Apple Varieties for Home Production

by Laurie Meadows

First published 1998 on the NaturalHub website

"Why do we need so many different kinds of apples? Because there are so many different kinds of folks. A person has a right to gratify his legitimate tastes. If he wants 20 or 40 kinds of apples for his personal use, running from 'Early Harvest' to 'Roxbury Russet', he should be afforded the privilege....There is merit in variety itself. It provides more points of contact with life, and leads away from uniformity and monotony." -Liberty Hyde Bailey in 'The Apple Tree', 1922

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Note: this web page prints out as about 9 printer pages
TASTE -Commercial apples are sometimes picked when not fully tree ripened. The reason is mainly to do with picking while the flesh is very firm to prevent bruising, altho' this is certainly not always true. The home gardener can afford to let the apples remain on the tree longer, when the flesh may, in some varieties, become too soft for commercial purposes. An apple that you know from the supermarket as a green and red apple turns out to be gold yellow and red when fully tree ripened at home. You discover that 'Golden delicious' is not a very pale green pleasantly sweet apple, but a genuinely light golden skinned apple of the richest and most delicious flavors. The sugars are much higher in many of the older commercial varieties if they are fully tree ripened in the home garden, but more importantly, the flavors are often more complex and rich.
Modern varieties are bred to be sweet or very sweet at an early stage of maturity, but even these very good apples can be better fully tree ripened. As a strategy, the home gardener can chose to grow and fully ripen a commercial variety where that is worthwhile (e.g. Golden delicious), or grow non commercial apples with particular flavor - or even flesh - characteristics, according to your taste. If you ever have the opportunity, go to an apple tasting where some of the non-commercial varieties are made available. You can then sort out which varieties you particularly like.

POLLINATION-Most apples are partially self fertile, and will set a fair crop in the absence of a pollenizer. If another variety is nearby, you will get a much better crop. Some nurserypeople supply 'double grafted' trees - these have two different varieties on the one tree. As long as they are of comparable vigor, and they are both varieties you want, this is a good idea. In suburban areas, there will usually be someone not too far away who has an apple tree or two, so cross pollination is not a big deal. In peri-urban rural smallholdings it may be more important, given the isolation from neighbours. A few cultivars, such as 'Gravenstein' are poor pollen producers, and so neither provide pollen for others nor for themselves. They really do need a pollenizer nearby.

SEASON-Late apples often won't reach full maturity in cooler areas - or only in warm and prolonged 'Indian summers'. Very early apples are often not very good quality.

PATENTED APPLES-Patent law varies from country to country. In USA there is no obligation to sell to the public. In NZ there is an obligation to sell to the public after three years, but no penalty if the patent holder ignores the obligation. There is now a rapidly increasing trend to sell patented varieties only to selected commercial growers on contract. The patent holder doesn't just get a royalty on each tree sold, as in the past, the patent holder also gets a royalty on the gross income from the sale of the crop. The grower has the advantage of knowing there is a limited acreage of the variety planted, and the market will never be oversupplied, thus keeping prices profitable. Therefore some of the patented varieties listed here may be publicly unavailable. Please advise us if this is the case, and they can be removed from the list as irrelevant to the home gardener. (All comments and suggestions for additions - or deletions - are welcome)

ADANAC - A medium-sized, green-red striped, good dessert quality apple, moderately winter hardy, good resistance to fireblight. CAN

AKANE -'Tokyo Rose' Early mid season fruiting, soon after Gravenstein. A cross between 'Jonathan' and 'Worcester Pearmain'. A small to medium sized apple with an attractive bright cherry red fruit color. The juicy, white crisp flesh and sprightly flavor resemble Jonathan, but with even more complex flavor. It keeps well, drys well, and stores well on the tree. Fairly good apple scab resistance, but a notoriously shy bearer. Akane is relatively winter hardy. US, NZ.

ALBANY BEAUTY- a red skinned form of 'Gravenstein'. NZ

AURORA ®-A skin color mutation of Braeburn, this one is bright red with a distinct stripe. PVR protected in New Zealand, at least, this makes the variety more expensive in the garden centre, and while color is important to marketers, it is of no particular importance in the home garden. Don't bother, or chose the standard Braeburn. NZ

BALLARAT 'Stewart'-Primarily a cooking apple, Ballarat is large, green with a red blush, and with creamy white flesh. Cooked it is excellent. The fruit will store for several months after maturity without needing refrigeration. Ballarat is very vigorous, and should be on a dwarfing rootstock.NZ, AU.

BATTLEFORD-A medium to large, green-red striped apple with only fair dessert quality but good for cooking. This cultivar should be grown in sheltered locations as it is only moderately hardy. CAN

BELLE DE BOSKOOP-Late to very late season. A medium to large sized, rather oval, yellow over-russeted greyish apple with a dark red blush. An excellent cooker, the firm, crisp, creamy yellow flesh flesh is rather acid and very aromatic. It keeps very well, and sweetens somewhat in storage. B de B is a triploid and needs a pollenizer.Europe, USA, CAN, AU, NZ

BELMAC-Late season. A cross between a disease resistant selection (Ottawa 521) and Spartan. Belmac is an attractive very good flavored red apple that resembles 'McIntosh' in color, size, and shape. It has good immunity to apple scab-a prime objective of breeding this variety, along with cold hardiness. US, CAN.

