Apples (43)

This is our old Catalogue! Our new one will be up shortly!

Fruit trees are no longer available for 2014. There are still a few grapes available in 1 gallon pots.

Most of our apples are grafted to M111 rootstock. M111 is an excellent all-around rootstock for apples. Trees dwarfed 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 do offer a limited amount of apples grafted on standard seedling rootstock. Standard seedlings can grow 20-25 in height and spread. They are considered most hardy.

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 Pearmaine
A remarkable heirloom from the early 1800’s New England, introduced to California by Felix in 1881. Named for the blue-colored bloom covering the dark purple skin. Produces large fruit with a waxy skin and medium textured, white to yellow juicy flesh with a rich, sweet and acid balance, and a tartness that lingers. The apple keeps well in cold storage. Very good for fresh eating, baking, highly prized for juice and hard cider. This is a most unusual variety as the skin color and bloom changes steadily from August until harvest in October, or later in cold sites; when ripe sports a bluish bloom over dark purple skin. Wow! Best production with another variety near for cross pollination. Will keep until at least January.

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.

Baumann’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.

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.

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.

Esopsus Spitzenburg
Discovered in the late 1700’s near Esopus, New York, and is reputed to have been the favorite apple of Thomas Jefferson. The fruit is fairly large, oblong, with orange to red skin with stripes and dots. A hard apple that’s very crispy, spicy and has juicy yellowish flesh that is very aromatic with exceptional flavor. About the best to eat out of hand, and very good for all culinary purposes, in particular for pies, juice and hard cider. 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 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.

Forest City “Vanilla”
Although this apple is most probably the 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’. 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.

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.

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.

Kate Wolf
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 a my friend, who wrote and recorded the song “The Lilac and the Apple Tree” in the late ‘70s. Kate told me 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. I never asked exactly where it was located, and when she passed away so early in life I regretted not having learned the location that inspired Kate. About 15 years later, talking with our mutual friend Utah Phillips I mentioned that I 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!) I 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 I found the lilac and the apple! (and a rose that we are growing) We have been hiking to the site, and growing the lilac ever since, and use the proceeds from the sales of the lilac to provide financial support to Camp Winnarainbow, a performing circus camp for children and adults founded by our mutual friend Wavy Gravy. Camp Winnarainbow was one of Kate’s favorite projects. See: www.campwinnarainbow.org. For the last three years we are also producing the apple tree, and soon will have the rose as well.

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. Perhaps you would like to plant this special heirloom and help us figure out what it is? Preserving a unique piece of our history, she is…

You might know the song, but if not please listen to Kate sing it here:

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.

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.

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.

Petit Apis (aka Lady or Christmas)
Historic variety dates to ancient Rome, one of Felix’s earliest offerings, in 1876. Lady’s diminutive size, beautiful brilliant crimson with rosy blush skin, wide culinary use, and decor make them special. Its flesh is white, tender and juicy with a distinct nutty flavor and a hint of citrus. Good to very good for dessert, beautiful in tarts. I bet it would be good in cider.

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.

Red Astrachan
This Russian heirloom was discovered in the early 1800’s and offered by Gillet beginning in 1884. It is one of the earliest varieties to ripen, mid August thru September at the mother tree in Nevada City. It is a good variety for warmer climates. A beautiful medium-sized apple, with a thin, yellow skin streaked with shades of red, 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. Tim Bates and Karen Schmidt of the Apple Farm in Mendocino County consider this the best variety for their famous applesauce, of more than 100 apple vars they grow. Others call them 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 very ornamental tree.

The mother tree is growing at an old homestead on Coyote St. in Nevada City, about ½ mile from Gillet’s Barren Hill Nursery. It is a large producer of numerous high quality fruit on a compact, bushy tree about 12’ tall.

Reinette Franche
Gillet introduced this 1500’s Normandy, France variety in 1884. The fruit is medium, skin is clear yellow golden, with light brown-red flash, marbled with russet. Flesh is yellowish white, firm and crunchy. Spicy flavor with wonderful aroma, a marvelous mixture of nuts and orange. An excellent apple for dessert or cooking. Ripens in November-December, and keeps into spring.

The mother tree is a huge, 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.

Reinette a Longue Queue
This French heirloom dates from 1830. 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 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.

Reinette Pippin
We discovered this gnarled tree on an old homestead in the Camptonville area. The variety originated in France, where it was well known since the early 1800’s. The fruit is medium to large; uniform in size but variable in shape. The skin is thick, smooth, green or pale yellow, maybe even whitish near the stem, sometimes slightly blushed. Flesh is rather crisp, medium grained, rich, juicy, good for eating fresh or cooking.

The mother tree is a healthy 100+ year specimen growing at 2800’ in a mixed Gillet homestead orchard in Camptonville, Yuba County, a vibrant mining town of the mid 1800’s, still populated with many Gillet trees. Camptonville was also the home of Lester Pelton, who in 1870 invented the Pelton wheel. Lester changed the course of human evolution by inventing the device for making hydroelectric power. Camptonville is a fascinating old mining camp, with many Gillet trees. We will be introducing more from this area in coming years.

Rhode Island Greening
This American heirloom originated in the mid 1600’s and was brought West by Felix in 1888. A very popular apple of the 1800-1900’s, 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, juice or hard cider, too. It ripens from September to October, keeping into February or longer. The tree is vigorous very productive, with a lighter crop with larger fruit in alternate years. It is considered one of the most long-lived of apples.

We collect our grafting material from mother 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?

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.

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 September to October. A vigorous grower, and an annual good bearer.

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
American heirloom from 1700’s New York. This pippin type gets its name from the fruit size, 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, fresh and dried, too. The tree comes into bearing young, is vigorous and crops heavily nearly every year.

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!

Vandevere
An American heirloom from early 1800’s Delaware, offered by Gillet beginning in 1884. Fruit is medium size or larger with yellow skin overlaid with pale red stripes, streaked and stained with clouded red. The very firm, tender yellow flesh is crisp, juicy and sweet, a fine lively flavor. Ripens in October or later. Used fresh, cooking, dried, 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.

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.

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 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

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
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)

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