Apple Discoveries

We have grafted most of our apples onto to M111 rootstock. M111 is an excellent all-around rootstock for apples. These semi-dwarfed trees grow to 85 % of standard, approximately 12-16’ at maturity. Induces early and heavy bearing. Tolerates wet soil, dry soil, poor soil. Resists woolly apple aphids and collar rot.

We have grafted some apples on standard seedling rootstock. Standard seedlings can grow 20-25 ft. in height and spread. They are considered the most hardy.

The Following are Historic Varieties that we have re-discovered throughout the Gold Country Region:

1920’s Apple

Small to Medium, Flavorful, Mid-season, Beautiful

This unknown apple is round, small to medium, crisp, flavorful, sweet and slightly tart. A great eater, juicer, sauce maker. It is a uniquely beautiful yellow apple splashed and dusted with pink, orange and red. A soft russet radiates from the stem cavity. It is a reliable producer and ripens in September at 4200′ elevation.

The new owners of the property bought it from a woman who grew up eating these apples in Forest City. She and her mother loved this particular apple best. Anyone in the town was allowed to pick anything in the small orchard, except this one variety because It was their personal favorite. She said it was planted in the 1920’s.

Today Forest City is a Ghost town of a dozen buildings or so, built in the 1850s, it was an important mining camp and trade center. Unfortunately, not a lot of details were recorded about the mining camp, but the population was estimated at over 1,000 with over 30 commercial businesses during the boom years.

20 oz Pippin

American heirloom from the 1700s New York. Felix had the Twenty Ounce listed in his catalogs during the1880s. This large apple gets its name from the size of it’s fruit, with many exceeding 12 ounces. The bright yellow-green skin has red stripes. The delicious subacid flesh is creamy white, coarse, firm and very juicy. One of the most renowned baking heirlooms, it makes great juice and cider, good fresh or dried. The tree comes into bearing young, is vigorous and crops heavily nearly every year. Ripens in September at 4100′.

The grandmother tree grows at Bucks Ranch, Nevada County near Orleans Flat mining camp at 4100 feet on the San Juan Ridge overlooking the Middle Fork of the Yuba River. The Buck brothers homesteaded this property in the late 1870’s, in part to provide fruit for the thriving mining camp. Amigo’s odyssey with Felix Gillet began in 1970 when he stumbled on this abandoned homestead with more than 75 thriving ancient fruit and nut trees, planted by the Bucks’ from stock purchased from Felix Gillet, the “local” nursery guy, a days horse ride away in Nevada City. The only thing tending those trees in the 70s were the bears! We began harvesting the fruit and nuts, and discovered their amazing quality, and the trees were healthy despite annual onslaughts from the bears and heavy snows. Now cared for once again by the current owner, the trees get no irrigation, fertilization or pest management, just occasional pruning. And they still produce great crops, 140 years after they were planted!

Allington Pippin

Introduced in 1884 from Lincolnshire, England. A cross of Reine de Reinettes and Cox’s Orange Pippin. Fruit is medium-size, conic, with yellow to red skin with some reddish/orange flush or stripes, some russeting. A versatile apple useful for both cooking and eating. An excellent baking apple, keeps its shape when cooked. After a few months in storage the flavor mellows to an intense pineapple flavor. Excellent for cooking, juice and hard cider. Medium Vitamin C content. Harvest October into November, keeps 3 or more months in storage. Tree has average growth, is partially self-fertile but will set larger crops with other varieties. Biennial tendency, spur-bearer suitable to espalier or full size growth. Some resistance to scab.

Our mother tree is still (!) growing in Graniteville, once a boisterous, prosperous mining town at 4977’ on the San Juan Ridge. The house where the tree is located dates to 1885. At this high of an elevation the fruit has a challenge ripening before the bears get it, but the tree continues to produce a crop nearly every year, weather permitting. It is our highest elevation apple species discovered thus far. Will thrive at lower elevations, in any location with chilling hours above 600.

Annie Elizabeth

An 1850s introduction from London, this old-fashioned English culinary apple is one of the best for any recipe that calls for an apple to keep its shape when cooked. Also excellent for stewing or sauce. Fruit are so sweet sugar is not needed. Keeps 3 or more months. Medium Vitamin C content – enough so that the flesh does not brown when cut open. An easy variety to grow, fairly resistant to most diseases and resistant to spring frosts. A notable feature is the attractive maroon blossoms. Tree is medium to large sized, self-fertile, however, pollination from another apple will maximize its yield. Somewhat resistant to scab and mildew. To date we note the mother tree is completely resistant to codling moth, the worm found in many apples and pears.

Our wild grandmother tree grows in a very old homestead, mixed orchard in the old mining town of Pike City, Sierra County @ 3500’. The trees have outlived the structures, as there is no trace of them. Pike is 8.5 miles west of Alleghany and was named after Pike County, Missouri. The post office in opened in 1877. The population was 134 at the 2010 census. We have discovered numerous new-to-us varieties of apples and pears at this location that we will be introducing over the next few seasons.

Autumn Rambour

This 1600 Swedish variety was very popular in the early days of the US. The fruit is medium to large, usually roundish with thin skin, mottled red and striped with red and carmine, often with a bloom. The flesh is greenish white, firm, fine grained, very crisp, tender, juicy, aromatic and subacid. Ripens in September into October. Keeps 1-2 months. Popular fresh, and often used in cider blends. Bears moderate crops, annually. Apparently self fertile.

The mother tree is growing in an early 20^th century dry farmed orchard in Yorkville, Mendocino County, our first offerings from that part of California. Yorkville is southwest of Hopland,at an elevation of 922’. The Yorkville post office opened in 1868. We will be introducing other apples from this orchard in future years.

Autumn Strawberry
This fine American apple originated in New York about 1848, and was introduced by Gillet to California in 1890. Attractive pale yellow often almost entirely overspread with bright pinkish-red, dotted and streaked with purplish-carmine bright striped red. Flesh is yellowish-white, fine, crisp, tender, juicy, somewhat sprightly aromatic, subacid, very good quality. Many esteem this to be one of the best dessert apples of the season. The fruit tastes like a mix of apples and strawberries, apples and raspberries or apples and grapes depending on your taste buds. Its one of our favorites! Ripens in September to December. It is a hardy, healthy, long lived and regular cropper, yielding moderate to heavy crops biennially or nearly annually.

The mother trees are located in Forest City and Humbug. Forest, Sierra County, was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. The remaining town is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long lived at this 4500’ site. The other mother tree is located in Humbug, the famous mining camp now known as Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, at 3250’ on the San Juan Ridge of Nevada County. While it is difficult to estimate the age, they are planted next to a house from the late 1800s.

Baldwin
A very good quality medium to large size conical fruit with yellow base skin flushed with orange and striped red. Flesh is juicy, firm, with sweet to subacid flavor and aromatic. An exceptionally hard apple, remarkably free from blemishes and other blights. Has long been prized for the making of juice and hard cider. An exceptionally good pie apple and due to its hardness maintains more crispness through the baking process than other apples. A favorite market variety because of it’s size, attractive color and quality. Was once a leading apple used for export trade. The tree is a strong grower, long-lived and vigorous. When mature it bears very abundantly. Is grown successfully on various soils and under various climatic conditions. In rainy springs is susceptible to apple scab, a non injurious cosmetic only issue, that can be dealt with numerous organic fungicides if marketing is of consideration. Very resistant to cedar apple rust. Ripens in October to November. Our notes from observations on 11/16/11: Very large crop, none on the ground. No codling moth. No fruit skin disease. No weather damage 16° Brix 1/12/12: Good keeper, bears like it.

The mother tree is located in Forest City, Sierra County. Forest was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. The remaining town is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long lived at this 4500’ site.

Ben’s Red
Originated in Cornwall, England in the early 1800s. Medium-size fruit are bright yellow green with a strong pinkish, ripening to dark red flush, and some striping. The creamy white flesh is crisp, dry and coarse with a sweet, strawberry–like flavor. Ripens in late July-August. Highly rated for dessert and juicing. Like all summer apples, a short keeper, up to 4 weeks. Needs a pollinator variety planted near it for good productivity. Plant with Yellow Bellflower for max productivity.

The mother tree grows in Dutch Flat, CA at 3100’ in Placer County, overlooking the Bear River. Dutch Flat is a beautiful old town adjacent to a huge hydraulic mine from the mid 1800’s, and alongside the Trans Sierra Pacific railroad, connecting it with the world back in the day. We will be introducing many more p[plants from this farming community in the future.

Blue Rain
This was one of our early discoveries that we thought was a Blue Pearmain due to the blue hue on the skin – not too sure about that now.

This crisp apple is sweet and flavorful. It’s Yellow green skin acquires a nice patchy red blush with blue bloom. Medium in size and ripens in late October.

The mother tree grows near Rock Creek outside Nevada City, Nevada County @2500’, on a large 1800’s homestead being renovated by Tim and Ashley at First Rain Farm.

The mother tree grows near Rock Creek outside Nevada City, Nevada County @2500’, on a large 1800’s homestead being renovated by a young farmer.

Bawman’s Reinette (aka Red Winter Reinette)
A Belgian heirloom from the early 1800’s. The fruits are flattened and about 3 inches diameter, with greenish yellow skin with a brilliant red flush. The creamy white flesh is crisp, coarse textured and fairly juicy. The flavor is sub acid and faintly aromatic. Great for culinary and dessert uses of all types. Productive. The fruit ripens in October, and can be stored for 4 to 5 months. Trees are moderately vigorous.

The mother tree grows near Rock Creek outside Nevada City, Nevada County @2500’, on a large 1800’s homestead being renovated by a young farmer.