BEN DAVIS-Late season. An old former commercial variety, B.D. is exceptionally handsome - the fruit are large, uniform size and uniform in shape, their yellow background color is striped, mottles, and splashed with bright red. The skin is smooth, shiny and tough. It is aromatic and pleasant, if unremarkable; but the yellowy white flesh is firm and coarse, although juicy enough. The medium sized tree spurs well, is adaptable, vigorous, productive and reliable. US.

Photo and tree and fruit formal details from 'Fruit of New York'

BOLERO®-Early season. A remarkable naturally columnar shaped apple tree with short spurs and no major branches. These trees were bred in England to fit the modern small space garden. They require no pruning, can be planted just 2 feet/60cms apart, grow only about 3 metres high, can be grown in pots, are partially self fertile, and crop very well. Bolero is green blushed yellow, crisp and rather acidic. UK, NZ.

BRAEBURN-Late season. Usually eaten as a light olivey green apple overlaid with striped muted red, this apple is crisp, sweet, and has very good flavor. It is excellent stewed (applesauce), needing little or no sugar. Fully tree ripened very late in the season, it is a deep yellow apple faintly washed and lightly striped with pinky red. It is a spur type tree, and comes into bearing relatively quickly after planting. It is also very prone to disease, requires a rigorous spray programme, needs sprays of foliar calcium to maintain fine quality flesh. Why struggle with this demanding cultivar when the fruit you buy in the supermarket are generally fully flavored and sweet? US, UK, NZ, AU.

BREAKEY-A medium to large, green-red blush apple with good dessert quality, hardy to USDA zone 3.Good resistance to fireblight. CAN.

CAPTAIN KIDD-Mid season. An old variety selected in New Zealand. The fruit are streaked bright red, very sweet, juicy, with very good flavor. The tree is moderately vigorous, and considered a reliable cropper. NZ

CARLOS QUEEN-A large, green-red blush apple with good dessert and cooking quality. It has been moderately hardy and the fruit stores well. CAN

CALVILLE BLANC D'HIVER-Mid season. A very old European (pre 1600) variety. The medium large fruit are pale green with light red dots on the side that is exposed to the sun. It is aromatic, sweet, spicy, of the highest dessert quality in the European style. The flesh is tender and juicy. It is said to have more vitamin C than an orange. It is good for stewing (applesauce) as well.

CORTLAND-Late season. A cross between Ben Davis and McIntosh. Cortland is almost identical to McIntosh in all respects, but Cortland ripens a little later, is a bit larger, and has a brighter color. Big, red with dark stripes, perfumed, slightly acid, very good flavor, Cortland is, with McIntosh, the archetypical American apple. It is good for pies as it doesn't brown when it is sliced. It crops heavily. Color variants of Cortland are available in the supermarkets under trademarked names such as 'Redcort®', so there seems little point in growing them yourself. US.

COX'S ORANGE PIPPIN-Mid season. A seedling of Ribston pippin. This medium sized deep yellow striped/streaked/splashed with red apple is regarded as the finest flavored 'English style' apple there is. A complex - some say perfect - blend of sugar, acid and aromatics is contained in juicy, tender, yellow flesh. It is regarded as a difficult apple to grow due primarily to disease suceptibility in it's country of origin - UK - but is not problematical in other countries. C.O. spurs freely and bears well, but bearing is much improved if a good pollinator is nearby. C.O. fruit are usually available in the market, but are not usually fully tree ripened, showing a lot of green on the fruit. They are good, but incomparably better if picked at the peak of maturity. US, UK, NZ, CAN, AU.

Cox's Orange description at the 'Apple Journal' site, a formal description and brief notes taken from 'Apples of New York'

DELICIOUS- See 'Red Delicious'

DISCOVERY-Early. A light red flushed over green, medium sized apple, with slight russeting on the top. Crisp, moderately sweet, firm, slightly chewy texture. The tree is slow to start fruiting, but is fairly disease resistant in the abscence of sprays, and crops reliably. UK, NZ, AU.

EARLY HARVEST-'July Pippin', 'Yellow Juneating'. Early season. This pale yellow mixed-size apple is never marketed because the skin is thin and the flesh tender, thus subject to bruising when handled, and it does not keep well. The fine white flesh is juicy and pleasantly subacid when fully ripe. It ripens irregularly over about a month, and if you pick it when not absolutely fully mature it is a good cooking apple, and when fully tree ripened is a very good dessert apple. The tree is vigorous, productive, and relatively disease resistant. US.

