yes...the zaiger family is fascinating! "Floyd Zaiger graduated from the University of California at Davis with a degree in Plant Pathology and a teaching credential for vocational agriculture. He then taught at Livermore and Modesto high schools and Modesto Junior College. Floyd and Betty purchased a 2-1/2 acre nursery in 1954, where they established a residence and started to grow and breed heat tolerant azaleas. In 1956 and '57 he served an apprenticeship with Fred Anderson, an early fruit and nut breeder widely recognized as "the father of the nectarine." Working with Fred, Floyd, in his own phrase "caught the disease" of fruit breeding — an interest which developed into a lifelong obsession.

In the early years, he leased individual trees from local growers and hybridized directly on those trees. He established a relationship with Dave Wilson Nursery by delivering and selling surplus trees along with azaleas and other nursery stock in the San Francisco Bay area.

Initially, Floyd concentrated on advancing maturity and lowering the chilling requirements of peaches and nectarines for commercial growers. He developed innovative techniques for fruit breeding such as growing his breeding stock in containers and moving the trees into a greenhouse or cold storage. This enabled him to achieve "wider" crosses and work in inclement weather, increasing the efficiency of his operation and allowing a greater number of crosses per year. In the early 1960's, he patented and released his first varieties to the U.S. and France: Royal Gold peach and Crimson Gold nectarine."