| Anna- First to blossom, first to ripen, usually about a week
or two before school lets out. It will bear the first year you
have it. For some reason ours were of poor quality for the first
couple of years- mealy, astringent, lacking character. But the
last two years, despite very different spring weather, it was good.
Crisp, sweet, with a hint of tartness. It was the favorite apple
of Bambino the Bird Genius who would show up once in a while to mooch
handouts. |
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| Dorsett Golden- Another true maniac, Dorsett looks for any
excuse to fruit, whether it's the first year it was grafted or setting
two crops a year. Bred in the Bahamas, it is well-suited to a hot
climate. In January it explodes in blossoms, but doesn't require
quite as much thinning as Anna. It ripens about a week after Anna,
bruises easily but keeps rather well. The shaded fruit is the best
quality. Chop it up and add it to home-made ice cream, and blended
with Anna makes a decent cider in late June. |
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| Rubinette- A new Cox Orange Pippin cross from Switzerland that
does well in our hot climate and keeps the Cox flavor. It has none of the bad habits of
it's parent such as cracking or shy bearing. A complex, fruity
taste combined with a nice crunch makes this one of our new favorites. |
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| Stetson Winesap- We're not entirely sure what variety this
is, as we found it growing by the pond at a 100-year-old apple ranch.
Our guess is that it's one of the winesaps, and so we're calling it
Stetson Winesap. It ripens mid-November here and has a nice crunch
and rich, aromatic yellow flesh that's been described as "appley".
We liked it so much that we planted one out mama's front door for her. |
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| Fuji - Fuji's grown here rival any on the planet. The
secret is our long season which Fuji's need to fully ripen. You
can tell when they're ready when the flesh is decidedly yellow, almost orange. You'll never
want to go back to eating a Pacific Northwest Fuji after eating the real
thing. Note the palm trees in the background. |
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| Hawaii- Starting in early August Hawaii will ripen for several
months, still hanging on the tree in November. It is sweet and delicious even when quite green, and holds
on through the worst of heat. The tree is extremely productive.
The texture was crisp and firm, and had a sweet, tropical taste. |
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| Enterprise™- We found this by
accident after the scionwood was mislabeled as GoldRush™.
Mislabeling has worked out well for us, as every wrong one we get turned
out to be really good. As you can see, it's a beautiful apple that
colors up well despite warm nights and the flavor is deep, rich, and
satisfying. I hear they keep well, but we ate all of ours before
we could find out. Ripens in late October. |
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| Wealthy- It's remarkable this Minnesota native that was bred
for the extreme cold does so well here. The thick, beautiful skin
covers a whitish crisp flesh that has a good balance of sweet and tart,
with interesting overtones. Best eaten completely ripe, which
might not be until mid-November. |
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| Stump- Despite almost every apple splitting, Stump hung on the
tree well and developed into a beautiful, although rather small apple.
It was rather tart until fully ripe, but turned out to have a good rich
apple taste that would liven up cider and do well in pies. We're
hoping it grows out of the cracking habit. |
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| Mystery Apple KSM- We have no idea what this apple is.
It was labeled as Kandil Sinap, which it obviously is not, so we gave it
the suffix KSM (Kandil Sinap Mislabel) until we get a positive ID.
It's only about the size as a golf ball and ripens in early November.
We can't tell if it's a full-sized apple that is just stunted, or if
it's a sweet crabapple. The flesh is yellow, crisp, juicy, and of
outstanding quality. We're looking forward to more next year. |
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| Liberty- Hailed as the most disease-resistant apple, we found
it to be a good bearer and of exceptional quality here despite having a lot of bare wood
due to inadequate chilling. It has all the hallmarks of a good
winter keeper; dense, hard, yellow flesh, late ripening, and lots of
sugar. We had no chance to prove it's keeping qualities, as we ate
them all. |
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| Rome Beauty- Rome started ripening for us in late August, and
kept on through the end of October. The coloring was quite
different from in the mountains, with a beautiful sunburst pattern to
it. The taste and texture was classic Rome, but the ones ripening
in the summer didn't quite have that "zing", but were still very good
none the less. The fall-ripening ones were excellent. |
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| Williams' Pride- Ripening early August, the tree is with
deep-red, almost purple apples is striking in appearance. They color up despite
nights in the mid-70s. The yellow flesh was crisp and spicy.
Wait until the stem end is completely red to pick. |
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| Zagergau Reinette- Not for the weak of heart, this apple
packs a wallop of sweet-tart flavor. After a couple weeks in
storage it quiets down a bit. The heavy-bearing tree and firm,
juicy flesh won us over despite the ugly appearance. Like most
russets it did very well here. |
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| Arkansas Black- This is another apple I've
trash-talked because the ones grown in the mountains are hard as a rock
and flavorless. However, the ones grown in our yard were wonderful
right off the tree and are crisp, juicy, sweet, very flavorful, and
absolutely gorgeous. They probably won't keep as long as the
mountain ones, but I'm pretty sure we'll eat them all before they spoil
anyway. They would be great for Thanksgiving pie, which is when
they ripen. |
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| Terry Winter- This apple was one of the first to blossom in
the spring but just took forever to ripen. I started tasting them
in September. Terry Winter is famous for being a true winter
keeper well-suited for warmer areas, and I can see why. The dense,
hard, sweet flesh has all the hallmarks of an apple that will keep in
the crisper bin until spring. It can easily hang on the tree until
New Years. |
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| Dixie Red Delight- This Alabama apple colored up two months
ago but is just now (Christmas) starting to ripen enough to get your
teeth into. It has all the hallmarks of a good keeper with a tough
skin and dense, yellow, sugary, spicy flesh. It bore well and is a
great addition to any orchard. |
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| Wickson Crabapple- A big taste in an itty-bitty package.
It has a crisp white flesh with a clean, powerful sweet-tart taste.
The tree is prolific and has showy white blossoms. Purported to
make killer cider, but we enjoyed it for fresh eating. |
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| Yates- Another tiny apple, just a little bigger than Wickson.
They ripened late for us, the second week of January, about a week
before Pink Lady is ripe. The crisp white flesh had a
characteristic fruity sweet-tart taste. It bore heavily the second
year. |
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