EDITH SMITH - A medium-size, cream-red blush, good fresh eating and cooking quality apple with average hardiness. CAN

EGREMONT RUSSET-Early mid season. A small apple, pale browny-green, heavily russetted with a golden russet. The flesh is yellow, dense, and dry. The flavor is excellent - complex and sweet. It is prone to 'bitter pit', small sunken brown lesions in the flesh, caused by a calcium deficiency in the fruit. The effect is usually relatively minor. The fruit are best held for several weeks after picking before you eat them. They store well, too, but you will need to put them in a plastic bag, as they tend to shrink and become rubbery otherwise. E.R. crops well and spurs freely. Disease resistant in the abscence of sprays.USA, UK, NZ.

ELLISONS ORANGE-Mid season. Medium sized golden yellow fruit with crimson stripes. Derived from a cross of Cox's Orange and Caville Blanc, and has Cox's strong aromatic flavor. Picked early it is crisp, but if left for too long on the tree the flesh is soft, similar to Telstar. It has a slippery skin feel. E.O. crops heavily, and reliably, flowers over a long period, resists frost, and is a good pollenizer for other varieties. Resistant to scab, somewhat canker prone.UK, NZ.

EPICURE-A very productive early apple, bearing small, firm, aromatic fruit of very good eating quality.UK

EMPIRE-Late season. A cross between Red Delicious and McIntosh. Sweet, but with the acidity of the McIntosh, and with McIntoshs' crisp flesh. 90% solid red with a heavy bloom, medium sized fruit. Reliably productive. USA

EXETER-A large, cream-red blush apple with good hardiness, produces good quality apple juice. CAN

FORTUNE-'Laxton's Fortune'. Early/mid season. Produced from Cox's Orange x Wealthy in 1904. Sweet and aromatic, excellent flavor. This apple is crisp at first and becomes softer the longer it is left on the tree. The tree spurs freely, and is remarkably resistant to disease - with the exception of European Canker, to which it is irritatingly suceptible.US, UK, NZ.

FREYBURG-Mid/late season. A small (medium if thinned), dry skinned, light golden yellow slightly russet streaked apple. A cross between Golden Delicious and Cox's Orange, this is an extraordinary flavored apple. The flesh is crisp, very juicy, and light yellow. It is sweet and moderately rich flavored. However, the outstanding flavor component is a distinct anise flavor. Some have compared the flavor to Benedictine liqueur. The anise component becomes stronger the longer the apple is left on the tree, and varys with seasonal climatic conditions. Freyburg stores well.US, NZ.

FUJI-Late season. A cross made in Japan between Rall's Genet and Delicious. A large, sweet, crisp, fine textured, complex flavored apple. Excellent eating. The fruit are readily available commercially, and are usually very good, so it is not worth growing yourself. US, NZ

GALA-early mid season. A cross between Kidd's Orange Red and Golden Delicious, this very sweet 'perfumy' fruit is readily available in the supermarkets. There is little further flavor developement when home grown, so the best strategy is to buy this fruit rather than grow it.US, UK, NZ,CAN, AU.

GOLDEN DELICIOUS-Mullin's Golden Delicious. Mid/late season. A tree ripened G.D. is juicy, sweet, honeyed, and excellent. The tree is highly productive, bearing on spurs, laterals and tips. The fruit are medium sized, clear yellow, sometimes lightly russeted. G.D. flowers heavily and over an extended period, and is an excellent pollenizer for other apple varieties. The tree is vigorous. There is a 'spur' form of the tree, which is a little smaller, but just as productive. The fruit commonly available in the food markets are often as much green as gold, and while acceptable, are a poor substitute for the delightful flavor and sweetness of the fully tree ripened fruit.US, UK, NZ, AU.

GOLDEN SUPREME ®-Late mid seaon. A chance seedling, Idaho 1960. A large, smooth golden yellow apple with a pink blush, G.S. is sweet and similar to Golden Delicious in flavor. It is also a very good culinary apple.G.S. is precocious and vigorous.US.

GOODLAND - A large, green-red blush apple with excellent dessert quality. This cultivar lacks hardiness and should only be grown in sheltered locations. Good resistance to fireblight. CAN.

GRANNY SMITH-Late season. A chance seedling from the backyard of Marie Ann Smith, Australia. A very late maturing, late keeping large, green, slippery skinned, dual purpose cooking/eating apple. The flesh is hard, crisp, and juicy. The flavor is tart, becoming very sweet if tree ripened. One of those apples you either like very much or not at all. The fruit will store for several months after maturity without needing refrigeration. The tree is very vigorous and crops heavily, but it is not much good for areas with short growing seasons. G.S. is an excellent pollen source for other varieties. Tip bearer.US, UK, NZ, AU.

GRAVENSTEIN-Early season. Red and yellow streaked over greenish yellow skin, medium to large fruit. The creamy yellow flesh is very juicy, crisp, fine textured, markedly aromatic and slightly acidic. Gravenstein has a reputation as a very good cooking apple, although it produces copious juice when cooked. A particulary vigorous variety, regardless of rootstock. It often slips into biennial bearing. Requires a pollenizer. US, UK, NZ, CAN, AU.