Bramley’s Seedling

This English variety from the early 1800s produces very large, flattened fruit with a vivid green skin, orange blush and bright red striping. In terms of flavor it ranks as one of the world’s great culinary apples. Produces heavy crops, with high level of acidity and excellent strong apple flavor for any apple dish. Makes the lightest and fluffiest of purees. Used for cooking, juice and hard cider. High Vitamin C content. Harvests in early fall, keeps at least 3 months. Trees are extremely vigorous, large, spreading and easy to grow, excellent on heavy clay soils. Attractive crimson blossoms. Heavy and regular bearer. Plant with at least two other varieties for adequate pollination. They are notably long-lived.

The grandmother tree is located in Forest City, Sierra County, CA. Forest was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. Thousands flocked to this vibrant town, today a national historic monument. Forest is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long-lived at this 4500’ site. The annual mid October Forest Apple Festival brings out the locals for a day of reminiscing, apple juicing and apple desert contests.

Buddha’s Belleflower

This American heirloom apple, a Yellow Bellflower, was widely planted during the Gold Rush era. Felix offered them from 1890 on. Large to very large fruit, bright pale, yellow skin, whitish, firm succulent flesh that is tart at picking and mellows with storage. Highly esteemed for fresh eating when picked, and for its excellent dessert qualities, especially after held in storage for a few months. Great baked! Makes excellent sauce, juice and hard cider due to its natural acidity. Care at harvest, as it bruises with rough handling. Ripens in October and November. Improved yield with pollinator nearby. A favorite. The mother tree is a very consistent producer despite being in a geographically cold pocket. The fruit is remarkably yummy. At the foot of the mother tree is a Buddha statue which is why we call it Buddha’s Belleflower.

The grandmother tree grows on an original mining homestead along the north fork of the Yuba River in the old mining town of Goodyears Bar, Sierra County @ 2700’ elevation. The brothers Miles and Andrew Goodyear, along with a Dr. Vaughan and a Mr. Morrison, prospected here in the summer of 1849 and found gold enough for their liking to settle down at this crossing of the Yuba River. The Goodyear boys built a sturdy cabin and before long the rich deposits attracted a number of miners to their camp, which was given the name Goodyears Bar in honor of its founders. Goodyears Creek was incredibly rich along its entire length, having been literally fed gold for thousands of years as it chewed through gold-bearing ledges and the beds of ancient rivers and streams. At one spot near the upper end of the bar, a group of men cleaned up $2,000 in gold from a single wheelbarrow of dirt.

Calville Blanc

This elusive yet classic heirloom variety is famous for a reason. The crisp and juicy flesh has the desired characteristic of having a balanced sweet/ tart taste. It’s smooth greenish yellow skin has a slight green in the cavity and the basin often seems pinched together, reminiscent of the Belleflower, to which it may be related. This is a different, yet related variety to the Calville Blanc d’Hiver, which has stronger ribbing, strong cavity russeting and ripens later. When grown under favorable conditions and with enough chill hours, the Calville Blanc makes a great eating apple as well as a fantastic pie apple. It’s pronounced 5 ribs makes this apple stand out, and It has a small ‘seam’ that can often be seen running from the cavity to the base, similar to the Winter Banana, which may also be a close relative. Ripens in October at 4500′.

The feral, non pruned, non-irrigated grandmother tree thrives in the little mining town of Forest in Sierra County at 4489′. During the Gold Rush many miners planted orchards around the mine and home sites for food and cider. This town had many varieties of trees planted in every space available. Many have died but the extremely hardy few that remain offer an abundance of genetic diversity from the past.

Calville Rouge (Red Calville)
The finest French variety of the 1800’s, a beautiful dark red apple. Sold by Gillet beginning in 1876. Firm, delicious sweet white flesh is very juicy and definitely berry flavored, not aromatic. Large fruit with characteristic ribbed Calville shape. Good fresh and for baked apples, keeps its form with a smooth creamy texture. Ripens November to December. Good keeper until March. Needs a pollinator variety. Most other apples will pollinate it.

The 125+ year young mother tree grows in the town of Humbug, in Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park on the San Juan Ridge of Nevada County at 3,250’ elevation. Humbug is the site of one of the original hydraulic mines, and a long-term, large mining town, abundant with wonderful heirloom fruits and nuts that we will be introducing over the next few years.

Canada Reinette (aka Canada Pippin)
French heirloom from the late 1700’s, introduced to US by Gillet in 1876. Above average to very large fruit, with yellow skin, sometimes decided blush, marked with dots or russet. Flesh is decided yellow, firm, moderately tender, coarse, juicy, sub-acid. Fruit is best eaten after storage, from early winter until March or April. This culinary apple is still very popular in Europe. Very good quality fruit, one of our favorites, highly suitable for all uses.

Chenango Strawberry

This historic apple dating to New York around 1854 has captivated many which is why you can find it in home orchards here and there scattered throughout the United States. It has a distinctive conical shape and it’s thin yellow skin blushes and striped red. The snow white flesh is excellent for eating fresh and cooking but you have to pick them early because they get mealy quick. It normally ripens slowly over a month in September but this tree grows in the shade at 3200′ and ripened in October. It was a real pleasure finding this beauty!

Christmas Pearmain

An 1893 English variety. The medium sized, oblong fruit has a greenish base color with a deep orange to red flush and strong russet dots that resemble stars in the sky. It has juicy, crisp, yellow flesh with good, sweet, rich flavor. The best flavor emerges when stored about a month to ripen. Sweet but with refreshing sharpness. A very good eating apple, one of Jenifer’s favorites. Easy to grow, with few problems, it crops well, increasingly as it matures. Harvest in late September to mid October at 2800′, will keep ‘til January. Reliably self fertile, but will make the best crops when pollinated. Average vigor with upright form. A spur bearer suitable for cordons & espaliers, or full size tree. Blooms have good frost resistance.

The grandmother tree is a vigorous 110+ year specimen growing at 2800’ on the old Ram Ranch, established in the mid 1800s, but no longer in existence. The tree is huge. Located outside of Camptonville, CA overlooking the North Fork of the Yuba River at 2700′, this large, very tall grandmother tree, was planted next to an old barn where it undoubtedly provided food for the family and ranch hands. The surrounding hillsides were covered in winegrape vines, providing an abundant supply of raw material for the on-ranch winery and still, and ultimately saloons along the Sierra Nevada. During Prohibition, the still was destroyed by the Feds and most of the vineyards were ripped out. This wise old tree, a hundred plus years later still remains, continuing to produce an abundance of wonderful food.

Cox’s Red Flesh Apple

This is the most Unique and Beautiful Crab Apple we have ever seen! Very Rare.

This sweet tasting crab apple almost looks like a small Red Delicious but it has brilliant red flesh inside! We were very excited to find this apple tree barely alive on an 1860’s Ranch and Gold Mining Site. For being almost dead, 7′ tall, cut down, re-sprouted and living in the shade, it is doing pretty good and has put on quite a bit of apples over the past couple years.

Found along the Gold Rush Trail, aka Highway 49, the Golden Chain Highway, near Downieville. Downieville is historically one of the most important and colorful towns of the Northern Mines. Gold deposits were discovered in 1848-49. The spot where the town later developed went through several names, including The Forks because it is located where the North Fork of the Yuba and Downieville Rivers meet. In the spring of 1850 the town had 15 hotels and gambling halls, 4 bakeries, 4 butcher shops, and every piece of ground was claimed. In 1851 it had in excess of 5,000 inhabitants. Philo Haven and Francis Anderson were credited with being among the first to discover gold a short distance above the Jersey Bridge. It recieved 10 less votes than Sacramento in its bid to be the State Capitol.

Delicious

This seedling of the Yellow Bellflower apple was introduced from Iowa in 1881, one of the most famous and important American apple varieties. It has a flavor superior to the numerous sports such as Red Delicious that have been developed from it. The flesh is white to cream, with a bit of pale yellow. The medium sized fruit has a yellow base color with dense carmine stripes that give it the appearance of a red apple. It has a distinct, furrowed, bell shape toward the basin end, inherited from its parent the Yellow Belleflower. An excellent dessert and multi-purpose variety. The fruit harvests in October through November at 4500′. This variety is adaptable to all but the lowest chill environments, yet consistently produces at it’s home in cold Forest City. Produces well in warm climates. Best production when grown with another variety as pollinator. Some resistance to mildew and fireblight.

The cared for mother tree is located in Forest, Sierra County, CA at 4500′. The owners have a very old map of the trees, with their original varietal identity! Forest was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. Thousands flocked to this vibrant town, today a national historic monument. Forest is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long-lived at this beautiful site.

Dr. Harvey Apple

Yummy Yellow Apple, Firm and crisp, Good Sweet/Tart Balance, Dryish. Good for Eatin, Bakin’ and Saucin’

Most likely the famous heirloom Dr. Harvey. This beautiful yellow apple with russet dots, originated around 1629 England and is one of FGI’s favorite yellow apples. We consider it to be a great homestead apple. It is great fresh eating apple and considered to be one of the finest English baking apples. It is crisp and flavorful right from the tree. The tree is abundant with fruit and needs other pollinators around.

We can well imagine Dr Harvey prescribing these apples with, “An apple day keeps the doctor away!”

This tree is the only Dr. Harvey found in an extensive gold rush orchard planted around the turn of the 20th Century in Dutch Flat, CA. The healthy trees still stand tall and fruitful after over 100 years of production with little to no human care. A true testament to the Mineral Rich Soil, Hardy Seedling Rootstock, and smart planting by the pioneers (including the Chinese) who knew where to plant and took good care of them as they got established. Some of the largest orchard trees we find have been tended by Mother Nature, who, over the years, has supplied underground water sources.

