…and some further research led me to a later storage variant also called ‘Gideon’, which Peter Gideon himself seems to have marketed as ‘Gideon Late’.
Some information on the MOFGA website seems to consider the early variety to be a Duchess x Yellow Bellflower cross, but not definitively. I grafted mine onto a feral Duchess type and it took off like a shot. Interestingly enough, the best of those feral trees bearing August fruit carry pale yellow fruit blushed with red themselves.
I grafted Gideon from Fedco to antonovka rootstock two years ago. It;s about 4’ tall now. I imagine it’ll be another 6+ years before I get any fruit. There seems to be some confusion about whether it’s Gideon or Gideon Sweet. There also seems to be conflicting information about when it ripens.
Fedco’s scionwood was taken from an August ripening tree, and the type seems to have been verified by a New Brunswick grower. I think the ripening data on the MOFGA site may be a typo. ‘Gideon Sweet’ (or, ‘Late Gideon’) is described separately in at least two 19th century texts I found as a Blue Pearmain x Duchess cross- definitely a late, keeping type apple. Peter Gideon sold both as ‘Early’ and ‘Late’ varieties under his name according to a contemporary list of Minnesota apple varieties I found archived. Interestingly, that book didn’t mention ‘Wealthy’, so I would suspect it was a later discovery of his.
That’s good to know, thank you. My interest isn’t in early ripening varieties. If Fedco’s Gideon is an August ripening variety, I won’t be grafting any more of them.
The late Gideon you mention is more like what I’d like to have.