HARCOURT - A fair quality apple. It has not been hardy in northern Saskatchewan and should only be planted in well-protected areas. Good resistance to fireblight. CAN.

HEYER 12 - Very winter hardy, good resistance to fireblight, but soft, tart, green to yellow and with very poor keeping qualities. Useful only for cooking. CAN

HEYER 20 - Similar to Heyer 12, but even hardier; a more robust tree. CAN

HONEY CRISP ®-USPP#7197. Late season. A cross between Macoun and Honeygold The sugar:acid ratio is well balanced, it is crisp and juicy. The tree was bred specifically for winter hardiness, H.C. is moderately vigorous, with average fruiting precocity.US, CAN.

HOREI-Late season. Yellowish green blushed red, pleasant sugar:acid balance, if undistinctive.The apples are small to medium sized, thin skinned, hard fleshed, and juicy. The tree bears heavily and regularly. A good apple size for children-not too big. NZ.

IDARED-Late season. A cross of Jonathan and Wagener. Large, yellow/bright red flushed to solid bright red fruit, ripening just before Red Rome. The flesh is white, firm, crisp and mildly acid. It is usually somewhat acid when it is picked, but mellows in streage. Overall, only fair flavor. Best suited to cooking. Idared is susceptible to fireblight. US

IMPERIAL® GALA USPP#4121 a color variant of Gala with a pronounced vivid red stripe over a bright red/ yellow blended.

IRISH PEACH-Early.Green with faint red stripes. Very good flavor, the best tasting very early apple, but quickly goes soft, and is an erratic bearer. Tip bearer.US, UK, NZ, AU

JERSEYMAC-late mid season. Jerseymac is similar to McIntosh - red, aromatic, fairly firm textured, juicy, medium sized apples, but it is ripe a month earlier. It bruises rather easily, but the trees are both productive and reliable, showing little tendency to biennial beraring. US

JAMES GRIEVE-Early/mid season. This is quite a large, rather conical, crimson over yellow background apple. The yellowish flesh is very juicy, soft, and with excellent flavor.It spurs freely and crops very heavily.US, UK.

JONAFREE - Early Season. A disease resistant, medium sized, glossy-red apple. Like most early apples, it is only a fair keeper.US

JONAGOLD-Late season. A cross between Jonathan and Golden delicious. The fruit are striped red over a yellow ground color, fine textured, juicy, and are sweet and with a bit more acidity than Golden Delicious. Consistantly rated as one of the finest culinary apples. The fruit are usually large, altho' on the very dwarfing MM27 rootstock they are smaller. Requires a pollenizer (self infertile due to being triploid). Jonagold seems a slightly variable fruit in coloring, and skin color seems to change a bit according to the climate where it is grown (it may have a red blush rather than striping in areas with strong sunlight) and clone (some more predominantly red skin colored clones have been selected). Very vigorous and with a spreading growth habit, Jonagold must be grafted on a dwarfing rootstock to control its size. US, UK, NZ, AU.

JONAMAC-Late mid season. Very similar to McIntosh, but with more color (90% dark red blush) .The medium sized fruit are superior in taste to McIntosh. The tree is productive, and of average size. US

JONATHAN-Mid season. A medium sized apple with thin, bright red-blushed skin contrasting sharply with the crisp, juicy, yellowish white flesh. The flavor is archetypically 'appley' and aromatic and is one of the best in the crisp American class.The trees are vigorous growing but at maturity fairly small, and disease susceptible. USA, UK, NZ, AU.

KIDDS ORANGE RED-Mid season. A cross between Cox's Orange and Delicious. The skin is orange, overlaid and streaked with red.The flavor is complex and rich, in the style of Cox. KOR crops heavily and regularly.US, UK, NZ.

LAXTON'S FORTUNE-See 'Fortune'

LIBERTY-Mid season. A hybrid involving Macoun released about 1978. A medium to large, dark-red-over-green-background skinned apple in the 'McIntosh style' bred to resist the fungal diseases 'blackspot', 'mildew' and cedar apple rust. The flesh is very white, crisp, juicy, and tender. The flavor is tart/sweet, somewhat perfumed, and improves in storage. Productive.

Liberty in the USA from a commercial grower and home garden point of view - fairly extensive commentary from a fruit professional..
http://www.msue.msu.edu/berrien/hort/mrliberty.htm

LOBO-Early mid season. A seedling of Macintosh selected in 1930 in Canada. A very large, bright red, crisp fruit that is particularly good for cooking, making a nice white froth when stewed (applesauce) and making excellent pies. Good all purpose apple, altho' a little tangy at first. They sweeten in storage. Productive. US, UK, NZ, CAN, AU.

LODI-Early season. Big, yellow fruit that can be used for dessert or cooking. US.

LORD NELSON-Early season. This apple is really a baking apple. Its only virtue is it's culinary use, earliness, and remarkable disease resistance. A very vigorous variety.UK, NZ, AU.