Dutch Flat Apple

Delicious, Medium Large, Late Ripening, Good for Fresh eating, storing and pies

These impressive apples are consistently a great apple to eat out of hand and Adam looks forward to it every year. Very Crisp, Aromatic, Sweet subacid flavor and slightly juicy. Can store 2 months and ripens in November/ Early December at 3200′

Dutch Flat is an old amazing mining town and stage coach stop, founded in 1851 by a two German brothers. There are many remnants of the past still here today such as the train, flumes, orchards, buildings and even the train harkens back to when it was first built and people were first able to load up fresh produce and ship it across country.stage coach stop

Dutch Mignonne
A 1700’s standout from the Netherlands. The orange and green-yellow russeted large fruit have very firm, crisp juicy cream color flesh with delicious slightly acid, a little sweet, aromatic flavor. Ripens in October – November, will keep refrigerated until May. An excellent dessert apple.The tree is hardy, a vigorous grower, and a very abundant bearer. It attains about middle size when fully grown. The shoots are thickly set with fruit spurs. Our field notes: 11-16-11 weight:.37#, 18°Brix, low codling moth. 10-4-12: The bears love it and have eaten almost all of them. They are sweet.

Early Sweet Tart

This is one of the earliest apples we have found, ripening in mid July at 3200′ in half shade. This delicious little apple has thin, candycane-red skin and snow white flesh with a Sweet Tart, candy-like flavor. Like some early apples, it can be a bit dry and get mealy quick if you don’t pick them when they are perfect. On some apples, the calyx protrudes externally about 1/8 inch. Cute and candy like. Did we say that they remind us of candy?

The grandmother tree is located near Malakoff Diggins State Park. The Diggins now resembles a mini grand canyon. Large, cast-iron, water cannons, fed by hundreds of miles of hand dug ditches, were used to blast away large sections of mountain side. This technique exposed the gold-laden, quartz veins so the miners could more easily access the gold. Unfortunately, the excessive, man-made erosion caused massive amounts of debris to wash downstream and led to wide spread flooding, killing people and damaging property in Marysville in 1875. As a result, in 1884 the world’s first environmental law, the Sawyer Decision, eventually ended hydraulic mining.

Esopsus Spitzenburg

Discovered in the late 1700s near Esopus, New York, the Esopus Spitzenburg is reputed to have been the favorite apple of Thomas Jefferson. The fruit is fairly large, oblong/connic, with orange to red skin, carmine stripes and strong russeted dots that look like stars. A hard apple that’s very crisp, spicy, citrus flavored, juicy and has a yellowish flesh. Aromatic and exceptional flavor. About the best to eat out of hand, and very good for all culinary purposes, in particular pies, juice and hard cider. It keeps its shape when cooked. Like many late-season apples, they improve with a few weeks of cool storage, which brings them to their full, rich flavor. They have a tendency to bear heavily one year then lightly the next. Ripen in late October through November. Will keep 3 months or more. Store for at least a month before eating.

The 100+ year untended grandmother tree grows in the town of Humbug, in Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park on the San Juan Ridge of Nevada County at 3250’ elevation. Humbug is the site of one of the original and largest hydraulic gold mines, and a long-term, large mining town, abundant with wonderful heirloom fruits and nuts that we will be introducing over the next few years.

Featherston’s Early Apple

This attractive August apple was found nestled in a 100+ year old Bartlett pear orchard. This beautiful yellow apple is blushed, splashed and striped with multiple shades of red and dotted with small russeted lenticels. It’s crisp white flesh has a pleasant, sweet-tart balance and reminds us of berry flavored candy. The mother tree may be a shy bearer, but she is by herself and will likely produce bigger crops with additional pollinators planted nearby.

The grandmother tree is located in Dutch Flat, Placer County at 3200′. It is the only apple smack dab in the middle of a large Bartlett pear orchard. Almost all of the neighbors still have Bartlett trees on their properties because a single family once owned the entire area in the late 1800s and planted the orchard all in Bartletts. They were able to ship the pears across the country on the newly-built, transcontinental railroad which was constructed within a mile of this property.

Forest City “Vanilla”
Although this apple is a Yellow Bellflower, we have kept it’s original study name. It is large, round to tapered, yellow-green skin with pronounced ribs. The whitish, firm and moderately sweet flesh has the distinct aroma of vanilla, a unique characteristic. Great for fresh, sauces and pies, the vanilla aroma is alluring. The tree is relatively small, grows slowly and bears medium size crops, but they are worth the effort Very little codling moth damage, on an untended tree. It ripens in October at 4700’ and must be used soon. A treasure.

The mother tree grows in the town of Forest in Sierra County. It has taken years of struggling with bear competition to finally get a picture of this small tree’s fruit. Forest was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. The remaining town is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long lived at this 4500’ site.

Fit for the Czar

This heirloom owes its name to its place in California horticultural history. In the mid 1890s Lowell Hill, near the Bear River, was already a famed apple growing area. James Buckner, then a well known fruit grower in Lowell Hill was documented in 1894 to have shipped two hundred boxes of highly prized apples to Nicholas II, then the Czar of Russia. Imagine the logistics of shipping apples around the world in the 1890s! This must have been one helluva a fruit to justify its international fame! We have discovered what we believe to be the trees in the remnants of a Lowell Hill orchard, that still produces wonderful fruit. This Pearmain type fruit is sweet, crunchy and very flavorful. It harvests in September to October @ 3900′ and keeps for at least two months, longer with refrigeration. Excellent for fresh eating, very good in pies and applesauce. May be a good addition for cider, we haven’t tried them yet.

The grandmother tree exists on a historic orchard in Lowell Hill, at 3900’ in Placer county, CA. Lowell Hill was a gold mining town from the 1850s through the early 1900s and attracted numerous farmers and ranchers due to the deep forest soils, plentiful snowpack and good access to markets via proximity to the Western Pacific railroad in Dutch Flat, a rip roaring mining town on the other side of the Bear River. We have located three distinct heirloom orchards still growing around Lowell Hill with no human care. The bears and squirrels are the biggest challenge to harvesting these crops and the long-term survival of the trees.

Forest Church

The bears know which apples are the best and that is why we were never able get a hold of these until this year! This apple is an amazing new introduction! It’s a beautiful, yellow-skinned apple with distinct but soft red striping on the sunny side. Large brown lenticels speckle the entire apple, resembling the woodpecker pecked bark of the apple tree itself. This medium to large apple is crisp, sugary, super juicy and a would make a great addition to any small orchard as it could be used for every use: fresh eating, baking, applesauce, juice or cider.

This apple tastes good even when it is way past its prime!

Once again, this apple comes from the historic Forest City where every year we find more and more amazing gems hidden in time. All of these trees are well over 100 years old, unfenced, without human irrigation and, most, still stand strong, proud and giving.

Galloway Pippin

An excellent dessert apple of medium size and squat shape, the Galloway Pippin is a crisp and sprightly fall apple with delicate berry flavors. The sunny side of the greenish yellow fruit gets a beautiful orange red blush. Ripens in mid to late September at 2700′ elevation. Great fresh, cider and dried. A fairly good keeper. Productive tree is about 15 feet tall, with plenty of new growth each year.

The grandmother tree is in a large, multi variety apple orchard, planted in the 1800s near Goodyears Bar, Sierra County near the North Fork of the Yuba River @ 2700’. Goodyears Bar was a significant mining camp in the late 1800s, with plenty of gold in the river and the hills. Lots of mines were located nearby, and farmers raised fruit to feed the hungry miners. An amazing mountain elder, octogenarian Cy Rollins, caretakes a number of heirloom trees, including this Galloway, while maintaining his museum-like property. He is full of history and story, and we hope to capture a few of them soon. Amigo and I

Gloria Mundi

Amigo and Jen took a road trip to do a presentation about the Felix Gillet Institute in Modoc County, and while we were there, we were invited to an old ranch where they used to grow apples that they shipped for sale. This was one of their varieties, and the only one we have seen in our research.

Golden Reinette (aka English Pippin)
This apple originated in England in the 1700’s and was introduced by Gillet in 1880. Widely planted back in the day, for very good reason. Fruit is medium size, roundish, smooth golden yellow skin lightly streaked with brighter red. Yellow, crisp, and very rich flavored flesh, with citrus notes. A very good keeper, typically harvested in November and will keep until March. Long esteemed in England and France as a premier dessert apple. Bears annually and is productive.

The mother tree grows in the town of Forest in Sierra County. Forest was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. The remaining town is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long-lived at this 4500’ site.

Golden Winter Pearmain
This French variety was discovered in the 1770s and grown by Gillet beginning in the mid 1880’s. A medium to large apple with golden-yellow skin, streaked with red. The flesh is yellow, firm and fine, crisp, juicy and sweet. It’s a juicy apple, good for eating out of hand or with a knife. Very good for cooking in savory or sweet dishes and is considered one of the best for hard cider. It retains its shape when cooked. This mid-season variety is harvested from early October and is at its best from October to December. A taste test favorite.

Green Keeper Apple

Crunchy, Delicious, Sweet and Tart, Late Season Storing Apple, Unique flavor with unusually dense flesh

This unassuming apple is quite extraordinary! This unknown, large, green skinned, boxy shaped apple has a rich dense flesh that packs a super crunch. Best in storage for a month or so but can still be eaten fresh if picked late off of the tree. It appears to be a rather shy bearer that prefers other pollinators around. The tree is healthy and vigorous. Great for fresh Eating and Pies. While it is nice to have fresh eating apples right off the tree, it is especially nice to be able to put them in storage (in you root cellar, of course) and have excellent apples later in the season when other fresh food from the garden has withered and the plants have gone to sleep for the winter.

The Grandmother tree is found in Nevada City, right along the Golden Chain Highway 49. Nevada City sits on Nisenan Land and was first settled by European Americans in 1849. Nevada City has been registered as a national historic landmark, where In 1850, there were 10,000 miners, business men (and women…), with saloons, barbershops (one run by Felix Gillet), hotels, brothels, hardware, grocery stores, horse and mule traders, to name a few.

