches extremely interesting. It has been hard to find information on those peaches.

Elberta is still an exact clone of the original Elberta, although there are peaches like July Elberta that are not particularly Elberta-like, even though they have the name.

If you like soft peaches (I prefer them with firm but melting flesh myself) the older varieties often fill the bill but mostly the whites. Of course any peach will get soft at some point right before rotting, but Belle of Georgia is pretty much soft the moment it's ripe. I've tasted other heirloom whites that were the same way.

My guess is it was probably a pit from "Redhaven" RH was and is a hugely popular commercial variety, especially thirty-five years ago. "Redhaven" is also a relatively early peach, which would allow a better chance for the casually grown tree from a pit to make it before the snow starts to fall.

In terms of a recommendation, I don't know....any number of good peaches are out there. But I like....'Redhaven'

Thank you, I will take a look at Belle of Georgia and Redhaven. I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that I am in West TN.

Sounds like a Redhaven related peach to me as well. A modern peach with even more red in it is Ernie's Choice. Georgia Belle is not the most tasty heirloom; if you want a tasty juicy white heirloom get an Oldmixon Free.

Scott