McINTOSH-Late mid season. A large, bright red apple with a heavy bloom, McIntosh is the archetype of the American apple style-perfumed, crisp, juicy, snowy white flesh. The flavor is good, being sub-acid and perfumed. McIntosh is suceptible to apple scab, and being somewhat late may not mature all its fruit in areas with a shorter growing season. US, UK, NZ, AU.

MACOUN- Late mid season. McIntosh x Jersey Black. A high quality crisp and juicy dessert apple with a sub acid and perfumed flavor similar to McIntosh. The flesh is greenish white. The fruit are green, blushed dark red and with dark red stripes. The skin has a heavy bloom. Its only down side is that it bruises fairly easily. The tree is very upright, and can be a biennial bearer. Popular with home gardeners who like the perfumed American style of apple, and plant breeders alike.

MERTON BEAUTY-Mid season. The fruit are aromatic, with an aniseed flavor. The trees crop well and spur freely.UK.

MERTON RUSSET-Late mid season. Cox's Orange x Sturmer. A medium sized somewhat oval shaped apple, the skin is entirely covered in a russet of burnished gold. Very attractive. The flesh is very crisp, juicy, and deep yellow. The flavor is complex-acidulous, sweet, spicy. It is best stored for about 3 weeks after picking, when the flavor intensifies, developing, some claim, pineapple overtones. M.R. stores well. A heavy cropping tree, fairly disease resistant, except, perhaps, for mildew.US, UK, NZ, AU.

MOTHER - 'American Mother'. These very attractive slightly conic apples are yellow, half covered in bright red overstriped with carmine red. The flesh is tender, very juicy, and yellow. The flavor is excellent - sweet, aromatic, and distinctive. The tree is very upright, spur type, but a slow grower. It is better on a more vigorous rootstock such as MM106.USA, UK.

MUTSU - 'Crispin'. Late season. Bred from Golden Delicious by crossing with Indo. A large yellow-green shiny skinned fruit, blushed, and with pronounced lenticels, somewhat similar to Golden Delicious. It is crisp, with creamy flesh. Excellent both for dessert and cooking . Highly resistant to russeting. The tree is a triploid variety, and therefore particularly vigorous, and for the home garden, really must be on a dwarfing rootstock. Mutsu spurs freely and sets heavily, although tending to biennial bearing as a result. It is self sterile, and needs a pollenizing tree nearby. US, UK, NZ.

NORLAND - A medium-sized, green-red striped summer eating apple, moderately hardy, susceptible to fireblight. CAN.

NORTHERN SPY - Late season. A large, handsome apple: the yellow background color is almost totally covered in bright red oversplashed and striped with darker carmine red. The skin has a light bloom. An excellent flavored, slightly yellowish fleshed, very crisp and juicy, apple that is still grown commercially in some countries, particularly the USA, even although it bruises easily and is more difficult to transport. N.S. is also a very good culinary apple. N.S. is slow to come into bearing, taking 3 to 4 years on a dwarfing roostock - and a lot longer on a standard stock. US, NZ, AU.

PARKLAND - A good cooking apple of medium size, greenish-yellow with a striped red blush, crisp, juicy, semi-tart but without any complexity of flavor; moderately hardy. It bears both regularly and well. CAN.

PATTERSON - A hardy, medium-sized apple, cream-coloured with a red-orange blush; excellent quality for cooking and good quality for eating out of hand. Good resistance to fireblight. CAN.

CRIPPS PINK branded and sold as Pink Lady® - Late season . The handsome, pink fruit is very distinctive, altho', as usual, various red skin mutations have also been selected, which rather negates the name. It is very long seaon, maturing several weeks after Granny Smith, so may only be well adapted to very long season climatic conditions, such as its native Australia, although preliminary information suggests it can mature by the end of October in east Washington. Will not mature properly in USA in zone 5, due to low autumn temperatures, an has no resistance to fireblight. US, AU, NZ.

PRIMEVERE - Late season. Primevere is an attractive, long keeping moderately acid large red apple that improves in storage.It is resistant to apple scab. It mature several weeks after 'McIntosh'. 'Primevère' is cold hardy in the apple growing areas of Canada and North East United States. US CAN

PRISCILLA - Early mid season. Starking Delicious x disease resistant breeding lines. Light yellow with a dark red blush, Priscilla has very good dessert quality in the McIntosh style, and is crisp and juicy. It is resistant to the fungus 'blackspot', and vigorous.US, NZ, CAN.

PRISTINE - Early season. Similar to Early Transparent, (the 'June apple'). Sweet. Cedar rust resistant (important for parts of USA, especially SE) US

POLKA® - a remarkable naturally columnar shaped apple tree with short spurs and no major branches. These trees were bred in England to fit the modern small space garden. They require no pruning, can be planted just 2 feet/60cms apart, grow only about 3 metres high, can be grown in pots, are partially self fertile, and crop very well. Polka is red over green, with a fine vinous flavor somewhat similar to 'Spartan'.UK, NZ.