Gros Api
Felix Gillet introduced this antique French apple to North America in 1876. The medium to large round yellow/green fruit with red spots ripens in September-October. The flesh is white, firm, lightly acid and sweet. Makes very good sauce, fresh eating and juice. One of the best keepers. Very productive.

The mother tree grows on the English Ranch, a historic farm from the 1800’s near North Columbia on the San Juan Ridge, Nevada County at 3000’.

Harvey
A 17th century England heirloom. A large culinary apple with oblong-conical shape and well-rounded ribs. Pale green background skin color becomes golden yellow at maturity with light brown flush and many russet dots. Creamy white flesh, tinged yellow is firm, very dry and a little sweet. Cooks to a well flavored, sweet puree. Ripens mid September through mid October. Tree is moderately vigorous, upright, spur bearing with very attractive blooms.

The mother tree is growing on an old homestead near the mining town of Washington, Nevada County along the South Fork of the Yuba @3600’. We have only recently began to explore this treasure trove of history, and will have more introductions from this ‘hood in coming years.

Jacque’s Apple

Although we have yet to identify this apple by variety name, we’ve named it for it’s steward Jacquie. It is crisp, mildly sweet with a pleasant subacid flavor. We left this apple on the counter for 3 weeks and it retained it’s crispness. The fruit ripens in mid October at 2500′. This apple has a unique ‘snouted’ and sometimes boxy shape and handsome blushed skin. A great eater, and very suited for sauce, juice and drying. The tree is a large, towering old grandmother with a 3′ diameter trunk. It has been a shy bearer, but it does grow in the shade. We have planted some in our mother orchard and will watch it for more information.
The grandmother tree is located at an old homestead tended by our friend Jacquie near Nevada City, Nevada County, CA. about 3 miles from Gillet’s Barren Hill Nursery. Nevada City was a bustling place in the late 1800s, the Queen of the Northern Mines, with much agriculture to feed the miners. We have found many Felix trees in this community, likely due to nearly 100 years of continuous nursery operation. Felix grew many of the trees and vines still thriving in and around Nevada City.

Jonathan Apple

Crisp, Juicy, Delicious, Mid-Season, Classic Eater Saucer and Cider Apple

Jonathan has the distinct perfume and flavor of the classic apple. It was first discovered in the 1790s as a chance Esopsus Spitzenburg seedling on the farm of Philip Rick in Woodstock, New York. It was named Jonathon after the President of the Albany Horticultural Society, Jonathon Hasbrouck.
Firm and tart when eaten right off the tree in September, but needs to be used by October. Great pie apple!

We found this Jonathan apple on an old homestead and orchard in Pioneer, CA along the Golden Chain Highway 49. With acres of other heritage trees – still thriving – this tree still produces fabulous fruit! The family of pioneers kept records of their plantings and labeled most of the trees with cutout aluminum can circles and imprinted names. This made it so much easier to identify the fruit.

Jonathan from Yorkville

This 1864 American variety is widely regarded as one of the best flavored with a good sweet/sharp balance. The fine textured creamy yellow flesh has a crisp bite, lots of juice, mildly sweet with a tart tang and subtle hints of spice. Used cooked or raw in sweet and savory preparations. Medium round fruit is covered in a thin red skin, blushed with yellow to green undertones. The heavy cropping tree is a precocious and productive tree in all apple-growing regions. Ripens in October on the mother tree at 900′. Thought to be a seedling of Esopsus Spitzenburg. It is partially self fertile, but will set larger crops when pollinated by Lady, Macoun, Newtown Pippin, or Pearmain.

The mother tree is growing in an early 20^th century dry farmed orchard in Yorkville, Mendocino County, our first offering from that part of California. Yorkville is in the hills southwest of Hopland, at an elevation of 922’. The Yorkville post office opened in 1868. We will be introducing other apples from this orchard in future years.

Kate Wolf Apple

Terry Fowler and the Kate Wolf apple tree

This picture here, shows Terry Fowler, Kate Wolf’s widower with the apple tree.We don’t know much about this tree, except that it is still standing (barely) on an old homestead on the south shore of the North Fork of the Yuba River @2600’ in Sierra County, near Goodyears Bar. Kate Wolf was Amigo’s friend, who wrote and recorded the song “The Lilac and the Apple Tree” in the late ‘70s. Kate told Amigo that the inspiration for the song was an old homestead she had found near Goodyears Bar, where she spent her summers in her teens and 20’s. he never asked exactly where it was located, and when she passed away so early in life he regretted not having learned the location that inspired Kate. About 15 years later, talking with a mutual friend Utah Phillips Amigo mentioned that he was curious where these plants were. Turns out Utah knew the man who might know the location. After many attempts (that’s a story in itself!) he finally learned the location from this secretive old man, as it is the homestead that his grandparents settled in the 1850s. After hiking a couple miles to this abandoned site in the forest Amigo found the lilac and the apple! We have been hiking to the site, and growing the lilac ever since.

Since it grows in the shade of a dense fir forest that has grown up since the 1800’s, the apple tree blooms but does not mature fruit. You might know Kate’s song, but if not please listen to her sing it here:

King David Apple

Some apple connoisseurs consider King David to be one of the finest eating apples there have ever been. Crisp, with a Perfect Sweet/Tart balance, Great Flavor and Beautiful. This Mid-Season Apple was discovered in 1893 by Farmer Ben Frost in Arkansas. It most likely falls in the genetic line of Arkansas Black and/or Winesap and can still be found in Heirloom Orchards all over the US.

Found in an heirloom orchard planted in Amador around 1912, they still had name tags! The children of the original homesteaders, now grown, had kept tabs on the orchard. They carved the original variety names into aluminum rectangles (pop and beer cans with the tops and bottoms removed, then split open into rectangles). These they hung in the trees with a metal wire. Great recycling! Pioneers are like that!

King of the Pippins

Also known as the Reine de Reinettes or Queen of the Queens, this popular French variety originated in the 1770s and was offered by Gillet beginning in 1889. It was very widely grown in Europe at that time. The medium sized fruit is flushed and striped with redish-orange and has strong russeting rays from the cavity. Medium grained white flesh is sharp, firm and juicy, with a floral perfume. Great as a dessert apple with many culinary uses. It keeps its shape when cooked. The sweet-sharp juice is excellent as fresh juice and is considered one of the best for hard cider making. Ripens October into November. Fruit stores very well, sweetening over time. The tree is a moderate grower to a medium size, easier to pick. Partially self-fertile, but will increase productivity when planted with other varieties. This variety was chosen by the Slow Food Ark of Taste in 2014 to be honored and saved for posterity. Next year we will call her the Queen instead of the King.

The mother tree is growing in an early 20^th century dry farmed orchard in Yorkville, Mendocino County, one of our first offerings from that part of California. Yorkville is in the hills southwest of Hopland,at an elevation of 922’. The Yorkville post office opened in 1868. We will be introducing other apples from this orchard in future years.

King of Tompkins County Apple

This forgotten Beauty is a New Jersey heirloom that was once very popular and revered for its flavor, size and versatility. Large, Crisp, Juicy with a wonderfully delicious subacid flavor. It is uniquely orange and ripens on the earlier side in late August to early September at 3000 ft elevation. Great fresh eating, pie, sauce or anything. It can Store 1-2 months but can turn mealy quick like most earlier apple. One of the best.

Found in an old orchard planted in 1912 in Pioneer, CA. The family kept their trees labeled so it wasn’t hard to identify this one!

Lady Apple (aka Petite Api or Christmas)

Probably the rare, famous and beautiful Api Etoile aka Star Lady. Small, Crunchy, Delicious, Late Season, Beautiful, Great Storage

This Beautiful early 1600’s Apple is considered rare. These very dense and delicious apples are ready for eating in December. They originated in Switzerland and made it to France in 1628. From there they spread to the rest of Europe and then to the Americas. Although it was famous for its shape, in flavor, it stands out on its own. How perfect to have delicious, star-shaped, apples for the Winter Holiday Season! The Api Etoile trees are very vigorous and prolific. They are long-blooming, beautiful to gaze at and beloved by bees. One would make a great pollinator in a larger orchard.

Found only in a small number of collectors’ orchards. We only have 2 this year.

We found the star lady apple on an old homestead and orchard in Pioneer, CA along with acres of other heritage trees – still thriving. The family kept records and most trees were labeled. We will be introducing all the best ones over the next few years.

Lanes Prince Albert
This 1800’s apple is one of the definitive English cooking and eating apples, with the prime qualities of an English “cooker” – a juicy acidic flavor and it keeps very well. The large green fruit are sharp and juicy. The grain is fine and does not disintegrate in the oven, the best apple for tarte tatin. Storing well, it mellows and can be used as an eater. Makes an excellent cider. The trees ripen from October until Christmas and are fine as dessert apples by then. It is an easy tree to grow, with good disease resistance and tolerating a wide range of soils, a steady heavy bearer, and rarely fails to produce a crop. Self fertile, needs no pollinizer.

The mother tree grows near Rock Creek outside Nevada City, Nevada County @2500’, on a large 1800’s homestead being renovated by a young farmer.

Leland’s Early Apple

Very Early, Crisp, Abundant, Sweet, Some Tart, Good early eating and early applesauce

Beautiful Medium sized apple you can look forward to in July! The tree is very abundant and appears to have alternate bearing crops of larger better apples. You must pick quickly when they are ripe because like most early apples, they get mealy quick. Great for eating fresh and making apple sauce. At home in July, we take 3 or 4 early apple varieties and cook them down together to make the best applesauce! Other early varieties we offer include, 4th of July, Early Sweet Tart, NSJ King, Mitchelson’s Seedling and Willow.

