On May 14, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) had released a trio of Joy peaches—Rich Joy, Liberty Joy and Crimson Joy—to enhance the southeastern fresh peach market.

Rich Joy is named for its fruit’s rich flavor and as a way to honor ARS peach breeder William Richardson Okie, who retired in 2014. Okie is known for having developed the series of “prince” peach varieties, which are still in commercial use.

Crimson Joy is named for its almost fully red-blushed skin. Liberty Joy is so called because it ripens near Fourth of July, Independence Day.

The three Joy peaches are not genetically related. They are all yellow-fleshed, soften slowly to a smooth buttery texture (a trait called melting), with balanced sugar/acid ratios and pleasant eating quality. But they differ in pedigree parentage, ripening time and chilling requirement (the minimum time a fruit-bearing tree must be exposed to temperatures below 45 degrees F before it will blossom).

Breeders tend to choose a single “base” name for the varieties they develop to make their origins recognizable, explained research horticulturist Chunxian Chen, with the ARS Fruit and Tree Nut Research Unit in Byron, Georgia and developer of the Joy trio of peaches.