The Heirloom Orchardist has teamed-up with Nature Hills Nursery to make these classic apple trees available to you. Many apples need fruiting buddies to ensure good pollination, so check the Nature Hills descriptions to be sure that your apples will complement each other nicely! Also, be sure your choices are appropriate to your hardiness zone.
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 Arkansas Black Apple Tree (ca. 1870) |
Arkansas Black is a hardy, late maturing, variety. Deep purplish color, with a coarse texture and very tart flavor. Crisp, juicy, yellow fleshed. Best used for fresh eating and sauce, pies, baking, & cider blending. Origin: Benton County, Arkansas around 1870. Presumed seedling of Wine Sap.
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 Braeburn Apple Tree (ca. 1950) |
Braeburn is exceptionally crisp and juicy, with a rich, full blend of sweet-tart flavor. Has an attractive 'bi-color' (red with green under-striping). Good for salads or with mild cheeses, and holds its shape when cooked. Origin: A chance seedling found in New Zealand in 1950’s. Presumed cross between Lady Hamilton and Granny Smith.
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 Cameo Apple Tree (ca. 1987) |
Cameo has a firm texture and a savory sweet-tart snap which is perfect for fresh eating. Displays multiple colors (bright red striped over creamy orange); holds its shape well when cooked. Great for pies and sauces. An ideal compliment to a fruit or fresh green salad. Origin: discovered in the 1980s in a Dryden, Washington orchard of Red Delicious apples.
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 Cortland Apple Tree (ca. 1898) |
Cortland has very white crisp flesh that doesn’t brown quickly. Another good salad apple. A bit sweeter than McIntosh. Displays a “flush of crimson against a pale yellow background, sprinkled with short, dark red stripes and gray-green dots.” Origin: developed at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva in 1898.
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 Fuji Apple Tree (ca. 1980) |
Fuji is aromatic and juicy with a spicy, crisp sweetness. An exceptional eating apple for those with a “sweet tooth.” Some think the flavor of this cultivar improves with age. Origin: developed at Tohuku Research Station in Morioka, Japan. First brought to light from New Zealand in the 1980s.
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 Gala Apple Tree (ca. 1920) |
Gala has a bouquet of juicy, sweet flavor contained in its dense, yellow flesh. An early-season apple, it is not large. Terrific for snacks. Gala is at its best when grown locally, and in season. So it’s perfect for a home orchard. Origin: In the 1920s, orchardist J.H Kidd crossed a Golden Delicious with his own Kidd's Orange Red. Since then, a Gala time’s been had by all (sorry, couldn’t help it).
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 Ginger Gold Apple Tree (ca. 1969) |
Gingergold is a tangy, sweet delight (reminiscent of pears?). Because of its short season from August into September, it quickly disappears from local farm markets. So, home orchardists should seriously consider this one too. Origin: Discovered as a chance seedling in the orchards of Clyde and Ginger Harvey in Albemarle County, Virginia. Perhaps a seedling deposited by Hurricane Camille in 1969?
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 Golden Delicious Apple Tree (ca. 1890) |
Sweet and fragrant, the lightly textured green/gold skin of the Golden Delicious covers a crisp flesh. Great for fresh-eating and in salads (the flesh stays white longer than many other cultivars). Great for apple sauces, apple butter, apple pies, and a good choice for apple cider. Yup, that covers it…Perfect apple. Origin: Andrew Mullins discovered this stray tree in his apple orchards in 1905. Nine years later, Stark Brothers bought propagation rights and named it "Golden Delicious," as a companion to their Red Delicious.
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 Granny Smith Apple Tree (ca. 1860) |
Does Granny Smith need a description? A crisp juicy variety for those who enjoy a burst of tangy-tartness. With a firm crunch, Grannies are best eaten fresh, crisp and cold, either as snacks or in salads. Origin: Legend says that Marie Ana Smith of Australia, carelessly tossed some French crabapples into her garden back in the 1860s. The rest is apple history.
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 Honeycrisp Apple Tree (ca. 1960) |
The Honeycrisp apple is exceptionally crisp and juicy. Cream colored and coarse flesh. The flavor ranges from mild and well-balanced to strongly aromatic. Origin: Produced from a 1960 cross of Macoun and Honeygold, as part of the University of Minnesota apple breeding program to develop winter hardy cultivars with high fruit quality.
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 McIntosh Apple Tree (ca. 1796) |
McIntosh is known by its attractive dark red or crimson colors, contrasted with bright white flesh. The flavor is generally sweet but with refreshing acidity and a crunchy bite. Origin: The first McIntosh apple was a seedling discovered in 1796 by John McIntosh in Dundas County, Ontario.
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 Mutsu Apple Tree (ca. 1930) |
Mutsu's flavor and appearance is described as "sweet, honeyed, with crisp, juicy flesh" in The New Book of Apples: The Definitive Guide to Over 2,000 Varieties
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 Pink Lady® (Cripps Pink) Apple Tree (ca. 1973) |
Pink Lady is medium in size and conical in shape, with a distinctive pink blush over a yellow background. It has a fine-grained flesh that’s crisp and crunchy. First bite tastes tart, followed by sweetness. Origin: Another import from the land "down under." Developed and bred by the agriculture department of Western Australia in 1973. Introduced to the United States in the late eighties.
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 Red Delicious Apple Tree (ca. 1870) |
Some feel the Red Delicious is overly sweet, with a simple flavor. But it's an heirloom. Its deep, red color and classic heart shape has made it one of the most easily recognized apple cultivars. Origin: From a volunteer seedling in an Iowa fence row, Red Delicious was spotted in about 1870, and improved by the Stark Nursery Company.
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 Wine Sap Apple Tree (colonial era) |
Winesap is a very popular winter keeper with a tart, rich, wine like flavor. Deep glossy red, overlaid with reddish purple stripes. The flesh is firm and crisp. A great cider apple, a sauce made without first peeling the fruit is a lovely pinkish color. John J. Thomas said in my 1849 issue of The American Fruit Culturist
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