This apple tree grows on Leland’s old homestead in Camptonville with many other old trees. Leland grew up in Camptonville, the son of the postmaster who became a postmaster himself. He knew everybody and all the town news. He was a WW2 fighter pilot, photographer, collector, historian, post master and many other things. In his later years he was considered the Camptonville town historian. We miss him dearly. Love you Leland, thanks for everything!

Macoun Apple

A 1909 cross between McIntosh and Jersey Black. Although this isn’t a variety that Felix Gillet introduction, this is one of our favorite heirloom eating apples. The grandmother tree thrives here on Heaven and Earth Farm on the site of an historic pear orchard. Like most apples it bears heavily every other year. The skin is a thin crimson red, dusted in a beautiful blue bloom. The flesh is crisp, white and delicious! It makes an excellent pink apple sauce! A great keeper, ripens in October to November at 2400′ and keeps well in storage for another couple months. Excellent resistance to fireblight and scab, with moderate codling moth resistance. So good it’s still a very popular commercial variety in the East.

The grandmother tree grows at Heaven and Earth Farm, home of the Felix Gillet Institute, near North San Juan on the San Juan Ridge of Nevada County, CA. Heaven and Earth is where we have our Mother Orchards and plant repository and do research on the heirlooms we find in the boonies. We also teach classes, lead tours and much more. This tree was planted in the early 1980s by former owners, who purchased it from Amigo when he ran Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. It was his favorite apple during that time, and still one of the top on a very long list. What a great variety!

Margil Apple

I have to find the pictrue of this apple, but it is an English variety discovered about 1750 in jolly ol England. A beautiful medium sized apple! It’s perfumed, creamy white to firm yellow flesh eats well right from the tree. This yellowish green apple is covered in distinct crimson stripes and the cavity often emits golden rays of russet. The taste is sweet, aromatic and slightly floral. Delicious. Great out of hand, in cider and dried. Ripens in late August to mid September at 4100’. Keeps 2-3 months under refrigeration.

Melon
An American heirloom from Ohio about 1800. One of the best dessert apples of its season, crisp tender and delicious. Fruit is medium to large, roundish-conic, with smooth, pretty pale yellow or greenish yellow, with bright red stripes skin. Flesh is white slightly tinged with yellow, moderately firm, fine-grained, crisp, very tender, juicy, sprightly, somewhat aromatic, pleasantly sub acid and very good. One of our favorites. Harvest in October, keeps through January. Tree is medium-sized, moderately vigorous and upright.

The wild and wooly mother tree grows in the town of Forest in Sierra County. Forest was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. The remaining town is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long-lived at this 4500’ site.

Mitchellson’s Seedling
An English favorite from 1851. Very large fruits are yellow with red mottling and a little russeting. Apples have very firm, crisp, yellowish white flesh with an mild acidic flavor. Great for fresh, baking, juice and hard cider. Esteemed cooking apple. Blooms late, missing most spring frosts. Ripens early October.

The wild, as yet unpruned, mother tree grows near Rock Creek outside Nevada
City, Nevada County @2500’, on a large 1800’s homestead being renovated by
a young farmer

Monarch
Monarch is an 1800’s English apple is a larger sweeter alternative to ‘Bramley’, which needs little or no less sugar when cooked. It’s medium to large blushed red fruit with thin skin, soft and pure white flesh are high quality culinary processing and produce a juicy puree with a smooth creamy
texture. Keeps well. Ripe in October, stores through January. The tree is vigorous, upright, spreading, heavy bearing. Easy to grow. Resistant to late frost and apple scab. Partially self fertile, but will increase crops with pollinator var.

Mother Apple

The best and most delicious apple of the historic Gail’s Orchard. Everything you’d like out of an apple. Bright Red, Medium Large, Crisp, Perfect Sweet/Tart balance, very rich and flavorful. Great all around apple. They can hang on the tree for months and still keep crisp and flavorful. They seem to produce almost every year and are ripe in September and October. We haven’t tried but they will most likely store well into winter when stored properly in your root cellar. They are very similar to our ‘Calville Rouge Apple’ and may be the same variety. However, these ripen earlier than the ‘Calville Rouge’.

Historic Gail’s Orchard is on private property in the middle of the Tahoe National Forest. Originally a summer home to the Nisenan, this protected orchard is difficult to find and dangerous if you do. Be prepared to run for your life! An operating ranch since the mid 1800s. Over a hundred years of cattle ranching has probably contributed to the extraordinary heath and vigor of these trees.

NSJ King Apple

Giant, Huge, Big, Crunchy, Sweet, Delicious, Early.

Pinkish Red Apples with Large Flavorful Crisp White flesh and a perfect sweet / tart balance. They have fun asymmetrical and lumpy shapes with wide and deep cavities. They seem to produce consistency each year with an occasional lighter bearing year. Ripens late August and early September at 2400′ They seem to stay pretty crunchy for at least a couple weeks on the counter and few more in storage. For an early apple, it is quite crunchy and flavorful and doesn’t get mealy quick like most.

North San Juan is a quaint agricultural community where the Felix Gillet Institute’s home base is located. There are remnants of large hydraulic mining operations all over the area. The Trees, Homesteads and Orchards that fed the gold mining settlers are still scattered throughout the mountains, and every year we uncover more distinct lost varieties of these heritage fruits, nuts and ornamentals.

Newtown Spitzenberg

This late Fall ripening apple has everything you need in an apple. It has crisp, tender, sweet and juicy flesh with just the right amount of tartness. Rich and aromatic flavor and super crunch wins hearts. The great taste is complemented by it’s sun ripened candy red crimson skin. Vigorous and productive tree with good resistance to fireblight and scab. Consistent producer. Very popular here at the FGI.

The mother tree thrives at 4100′ at Bucks Ranch overlooking the Middle Fork of the Yuba River in rural Nevada County, CA. Amigo discovered Buck’s Ranch in 1970, years before he first caught wind of Felix Gillet and the legacy that inspired this project. The trees on this property, once abandoned, are dry farmed, get no fertilizer (other than bear and deer poop!), and are not sprayed. They are hearty! Forty five years later we are still tending and propagating these beautiful trees, ensuring their genetics live on for our posterity! What Fun!

Nickajack

This North Carolina heirloom dates from the late 1700s. Medium to large in size, the greenish-yellow skin is covered with streaks of orange-red to red. The dessert apple has creamy-white flesh with a tinge of green under the skin and is firm, coarse-grained and crisp, with a subacid to sweet flavor, noticeably aromatic. . Good for all processing including pies, sauce, dried, juice, hard cider. The large tree grows upright and spreading and is a prolific annual bearer. Ripens in September-November and will keep all winter.

The mother tree is a very healthy specimen growing on an old mining claim in Goodyears Bar, Sierra County near the North Fork of the Yuba River @ 2700’. The owner of this tree, Cy Rollins is a walking encyclopedia of Sierra and Yuba County history, which will share as time allows.

Northwest Greening

Hailing from Wisconsin and introduced about 1872, the Northwest Greening has medium to medium-large green fruit. It’s crisp, tart, yet sweet flesh makes an excellent dessert apple as well as a great cooking apple. It can be used much like a Granny Smith or Rhode Island Greening, but it is much sweeter and more flavorful. It ripens mid September at 2700′ and has borne a heavy crop nearly every year. Extremely cold hardy tree. An amazing storing fruit, will keep until May if refrigerated. Vigorous, upright tree with lots of new growth each year. The bears love it, and they have discriminating tastes!

The grandmother tree grows at 2700’ in a quaint Gold Rush era homestead in Goodyears Bar, CA, near the North Fork of the Yuba River in Sierra County, CA. This tree is cared for by our wise friend Cy Rollins, whose knowledge and storytelling has captivated and inspired us. Not only does he tend many heirloom fruit and nut trees, Cy, an octogenarian collects antique mining and logging equipment. He has established a public museum in Goodyears Bar for all to enjoy the local history. Of the 100 or so heirloom trees he stewards, we have selected about a dozen of our favorites for the nursery.

Old School Apple

Joy, our wonderful bookkeeper came on the adventure when we were looking for new apple trees. She spotted this 10′ tree growing in the shade of a large schoolhouse built in the 1800s. It had a large crop of medium to large apples that ripen in early October at 4500′. With bright, yellow-green flesh, the skin is covered in a powdery pastel bloom. The sunny side turns a bright red in full sun, while apples in the shade remain yellow with red sun spots. The high quality and flavor stand out in this apple, and it was immediately a clear favorite among us. With crisp flesh, subacid, sugary-sweet juice and superb taste, this apple reminds us of the Sierra Beauty. Though not yet positively identified, this high quality apple is a must have for fresh eating, apple juice, and, of course, cider.

Year after year, the historic mining town of Forest City never ceases to provide more and more unique apples of the highest quality. Gold was discovered here in 1852 and first named Brownsville. In 1854 the town voted to change the name to Forest City. It was, at that time, the site of the Bald Mountain Drift Mine, which was the largest of its kind in California, but a fire devastated the town in 1865 and little was rebuilt after that. It is considered a ghost town, although a few people still live there, and some original buildings still remain such as the dance hall, schoolhouse and a few homes.

Orange Crabapple

This wonderful, unique crabapple is small and sweet with a thin orange skin that blushes red in the sun. Its sweet, orange flesh makes for a delicious treat. The tree itself is the largest of 50 trees in a 100+ year old orchard. The caretaker stretches a net under the tree and catches the apples before they hit the ground to make orange crabapple jelly every year. It is, most likely, a great pollinator and adds beauty to any orchard. This may be the famous Transcendent Crab Apple but we haven’t positively identified it.

We have found three of these trees, one in Dutch Flat, one in Cedar Ridge and another in North San Juan. Dutch Flat was an important stagecoach stop in the mid 1860’s. Mining and timber harvesting were huge industries for the area, but it also boasted a rich intellectual and acting culture where even Mark Twain visited and performed at their historic Opera House.