RALLS GENET 'Rall's Janet', 'Genet', 'Geneton'. Late season. A USA seedling circa 1800. A medium sized, smooth skinned, yellow blushed apple mottled red and blotchily striped deep red. Broken lines of rough 'scarf' skin radiating from the base of the apple, coupled with a light bloom, give it a somewhat dull appearance. The flavor is pleasant, sub acid, aromatic. The flesh is white, firm, fine grained and tender; crisp and juicy. R.G. bear heavily and reliably.

RED ASTRACHAN - Very early season (ripens a month before Gravenstein). R.A. ripens unevenly over about a month in summer. The fruit are small to medium sized, pale yellow heavily blushed, splashed, and striped with red and dark red. The thin, tender skin is covered in a heavy bloom,. and has numerous white dots. The flavor is good, if rather tart, and the flesh fine, juicy, crisp becoming soft with over maturity. The immature fruit are good stewed (applesauce). The trees bear heavily, and can become biennal bearing as a result. R.A. keeps poorly. CA, USA.

REDCORT® - A skin color mutation of Cortland, this mutation has a 90% cover of bright red, a characteristic important for commercial growers. This variation of Cortland is patented in USA (USPP#5095) as well as the name being trademarked, which makes it more expensive at the garden centre-even if available- than regular Cortland. If you are going to bother with growing Cortland at home, the standard variety is cheaper. US.

RED DELICIOUS - Well adapted to temperate areas, does less well in warm temperate areas. This tough skinned, juicy, rather coarse textured apple is so well known it needs no description. The apples are very readily available from the food markets, and are as good as R.D. gets. If you like this apple, buy them, don't grow them. US, UK, NZ, AU.

RED GRAVENSTEIN - a red skinned form of Gravenstein.US.

RED WEALTHY - Suited to colder climates, the compact growing tree is very hardy. Suitable both for fresh eating and culinary use.US.

RHODE ISLAND GREENING - Mid season. A very old variety. This very large, firm, crisp, juicy, acid, yellowish green apple is renowned as a cooking apple, but it can be eaten as a dessert apple if it is stored a while, or in mild climates, tree ripened. At full maturity it is more bronzy than yellow-green, and with good sugars to cut the high acidity. It is a triploid variety, so is self infertile, needing an adjacent or nearby pollenizing variety. It has a strong tendency to biennial bearing. US, UK, NZ, AU.

RIBSTON PIPPIN-Mid season.Crisp, hard flesh, sometimes almost dry, very sweet and quite exceptional aromatic, rich flavor, somewhat similar to a tree ripened Cox's Orange. Crops quite well, somewhat prone to apple scab disease. Spurs freely. Orange blushed and striped red skin over green ground color, and often russeted. Requires a pollenizer. USA, UK.

RICHARED - Color variant of Red Delicious. NZ

ROME BEAUTY - Late maturing, red over yellow ground color, a large, handsome cooking apple that could be eaten as a dessert apple if you were desperate. It is a vigorous, quick to start fruiting apple, regular and reliable, but also a tip bearer, late, suceptible to apple scab and fire blight, demanding good soil fertility, and mediocre as a fresh fruit. US, NZ, AU.

ROXBURY RUSSET - Late season. A very old variety, pre-1700. A pale greenish brown, tough skinned, russetted apple with firm, crisp, slightly acidic flesh equally good for dessert and for cooking. It keeps exceptionally well. US

SANSA - Early Mid season. A cross between Gala and Akane. Bright red, medium to large. Similar to Gala in flavor, sweet, but with perhaps more acid notes, far better bearer than Akane. US, NZ.

SENSHU - Mid season. A Japanese apple, as it's name suggests, it is medium-sized, striped red and is somehat similar to Fuji in taste.US.

SMOOTHEE® - a russet resistant selection of Golden Delicious.US

SPARTAN - Mid season. Spartan is a medium sized apple with solid very dark red skin and pure white juicy, crisp flesh. It has an excellent aromatic, vinous flavor.The tree crops well and spurs freely. It is somewhat prone to European canker.US, UK, NZ.

SPIGOLD - Late season. A cross between Red Spy and Golden Delicious.

SPLENDOUR - Late season. A cross between Red Dougherty and Golden Delicious. A large, pinky red apple with crisp, breaking, white flesh.The apple is sweet and with very good flavor. The skin is thin and it can be fairly easily bruised, so is no longer available in food markets. Splendour stores well. The tree crops heavily and regularly.NZ, AU.

SPUR WINTER BANANA -An excellent pollinator, this is a spurring mutation of Winter Banana. The fruit are large, pale yellow, with a rose blush.The flesh is crisp, juicy, coarse, aromatic, with a good sugar:acid balance.US.

STURMER-'Sturmer Pippin'. Late season. Medium sized somewhat flattened fruit, yellowish green with a bronze blush on one side, Sturmer is dense 'hard', crisp, with only moderate amounts of juice, and a particularly acidulous flavor. Sturmer is particularly high in vitamin C, having about three times the level of Red Delicious. Sturmer is a weak growing variety, compact, heavy spurring, and requiring little pruning. US, UK, NZ, AU.

