Apple
Exposure: Full sun to light shade. Zone 4-7.
Prefers slopes, as apple trees need good airflow to reduce fungal diseases.
Soil: Soil tolerant but deep, rich soil preferred. Do not plant in low, wet poorly drained soil. pH 6.5
Growth habits: : A small to medium sized, single-trunked tree, depending on rootstock. Semi-dwarf trees generally reach 15-20 feet tall. Dwarf trees reach 8-10 feet tall.
Landscape uses: Apple blossoms are a beautiful sight in April with their pinkish white flowers covering the tree. Depending upon the variety, apples produce fruit from mid-summer through fall. Plant where they can be seen from your house or office. Use as home orchard trees, that, once mature can yield 300 pounds of fruit annually or semi-annually depending upon variety. To produce high-quality fruit, an organic spray program may be needed. Choose disease-resistant fruits where possible.
Usefulness: Sweet, firm, juicy fruit is a planetary favorite. Use for fresh eating, cooking, canning, apple butter, drying, or cider making. Different varieties have different uses and fruit characteristics.
Pollination: Two varieties needed for cross-pollination.
$39.00 / 5 gal and $49.00 / 7 gal
Available Varieties
'Early Harvest' standard - Round, medium size, straw yellow fruit. Flesh is crisp, very white, and juicy with a sprightly flavor. Particularly good for applesauce. Ripens over a long period in July. Heritage variety. $30/3 gal Out of stock until summer 2012
'Empire' semi-dwarf - medium size. Sweet, crispy, juicy flesh with a sprightly flavor, much like a McIntosh. A high-quality dessert and fresh eating variety that stores well. Early-season harvest. Mildew and fireblight resistant. Medium-sized red fruit that has creamy white, crisp, juicy, subacid flesh. The flavor is similar to Mackintosh, but much crisper. Vigorous, upright, early bearing trees that tend toward biennial bearing. Good for desserts, cider and fresh eating. Long storage and refrigerated life. Out of stock until summer 2012
'Enterprise' dwarf - Deep red, flavorful fruit, good for fresh eating and baking. Disease resistant. ‘Enterprise’ is a slightly tart, very crisp and juicy, large deep red apple that is good for fresh eating and desserts. It keeps well for several months. Mid to late season bloomer. $39/5 gal
'Goldrush' - dwarf or semi-dwarf. Disease resistant variety. Goldrush has a distinctively spicy flavor, a rare combination of intense acidity and high sugar content. This yellow-green with a red blush on the sunward side apple will keep in storage for six months, in fact its flavor improves after a month or so of storage. Goldrush is a multi-purpose apple that makes excellent cider, is ideal for salads or drying because it doesn’t brown, maintains its flavor and firmness in pies and is good for fresh eating. Ripens in late October to early November. Comes into production quickly and bears annually. Chuck's and Debbie's favorite apple. Best in zones 5-7. Out of stock until summer 2012
'Honey Crisp' dwarf or semi-standard - Apple has an exceptionally crisp and juicy texture. Its flesh is cream colored and crunchy. Mature apples have strong, spicy aroma. Mid-late season harvest. Out of stock until June 2012
'Liberty' dwarf - Disease resistant. ‘Liberty’ is a very productive, annual bearing, deep reddish purple apple that is tart with a wine-like aroma and mild astringency that adds a pleasant finish to ciders. It is an all purpose apple that is well suited to fresh eating, pies, sauces, and processing, though it only is good for fresh eating for a few months of refrigerated storage. ‘Liberty’ has its best flavor if tree ripened. $39/5 gal
'Limbertwig' semi-dwarf - A heritage variety grafted from our neighbor Reed Murphy's favorite tree. He asked us to graft some for him so we grafted some extras for our customers too. $30/3 gal.
‘Sweet Sixteen’ semi-dwarf - Resistant to scab and fireblight. This is a very cold-hardy, medium-sized apple with red-striped fruit that has cream colored flesh that is very sweet, crisp, and juicy. It stores well and is good for fresh eating, baking and sauces. Mid-season bloom with September harvest. $49/7 gal
'William's Pride' semi-dwarf - an early-maturing, attractive, dark red apple (Malus xdomestica Borkh.) with excellent fruit quality and field immunity to apple scab from the Purdue breeding program. $39/5 gal Out of stock until summer 2012
'Wealthy' semi-dwarf - An older variety of apple. Fruit produced is a yellowish apple with red stripes and tend to be large and very crsipy. Excellent for pies, sauces and juices. Fruit matures early September. $49/7 gal
'Wynooche Early' semi-dwarf - An all purpose delicious mid-summer apple that has many superior qualities, from disease resistance and excellent keeping qualities all the way to the thin skin which almost disappears when cooked. This apple never needs to be peeled. The earliest ripening apple we carry. $49/7 gal Out of stock