Parry White Apple

Early ripening

Synonyms: Imperial White, Parry’s White, Superior White, White Wax, White Imperial)

Noted as being from William Parry of Parry’s Ponoma Nurseries, Cinnaminson, New Jersy; recorded in 1869.

Medium in size though sometimes large. Flesh white, quite firm, fine textured, crisp, tender, juicy, subacid, good quality for desert or market use. Comes into bearing young and is an annual cropper, yielding good to very heavy crops. Ripens over a long period of time – August – October. Makes a very smooth applesauce.

Discovered in the gold mining town of Grass Valley, California.

Peck’s Pleasant Apple

A fantastic eating apple!

A striking apple with crisp, sugary sweet flesh. It has complex, subtle fruity flavors such as berries, flowers and Sweet Tarts that linger on the tongue. The somewhat thick green skinned fruit can be a greyish green-pink in the shade or have striking swirls of carmine striping. Small white lenticels dot the skin like little stars in a swirling apple universe. Great dessert apple or can be used for cooking, juice, cider or pie. Rated very good to best by numerous growers and eaters. Ripens in September at 2000’.

The grandmother tree is located in Applegate, Placer County, CA at 2,000’. This small town was founded by Lisbon Applegate in 1849. He eventually went back to Missouri but his son George stayed, became postmaster and the town changed it’s name to Applegate in honor of the family. Adjacent to the Transcontinental railroad, Applegate was once a major shipper of apples, pears and plums. We hope to find more wonderful heirlooms in this small community.

Prince of the Pippins

Jennifer’s new favorite apple. Large, Crisp, Juicy, Beautiful, Subacid, Flavorful

This gorgeous apple has Great Flavor and a perfect sweet tart balance.These large green apples turn a beautiful blush with a pleasant radiating russet from the cavity. Large Handsome brown lenticels (dots) decorate the entire apple. They are not a consistent shape or color and many of the apples vary in appearance but are consistent in their superb flavor and quality. They are indeed, fit for a Prince!

This apple has many qualities of the Reine de Reinettes (Queen of the Reinettes, also known as the King of Pippins for those of the patriarch mind), but the description falls short the Queen. This is perhaps a seedling of the Queen, so, a Princess or Prince of the Pippins.

We found 2 of these trees in an extensive gold rush orchard planted around the turn of the 20th Century in Dutch Flat, CA. The healthy trees still stand tall and fruitful after over 100 years of production with little to no human care. A true testament to the mineral rich soil, hardy seedling rootstock, and smart planting by the pioneers (including the Chinese) who knew where to plant and took good care of them when they were young trees. Some of the largest orchard trees we have found, have discovered the deep, underground water sources provided by Mother Nature.

Red Astrachan

This Russian heirloom was discovered in the early 1800s and offered by Gillet beginning in 1884. It is one of the earliest varieties to ripen in Nevada City, mid August thru September. It is a good variety for warmer climates. A beautiful medium-sized apple, with a thin, yellow skin, streaked with shades of red and covered with a bluish bloom. It is moderately juicy, with a tart flavor that makes it more attractive for cooking than fresh eating. It makes the first great apple juice of the season, and is especially good for dried apples, pies and applesauce. Of more than 100 apple varieties that they grow, Tim Bates and Karen Schmidt of the Apple Farm in Mendocino County consider this the best variety for their famous applesauce. Others call Red Astrachans the best for pies. It does not store well, pick ‘em and use within a few weeks. The tree is vigorous, self fertile, and an alternate year bearer. The tree likes most soils, moderate watering, good drainage and full sun. It is a beautiful, ornamental and very productive tree.

The 125+ year young grandmother tree grows in the town of Humbug, in Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park on the San Juan Ridge of Nevada County, CA at 3,250’ elevation. Humbug is the site of one of the original and largest hydraulic gold mines and was a roaring, long-term, large mining town, abundant with wonderful heirloom fruits and nuts that we will be introducing over the next few years.

Reinette Franche

Gillet introduced this 1500s Normandy, France variety in 1884. The fruit is a medium-large crimson and golden apple with radiating rays of russet from the cavity. Consistent Bearer of good crop. 2018 had a 350 lb harvest from the original grandmother tree! One of our favorite fresh eaters. Flesh is yellowish white, firm and crunchy, spicy flavored with a wonderful aroma – a marvelous mixture of nuts and orange. An excellent apple for dessert or cooking. Ripens in October at 2700′, and keeps well into spring. The tree bears biennially but productively. Resistant to fireblight and scab.

The grandmother tree is a huge, very healthy specimen growing on an old mining claim in Goodyears Bar, Sierra County, CA. near the North Fork of the Yuba River @ 2700’. Now a sleepy, lightly populated hamlet, Goodyears was a rockin’ placer and hard rock mining camp at the height of the Gold Rush, occupied by thousands of hard working, hard partying miners. Fortunately some of them planted fruit and nut trees, which have survived to this day! The owner of this tree, octogenarian Cy Rollins, is a walking/running encyclopedia of Sierra and Yuba County history, which we will share as time allows.

Reinette Lonque

This French heirloom dates from 1830. Felix had it in his catalog in 1877. The conical fruits are medium to large, with bright yellowish green skin and the greenish white flesh is firm and rather course with a sweet, subacid, slightly aromatic flavor. This variety ripens in summer, August to September. Fruits with the best flavor are eaten soon after picking. Does not store long. A preferred variety for dessert and early season juice and cider.

The feral, as yet unpruned, mother tree grows near Rock Creek outside Nevada City, Nevada County @2500’, on a large 1800’s homestead being renovated by a young farmer, about 3 miles from Gillet’s Barren Hill Nursery. Nevada City was a bustling place in the late 1800’s, the Queen of the Northern Mines, with much agriculture to feed the miners. We have found many Felix trees in this community, likely due to nearly 100 years of continuous nursery operation. Felix grew many of the trees and vines still thriving in and around Nevada City.

Rhode Island Greening

This American heirloom originated in the mid 1600s and was brought West by Felix in 1888. A very popular apple of the 1800s to1900s, it’s one of the most frequent apples we have found, and for good reason! It is one of the best American culinary apples, with tender, rich, crisp, juicy and quite tart fruit, similar to a Granny Smith. The fruit is very large, round and flattened on the ends with a dark, waxy green skin that turns greenish-yellow when fully ripe. It is one of the best for apple pie and dried apples. Great fresh, as juice or for hard cider. This is Cy Rollin’s favorite apple. It ripens from September to October at 4200′, and keeps into February or longer. The tree is vigorous and very productive with a larger fruit and lighter crop in alternate years. It is considered one of the most long-lived of apples.

We collect our grafting material from grandmother trees in Alleghany, Sierra County @ 4200’, Buck’s Ranch on the San Juan Ridge, Nevada County @ 4100’ and Graniteville in Nevada County @ 5,000’. These great old mining camps have a ton of history, did I tell ya?

Ribston Pippin

One of the best fresh eating apples of the entire season! We love this apple! It is a very juicy and crisp, white-fleshed apple with a flavor we’d compare to Fuji or Honeycrisp. Complex, sweet, slightly tart with some berry/grape flavor. The grandmother tree is still very healthy and produces almost every year. The size and shape of each apple is unique and vary greatly, but average size is medium/large. Some are flat round with dots and striping while others will be oblong or conical with deep, red blushing. Eat fresh or juice. It crops almost every year. Ripens mid September at 2700′.

This tree is growing amazingly well after 100 years in Goodyear’s Bar, Sierra County, CA. It gets watered regularly and the weeds are kept down by burros. Cy Rollins and his daughter “Little” Diane take very good care of this tree, as well as many others, and it shows! We are forever grateful for those who steward these cousins of ours, the trees. The brothers Miles and Andrew Goodyear, along with a Dr. Vaughan and a Mr. Morrison, prospected here in the summer of 1849 and found gold enough for their liking to settle down at this crossing of the Yuba River. The Goodyear boys built a sturdy cabin and before long the rich deposits attracted a number of miners to their camp, which was given the name Goodyears Bar in honor of its founders.

Scarlet Stayman

A cultivar developed in 1866 by Joseph Stayman of Leavenworth, Kansas, sold by nurseries since 1895. The fruit is medium sized, with beautiful scarlet, red skin. Firm, crisp white flesh, with a little pink color from the skin. Sweet, rich, very pleasant, floral flavors. One of the FGI apple tasting favorites. It is a high-quality dessert and culinary apple. Since Stayman is a triploid, it will not pollinate other cultivars and benefits from at least two other varieties near it for pollination. Ripens in September to October at 4500′, keeps 2-4 months. Moderate blight and scab resistance. A very good keeper. slow grower

Triploid: A triploid apple has 3 sets of chromosomes instead of two. This means that the pollen is often sterile and cannot pollinate itself or others. It needs other self fertile varieties of apples around it to pollinate and develop fruit. We recommend one of our favorite historic Golden Delicious and another of your choice.

The tended grandmother tree is located in Forest City, Sierra County. Forest was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. Thousands flocked to this vibrant town, today a national historic monument. Forest is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long-lived at this 4500’ site.

Smith’s Cider
This is a famous cider variety from 1800’s Pennsylvania, with a sweet to sweet-sharp flavor profile, with a nice hint of honey. The medium to large roundish fruit has thin, smooth and glossy skin, bright pale yellow shaded with pinkish-red. The white flesh is, firm, crisp, tender, juicy, subacid, aromatic and sprightly. Ripens in October through December. Not a long keeper. Vigorous tree, bears young, highly productive.

Our wild mother tree grows in a very old homestead mixed orchard in the old mining town of Pike City, Sierra County @ 3500’. The trees have outlived the structures, as there is no trace of them. We have discovered numerous new-to-us varieties in close, that we will be introducing over the next few season.