SUNFUJ I- A variant of Fuji with more color.Spur type, medium to high vigor, precocious bearing.US

SUNNY BROOK - A moderately hardy, medium sized apple, yellow with bright red blush; good cooking and storage quality. CAN.

SUNSET-Mid season. Sunset looks like a flattened version of Cox's Orange. This is not entirely suprising, as it is a seedling of Cox, and has a very similar superb sweet complex flavor. The fruit are a bit smaller, but Sunset is considered easier to grow than Coxs in cooler climate areas. UK, NZ.

STAYMAN WINESAP - Late season. A seedling of Winesap, and better than it's parent. The fruit are medium to large, yellow covered in dull striped red; thick and tough skinned, fine grained tender crisp flesh, juicy, aromatic and subacid. The tree is vigorous.US, NZ, AU.

TELSTAR - Mid season. A sister to Gala, derived form the cross Kidd's orange red x Cox's Orange, unlike Gala Telstar has a very rich and deep flavor, similar to Cox, but with less acid and much more sweetness. The apple is small to medium, flattened, and looks like a scruffy version of Cox. At first the flesh is quite crisp and melting, but as the apples hang on the tree the flesh becomes soft and rather 'floury'. Telstar crops very heavily, and the tree is a weak grower. NZ.

TWENTY OUNCE - 'Cayuga Redstreak'. Mid season.T.O. is a very large, handsome, round, yellow apple striped and splashed with red. The trees start bearing early, and are regularly productive of it's juicy, coarse yellow fleshed sub acid fruit. It is a very good culinary apple, but only an average dessert apple.US, NZ.

TYDMAN'S EARLY-See 'Tydeman's Red'

TYDEMAN'S RED - 'Tydeman's Early'. Early season, ripens a month before McIntosh. A cross made by H.Tydeman between Worcester Pearmain and McIntosh. A medium sized to large McIntosh type scarlet to dark red, juicy, crisp apple. Partially self fertile. Resistant to apple scab. The tree is rather straggly, and is a tip bearer. US, UK, NZ, AU.

TYDEMANS LATE ORANGE - Late season. A cross made by H.Tydeman between Laxton's Superb and Cox's Orange, T.L.O. is similar to a Cox in appearance, a little smaller and often russeted. The flesh is firm, very juicy, and deep yellow. It tastes similar to Cox as well, but it perhaps lacks some of the acid notes in Cox. The tree is vigorous and crops very well-although it has a tendency to biennial bearing - and spurs freely. It is somewhat disease resistant when subjected to a half hearted spray programme. Of particular interest is that the apple stores well, and by late winter the skin has intensified and the flavor developed to an intensity parallel to Cox. UK, US, NZ, AU.

VISTA BELLA - very early season. A medium sized, glossy, very dark red apple of rather indifferent eating quality (it has a tendency to have watercore), altho' it is better than most early apples. Which is revealing of the lack of quality of very early apples. V.B. is a large tree, with a tendency to biennial bearing. US, AU.

WAGENER - Late mid season. An old variety (pre-1800). The medium to large, slightly flattened fruit are distictly five sided. The color is predominantly a bright red over a pale yellow background. The flavor is very good, being aromatic, slightly acid, and sweet. The flesh is fine grained, tender, crisp, and very juicy. It is a very good cooking apple as well as dessert apple. It bears heavily, and as a consequence has a tendency to alternate bearing, and is disease suceptible. US.

WALTZ® - a remarkable naturally columnar shaped apple tree with short spurs and no major branches. These trees were bred in England to fit the modern small space garden. They require no pruning, can be planted just 2 feet/60cms apart, grow only about 3 metres high, can be grown in pots, are partially self fertile, and crop very well. Dark red over green and similar in flavor to red delicious.UK, NZ.

WESTLAND - A large cooking apple, ripens in mid to late August, yellowish with light red stripes; stores moderately well and has moderate hardiness. CAN.

WINESAP - Late season. A very uniform, medium to large, glossy bright red-striped/blotched dark red over yellow apple that has yellow flesh tinged with red at the veins, with tough skin and crisp, juicy, rather coarse subacid flesh.US, NZ.

WINTER BANANA - Late season. An excellent pollinator, the fruit are large, pale yellow, with a rose blush. The flesh is crisp, juicy, coarse, aromatic, with a good sugar:acid balance. W.B. has a pleasant distinctive aroma-but not of bananas! The fruit bruise very easily, so are never found in the shops. US.

WORCESTER PEARMAIN - Mid season. Bright red over green ground color, W.P. is sweet with good if unremarkable flavor and has crisp white flesh. It crops heavily and reliably. It is partially self fertile. W.P. is a tip bearer. US, UK, NZ, AU.

YELLOW NEWTON - A vigorous, spreading tree. The fruit is green to light yellow. The medium to large apple has fine dessert quality. US.