Stayman Winesap

This 1866 Kansas introduction descended from Winesap. The Large fruit has a thick, greenish-yellow skin covered with deep red blush, darker red stripes, and russet dots. Firm, tender yellow flesh is crisp, juicy and finely textured. Tart and spicy, rich wine-like taste with exceptional eating quality. Excellent when eaten fresh, or used in pies, desserts, applesauce, and cider. Ripens in October at 4500′, they keep very well, and can last until spring if properly stored, the most popular winter keeper. Will thrive in high and low chill sites with temperate to warm climes. Partially self fertile, increased production with other varieties. Adam’s top favorite apples! The apples are generally much bigger than the one pictured.

The mother trees are located in Pioneer and in Forest City, Sierra County. Forest was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. Thousands flocked to this vibrant town, today a national historic monument. Forest is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long-lived at this 4500’ site.

Striped Gilliflower

English heirloom from the early 1800s. The showy fruit is large to very large with yellowish white skin, striped and splashed with bright red. The flesh is yellowish white, juicy, crisp with brisk sub acid good flavor. It has a unique ‘sheep snout’ shape. Ripens in Late Winter A vigorous grower, and an annual good bearer.

The completely wild mother tree grows in the town of Forest in Sierra County. Forest was a very productive gold mining camp beginning in 1852. The remaining town is full of antique pears, apples and cherries that we will be introducing over the next several years. Apples are particularly productive and long-lived at this 4500’ site.

Swaar
American apple from the Hudson River Valley in New York, introduced to California by Gillet in 1884. Swaar means “heavy” in Dutch, and describes the dense medium to large, roundish fruit with green to deep yellow skin, shaded with bronze blush. Flesh is yellowish, firm, moderately tender, fine-grained, juicy, aromatic, and rich. A fine dessert variety that improves in flavor and texture after being in storage. Frequently rated the best of the heirloom apples. Used fresh, keeper, sauce, dried, juice and hard cider. Ripens in late October through November. A biannual bearer, that can be made more annually consistent by thinning excess fruit early in the “on” year.

The mother trees grow wild in Alleghany, Sierra County @ 4200’ on the Pliocene Ridge and in Humbug, Nevada County @ 3250’ on the San Juan Ridge. Wild trees, more than a 100 years young still thriving and giving great fruit.

Twenty Ounce Monarch

This extra large apple has crisp white flesh which does not brown when cut or stored. Its very high Vitamin C content keeps the apple from browning, even when cooked into applesauce. The largest fruit we have found has a 14″ circumference! This tart apple mellows into succulent sweetness as it ripens in early September to October at 2500’ in partial shade, and keeps for about 2 months. Great for eating, juice and of course apple sauce. All the apples in the picture are from the same tree and show the range of size and shape.

This tree was offered to us by a hot air ballooning friend in Nevada City. The small grandmother tree grows in the forest of Banner Mountain and has been leaning heavily for many years. It is now propped up by a couple of sticks. Felix’s nursery was located in this historic mining town, less than 2 miles from this tree. Nevada City was a bustling place in the late 1800s, and known as the Queen of the Northern Mines. Felix grew many of the trees still thriving in and around Nevada City and contributed significantly to the extensive agriculture of the area that fed the miners.

Ultra Dwarf/Lamb Abby

Perhaps the most unique collector’s tree we have. We grafted 9 of them, and they are not available anywhere else. The fruit is a whitish apple with small pink dots, sprays and stripes. The flesh is very crisp and spritely, wonderfully sweet and flavorful with a very strong complementing tartness that makes such a complete apple. Very superb quality. This is now, perhaps one of Adam’s favorite apples!

The mother tree is in an orchard with many other heirloom trees and is smaller than the average, It doesn’t have the same ultra-dwarfing size we are seeing with the grafted material. It is unknown whether or not it is a cultivated variety or chance seedling, but the fruit is too good to be accidental. Jenifer ID’ed the fruit to be Lamb Abby, but the tree’s growing characteristics are unusual and don’t fit the description. The age of the Mother tree is unknown, so who knows how productive or long it will take to get fruit. We are still learning more about this unusual tree as It appears to be ultra-dwarfing.
The MOST UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTIC:
We top grafted this variety onto a 5-year-old tree, and instead of growing 5’-6’ it grew about 6”. All new growth terminates in a very dense collection of buds, branches and spurs, almost like a witch’s broom. The pictures tell the story. The trees we grafted on m111 have only grew 7” in 2 years, but it has produced quite a few fruit spurs and side branches in a tight cluster. It could be an ultra-dwarfing columnar type apple. It could have a chemical imbalance of gibberellins which regulate node spacing. We will replant some of these trees in the orchard; a few we will bonsai; and we will continue to watch our top-grafted tree with great anticipation.

Vandevere

An American heirloom from the early 1800s Delaware and offered by Gillet beginning in 1884. Fruit is medium size or larger with yellow skin overlaid with pale, red stripes, streaked and stained with orange-red blush. The very firm, tender, yellow flesh is crisp, juicy and sweet, a fine lively flavor. Ripens in October or later at 3600′. Used fresh, cooking, dried or for baking. Very good for juice and hard cider. A good keeper, it becomes greasy feeling in storage and loses some crispness, but remains an excellent cooking apple until March or April.

The mother tree is growing on an old homestead in the mining town of Washington, Nevada County, CA on the shores of the South Fork of the Yuba River @3600’. It was settled during the Gold Rush in 1849 and produced a large amount of placer gold. Hard rock mines were established soon afterword and were very productive. Washington is the only settlement in the vicinity to have survived to this day. There remains much evidence of placer gold mining, hydraulic mining, and hard rock mining. During the mining period there were a large number of Chinese living there. We have only recently began to explore this treasure trove of history, and will have more introductions from this ‘hood in coming years.

Verité Apple

A French cider variety with small, dark red russeted and flushed fruit. Intense, brisk flavor with some sharpness and good acidity, good for juice and fresh eating, also for cider brews. This is a great apple for blending in ciders. Ripens in October at 4100 feet, keep 6-8 weeks. Good annual production. Hardy moderate size tree. Moderate resistance to fireblight.

The mother tree grows at Bucks Ranch, Nevada County near Orleans Flat mining camp at 4100 feet on the San Juan Ridge overlooking the Middle Fork of the Yuba River. The Buck brothers homesteaded this property in the late 1870’s, in part to provide fruit for the thriving mining camp. Amigo’s odyssey with Felix Gillet began in 1970 when he stumbled on this abandoned homestead with more than 75 thriving ancient fruit and nut trees, planted by the Bucks’ from stock purchased from Felix Gillet, the “local” nursery guy, a days horse ride away in Nevada City. The only thing tending those trees in the 70’s were the bears! We began harvesting the fruit and nuts, and discovered their amazing quality, and the trees were healthy despite annual onslaughts from the bears and heavy snows. Now cared for once again, the trees get no irrigation, fertilization or pest management, just occasional pruning. And they still produce great crops, 140 years after they were planted!

Washington Strawberry

A fantastic apple! This medium size apple is crisp, sweet and has a subtle berry-grape flavor. It’s white flesh and complex skin coloring makes this a beauty! A yellow green background is splashed and striped with a few shades of red and pink and covered in a blue bloom (the wild yeasts). We found that apples with heavy bloom on them often have exceptional flavor. This is one of those. We love to eat the Washington Strawberry best fresh, but it also makes great juice, and of course, you can cook it too. Ripens mid September at 4500′.

The little mining town of Forest, Sierra County, CA at 4500′ is covered in snow throughout the winter. Although at one point it was a bustling little mountain mining town, it now has only 1 family who lives there year round. Forest City’s annual Apple Festival in mid October is an opportunity to enjoy all things apple and historic. They even start up the old steam powered stamp mill which was used to crush the ore and extract the gold from inside the rock. A fun Sunday in Forest, with the locals, is a treat for us each year.

White Pippin
An English heirloom from the 1200s. The medium to large fruit is roundish ovate to conical with slightly waxen, pale yellow with a shade of brownish-red skin. The flesh is white, tinged with yellow, firm, fine-grained, crisp, tender, juicy, mild sub acid, sprightly, very pleasantly aromatic. Ripens from October through December. Tree is hardy, annually productive.

The mother tree grows in Allegheny, Sierra County at 4300’. Allegheny is a famous hard rock mining town that was ripping it up in the 1800s. We’ve just begun to research the heirloom trees in this town and surrounding environs. Look for more heirlooms from Allegheny in future years.

White Winter Pearmain

An orange vanilla flavored, medium sized apple that made it’s appearance in the mid 1800s. The medium sized fruit has grass green to soft-yellow skin and a little redish blush on the sunny side. The flavor is very good, and is considered good for eating and cooking, and inferior to none for cider. That means it is good in cider. It holds its shape when cooked or baked. Ripens mid October into November at 4500′, and will keep three or more months under non refrigerated cool storage. A good, consistent cropper, the tree is moderately vigorous, self sterile and requires other apple varieties for good crops. Moderately resistant to mildew and fireblight. Widely adapted to growing in most moderate to high chill apple growing regions, and is very suited for cold winter locales.

The grandmother tree is a healthy specimen growing on an old farmstead that fed the local miners in the late 1800s. The property contains nearly 100 heirloom apples, pears and walnuts in reasonable health despite no irrigation, fertilization or pest control, near Goodyears Bar, Sierra County above the North Fork of the Yuba River @ 2800’. The brothers Miles and Andrew Goodyear, along with a Dr. Vaughan and a Mr. Morrison, prospected here in the summer of 1849 and found gold enough to settle down at this crossing of the Yuba River. The Goodyear boys built a sturdy cabin and before long the rich deposits attracted a number of other miners to their camp, which was given the name Goodyears Bar in honor of its founders.

Willow Apple

The Willow apple is an early, very large, beautiful Apple. The fruit is sweet and strongly tart, similar to a Granny Smith, but better. Great to eat fresh, in pie or juiced. The crisp white flesh is crunchy, juicy and filling. It’s yellow skin has strong, red striping, with a very strong and heavy russet surrounding and radiating from the cavity. The tart flavor mellows after 1 week in storage and becomes a bit more sweet. The Willow is a short keeper, gets mushy after two weeks but still makes good juice. The tree has been a consistent heavy bearer with no human care. Likely needs other varieties of apples for complete pollination. Ripens in August at 2500’.

The grandmother tree was one of 4 left standing in a dry farmed meadow outside of Nevada City, Nevada County, CA. Sadly, the trees were bull dozed this year to make room for development. We all cried to discover them fallen. Felix’s nursery was located in this historic mining town, less than 2 miles from the trees were. Nevada City was a bustling place in the late 1800s, the Queen of the Northern Mines, once the capitol of the Territory of Nevada, with much agriculture to feed the miners. Felix grew many of the trees still thriving in and around Nevada City.

Winesap
Popular American variety since the 1700’s, and still grown commercially. Gillet introduced it to the Western US in 1878. Fruit is large with a crisp, yellowish flesh, sometimes with red veins, covered with a deep red skin. Flesh is firm, rather coarse, crisp, with a blend of sugar and tartness. Juicy and tart with spicy, wine-like flavor and aroma. Good multi purpose for eating, juice, cider and baking. Ripens in late October through December. Keeps until February, at least. A heavy annual producer, adapted to a wide range of soils and climates. Blossoms are unusually red, a beautiful landscape accent. Resistant to rust and fireblight. Mother tree has very low codling moth damage.

The mother tree grows on an original mining homestead along the north fork of the Yuba River in the old mining town of Goodyears Bar, Sierra County @ 2700’ elevation. It is a very consistent producer despite being in a cold pocket. The fruit is remarkably yummy, especially after short to medium storage. Gets very little or no coddling moth, and good size fruit, despite no irrigation or thinning.

Winter Banana

Originating in Indiana in the 1870s and named for the color, banana flavor and the ridges running up the sides that resemble those on a banana, these very large fruit are pale yellow with a faint pink blush. White flesh is mild, with a sweet tropical perfume and some say, banana flavor. It is best enjoyed as a dessert apple. A particularly juicy apple, used for sweet and hard cider. Ripens late October to early November at 4500′ — moderately long keeper. Very orderly growth habit, requires little pruning. It is a genetically stable, diploid variety, which means it has two sets of chromosomes that create very fertile pollen to pollinates itself as well as other apple trees. Moderate disease resistance. A beloved favorite to the homestead gardener.

Winter Rambour
A Swedish heirloom from the 1600’s. Gillet had this to say when released in 1884: “A beautiful apple, perfectly round with a carmine cheek; keeps well. We highly recommend this variety.” Medium to large fruit with thin skin, smooth or slightly roughened, pale greenish-yellow, mottled with red, striped with carmine. White flesh with tinge of yellow, very crisp, tender, juicy, mildly subacid, aromatic, very good quality. Beloved for its distinctive flavor and aroma, as well as versatility. Rated very good to excellent for fresh eating, cooking and baking, jelly, and drying. Particularly desirable for dessert, and gets better when cooked. Makes a very good juice and hard cider. Very high in Vitamin C. Ripens from August to early October

The 100+ year mother tree grows in the town of Humbug, in Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park on the San Juan Ridge of Nevada County at 3,250’ elevation. Humbug is the site of one of the original hydraulic mines, and a long-term, large mining town, abundant with wonderful heirloom fruits and nuts that we will be introducing over the next few years.

Wonky Apple

UNAVAILABLE ANYWHERE ELSE, this very unique, perhaps unheard of apple, produces the strangest shapes we have seen. They all look like melty blobs with their crisp, sweet cheeks hanging over the calyx. Each fruit is irregular, lopsided and blobby. We weren’t able to personally taste this apple at its peak ripeness, but the person who found the apple assured us that it actually has a very good taste with crisp, sweet flesh. We are probably the only organization to have this variety and we only have a few of them.

We were shown this tree in Mendocino County where it grows near the ocean on the side of the road. It is rather small, and who knows its history, age or if it is a cultivated variety or wilding.

Wright’s Keeper

Wright’s Keeper is a medium-small, August ripening apple with crisp, white, flavorful flesh and a slight tart, candy-like flavor. There is beautiful red striping down a yellow background. The cavity is slightly russeted and the base is broad. Harvested and best for eating in August to early September at 2500′, they will keep in un-refrigerated but cool storage well into December. Great for eating out of hand, apple sauce and cider. Perfect size for the kid’s lunchbox.

The lightly tended mother tree grows at 2500′ in the historic mining town of Nevada City, Nevada County, CA. The site has numerous Gillet era trees and is located less than a mile from Felix’s Barren Hill Nursery on Aristocracy Hill. Nevada City, also known asThe Queen of the Northern Mines, was the most active mining town in the most active mining area in the world at that time. Many famous people lived in Nevada City, and it was renowned for its support of the arts and entertainment, a tradition which continues to this day.

Wyken Pippin

Originating in the Netherlands in the late 18th century and once one of the worlds most popular apples. Did you know there were nearly 8,000 varieties of apples in North America?! These rounded and flattened fruits are small-medium, with a bright green to yellow skin. The creamy flesh is firm and fine in texture. Brisk and densely fruity. It’s delicious, juicy, sweet flavor and aromatic finish caught our attention and will surely get yours as well. Best for fresh eating. Ripens in September-October at 4100’. The tree will benefit from another variety to increase production.

The grandmother tree grows at Bucks Ranch, Nevada County, CA near Orleans Flat mining camp at 4100 feet on the San Juan Ridge overlooking the Middle Fork of the Yuba River. The Buck brothers homesteaded this property in the late 1870s, in part to provide fruit for the thriving mining camp and likely make hard cider. Buck’s Ranch, a private property, still has more than 100 thriving ancient fruit and nut trees. Now cared for once again, they still receive no irrigation, spraying or fertilization, just occasional pruning, producing great crops, 140 years after they were planted!

Yellow Egg Crabapple

Sweet, Abundant fruit and flowers, unique, mid season

A rare, very good tasting sweet crab apple. They are yellow 2.5” long, egg shaped, crabapples that develop a pretty striped blush in the sun. This very unique crab apple flowers profusely and the tree seem vigorous. Makes a great pollinator and sometimes it is nice to just have a small fun apple for kids and adults!

This beautiful crabapple was discovered in Goodyears Bar, a beautiful tiny mountain town with a lot of history. Miwok People lived here before the colonists took over. There was a huge book in gold mining in 1849 and was one of the earliest mining towns of the goldrush.

Yellow Pearmain

This green to golden yellow apple is of excellent dessert quality. It has crunchy flesh and a sweet floral aroma that stands out amid many other apples in our taste testing. The mother tree is a strong healthy grandmother who has withstood the difficulties of living in the forest, cared for only by Mother Nature. Amid another 100 other apples, pears and walnuts at the infamous Buck’s Ranch, she was planted in the mid 1800s in order to feed the hungry miners and to make hard cider. This apple definitely gave a sweetness to the harsh, new living conditions the miners found themselves in. Resistant to frosts and fireblight.

Yellow Bellflower
Famous, very popular American heirloom widely planted during the Gold Rush era. Felix offered them from 1890 on. Up to very large fruit, bright pale yellow skin, whitish, firm succulent flesh that is tart at picking and mellows with storage. Highly esteemed for fresh eating when picked, and for its excellent dessert qualities, especially after held in storage for a few months. Great baked! Makes excellent sauce, juice and hard cider due to its natural acidity. Care at harvest as it bruises with rough handling. Ripens in October and November. Improved yield with pollinator nearby. A favorite.

The mother tree grows on an original mining homestead along the north fork of the Yuba River in the old mining town of Goodyears Bar, Sierra County @ 2700’ elevation. It is a very consistent producer despite being in a cold pocket. The fruit is remarkably yummy. Very good size fruit, despite no irrigation or thinning.

Yellow Newtown Pippin

Medium to Large, Super Crisp, Amazing Flavor, Late Season, Stores well. A 1700’s New York heirloom, offered by Gillet beginning in 1884. The large fruit’s skin is light green with a yellow tinge, russeted around the stem. The flesh is yellow and crisp with complex, somewhat tart flavor. Requires storage to develop full flavor. A popular dessert apple, and the primary variety in Martinelli’s sparkling cider. High quality dessert and culinary, and excellent cider apple. Ripens in late October. One of the best keepers, up to six months in proper storage. Tree is cold-hardy and blossoms are frost resistant. Very codling moth resistant. Our 2011 observations on the mother tree,(non irrigated, non pruned, non thinned): 11-16-11 4-5 ounce fruit, 16° brix, no coddling moth, no rust or scab ( a wet spring)

We found another one with a name label on the tree in a historic,1912 orchard in Pioneer, California. Ruth, whose father and grandfather planted the orchard, grew up amid the trees and still visits and takes care of the trees. Of the 16+ varieties in the orchard, the one she looks forward to most is the Yellow Newtown Pippin. A favorite of the past, present and future.

Yellow Transparent

This Russian heirloom was introduced to North America in 1870. Felix began offering it in the 1870’s. The transparent pale yellow skin with crisp, light-textured, very juicy flesh with very sweet and sharp flavor. Well-known early summer apple, good for drying, freezing, sauce, juice and wine. The fruit is good for cooking into a cream colored purees and perfect for the ultimate applesauce. Ripens in early July to early August. Like all summer apples, not a good keeper. Pick ‘em and eat ‘em. The tree is slightly large, a very good cropper with biannual tendencies, and winter-hardy. Partially self-fertile, plant with other varieties for increased crop. Easy to grow and begins bearing at young age. Has a good resistance to scab.

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