APPLE CULTIVARS AVAILABLE AT NURSERIES BUT WITH NO OR LITTLE INFORMATION HERE YET
ADAMS PEARMAN Late season. UK, US, NZ, AU.
ALEXANDER Early season. US, UK, AU.Cooking and dessert. Very large.
ALFRISTON Late season. AU.
ANDRE SAUVAGE Mid season. AU.
AUTUMN PEARMAIN Mid season. UK, AU.
BAILEY SWEET USA
BALDWIN USA
BEAUTY OF BATH Early season. UK, AU.
BELLE DE BOSKOOP Late season. US, UK, AU. Large. Outstanding for cooking. Also dessert after sweetening in storage. Very good keeper.
BESS POOL Late season. AU.
BENONI USA.
BLACK GILLIFLOWER USA.
BLENHEIM ORANGE Mid season. Large, firm fleshed, crisp. Cooks well, eats well. Scab susceptible, mildew resistant. US, UK, NZ, AU.
BLUSHING GOLDEN Apple bred for disease resistance. USA
BLUE PEARMAIN USA
BRAMLEY SEEDLING Late season. Cooker. Keeps very well. Acid, also said to be high in vitamin C. Disease resistan. Vigorous. USA, UK, NZ, AU
CANADA RED USA, CAN
CARPENTIN USA
CAT'S HEAD Mid season. AU.
CHAMPLAIN USA P
CLEOPATRA Mid season. AU.
CORNISH AROMATIC Late season. UK, AU.
CORT PENDU PLAT Late season. US, UK, AU.
CROFTON Late season. AU.
COURT OF WICK Late season. UK, AU.
DEVONSHIRE QUARRENDEN Early season. Very old variety. Medium sized shiny crimson red, crisp, juicy, sweet fruit. US, UK, AU.
DOCTOR HOGG Mid season. UK, AU.
EARLY McINTOSH Early season. AU.
EARLY VICTORIA Early season. AU.
ESOPUS SPITZENBERG Mid season.US, UK, NZ, AU.
FIVE CROWN PIPPIN Late season. UK, AU.
GEEVESTON FANNY Mid season. AU.
GLOUCESTER Late season. UK, AU.
GOLDEN HERVEY Late season. AU.
GOLDRUSH A very good quality of the apple scab-immune variety. Requires a long growing season to fully mature its fruit. Extremely tart straight off the tree, but mellows after 6-8 weeks storage. It keeps for almost 9 months in ordinary refrigeration. Quick to fruit, very heavy cropper. USA
HUDSON'S GOLDEN GEM A fine flavored, juicy, good sized russet apple (when properly ripened). Sensitive to spring frost to flower and fruitlet damage, with even light frosts causing cracking or splitting of the skin. USA
KANDIL SINAP Mid season. Odd shaped fruit, cylindrical, yellow/white skin with a red blush. Crisp, juicy, very good flavor.Reliable bearer, productive. US, AU.
KESWICK CODLIN 'Keswick codling'. Early season. Cooking apple, large, tart. Crops heavily. US, UK, AU.
KING OF THOMKIN'S COUNTY 'King' - Late season. Large yellow apple blushed and striped red. Dessert and cooking. Sweet, aromatic, coarse flesh, juicy. Vigorous and productive. Triploid. US, AU.
LADY IN THE SNOW Mid season. AU.
LADY WILLIAMS Late season. AU.
LORD LAMBOURNE Mid season. James Grieve x Worcester Pearmain. Sweet, juicy, crisp. US, UK, AU.
McINDOE'S RUSSET Late season. UK, AU.
MELROSE A cross between Jonathan and Delicious. Large. Good flavor. USA
MAIDEN'S BLUSH Early season.Flattish, yellow apple blushed with crimson red. Acid, crisp, tender flesh. US, AU.
PEASGOOD NONSUCH Mid season.Large yellow-green to yellow-orange fruit striped red and partially russeted. Very good high acid, high sugar flavor. Productive. US, UK, NZ, AU.
PINE GOLDEN PIPPIN Mid season. UK, AU.
PRINZENAPFEL Late season. UK, AU.
REINETTE DE ANGLETERRE Late season. UK, AU.
SAYAKA Late season. A Japanese variety, pinkish red, sweet.US
SWEET 16 A large bright red apple. The tree is resistant to apple scab, and blooms late. Complex tart flavor. US
SIR PRIZE Large yellow-green, pink blushed fruit. Juicy and tender flesh, high dessert qualities. Vigorous tree, blackspot and mildew resistant.NZ.
SUNDOWNER A late apple, later than other late apples such as Pink Lady, but with better flavor. Like Pink Lady, rather suceptible to fire blight. Not suitable for zone 5 USA
SUNTAN Cox's Orange x Court Pendu Plat. A medium-large golden yellow fruit blushed and striped orangey red. Complex sweet-acid flavor, very good. Late season. US, UK, AU.
WOLF RIVER (Horse Apple) Late season Very large, very hardy. USA
XAVIER de BAVAY Mid season. AU.
Some of the descriptions above are in part from 'The Apples of New York' published in 1905 by S. A. Beach.