Excellent list of fruit, NuttingBumpus, hope you have a good crop.
(Didn’t make notes, but Niedzwetzkyana and Granny Smith were first to bloom for me this year.)
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Blueberry: I confess to largely ignoring Granny Smith, since it doesn’t get enough time to ripen around here. Had not known it can bloom early.
Bardsey is an interesting tree: very light crops from its third leaf until full bloom in its eighth; bloom time heavily pushed around by weather. Last year it bloomed with Hunt Russet - mid-late; this year with Redfield - first in line.
Bardsey can be ripe anywhere from September 10-30, depending on the summer, & can vary from lumpy & russeted by the stem with little color to beautifully formed, pink to brick red.
It is always juicy, lemony & good-sized without being large. Stems typically are very short, so I must thin 'em or they’ll push each other off the branch.
A downside: it’s a codling moth magnet. Bardsey is drought tolerant; displays no disease problems at all in its sixth leaf growing here. It grew upright at first, is beginning to spread with fruit & leaf load.
Hunt has a lovely pink bloom. Since Rosemary Russet is reputed to have showy pink flowers & one is now standing on Geneva 30 in its permanent position (thanks again, Jolene), I should have a comparison of the two blooms in a few more years.
Redfield has the strongest bloom color around here - pink & purple - which fades very little, and is ornamental in my neighbor’s front yard even when no longer flowering, as the foliage is so dark. The richness of Winekist bloom is next: a deep pink fading to lilac.
Don’t get me wrong - I like white apple blossoms, too. Good thing!
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Looks like I’ll have to try Hunt Russet. Orange Pippin site says it can store a year! Nice reports Dave, thanks.
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Hunt Russet hasn’t lived long enough here to show its keeping yet. It will probably store at least until May in this region - maybe longer in yours, Carol.
I’ll poke around to see if your address is still among the scion packages - may get you a scion next February.
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This was written back in 2015, but I had almost the same thoughts this season. A couple years ago our Liberty apples were very flavorful. Last year quite bland. This year they slightly excelled our Macouns.
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My experience too. At their best Liberties are superb, but they sure can be mediocre. Usually they’re pretty good. I guess they’re just fussy.
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It’s nice to hear that Liberty can taste that good. I did several grafts with Liberty this year and they all seem to be growing well. I love most of the Mac types, especially McIntosh, Empire, and Summerred. I just bought some Macouns and will be tasting those for the first time.
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How can a haploid be managed? Specific pollinator?
D’Arcy Spice is considered a poor pollinator, I believe because of its haploid (suspected) pollen. So, you might approach it like handling fruit set with a triploid: make sure you have three varieties on hand. Two others to set fruit on the problem child and for each other.
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Yes my Liberties this year are quite good. I must have over 300 on one tree. They make a great cider.
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Thanks 
Yes, Granny was always first to bloom for me…until just last few years when I began collecting red fleshed apples. Still waiting on my Redfield to bloom. Had it 4 seasons I think…on M111.
But, Niedzwetzkyan is it’s daddy…and probably as early or earlier in bloom…right with or even ahead of Granny Smith.
(Could be partly why my Granny never did crop well…king blooms were always gone before anything else bloomed.) I’m thinking of collecting a scion of Granny to graft onto Frankentree….and cut her down. (She’s 28 and on M7…life expectancy about up anyhow.)
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Update on my road apple. We had to move from Albuquerque in 2018. I took a last trip to Las Huertas in January and collected a few water sprouts. Side-grafted them to a potted McIntosh seedling in April, and 3 of the 5 took. They spent the first summer in a pot on an apartment porch here in Odessa, TX. This spring we moved into an old house and I planted the tree. The grafts put on about 18" this summer; they still are green however and all other trees have lost their leaves. Hoping they grow on and give me some fruit in a year or three. Would love to have that flavor I tasted in the woods those years ago.
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I’m glad I prefer dense-fleshed apples that can often be stored fine even when they fall to tallish grass.
My favorite apple out of the fridge right now is Spitz, but I’m also craving my Pink Ladies, and when I want something sweeter, Suncrisp fills the bill. When I just crave sugar, Golden Russet is good, but if I want more juice with that sugar, Fuji is a ticket- and there’s always Jonagold and old-strain Yellow Delicious.
Off the tree I was earlier reaching for Baldwins just as the background changes from green to yellow.
Soon, Goldrush will likely be the best apple out of storage- Spitz is already getting grainier.
On another subject, grafts of Black Limbertwig bore heavily this year and they were the blandest apples I ever tasted. I just let them rot where they fall.
Favorite apple is the wrong question, it needs to be asked in plural.
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Right now my first year getting PInk Lady are the best. Nothing like them to me. I wasn’t sure if I really was going to like them, but this year they are a flavor bomb in my mouth
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Was that off the tree, or out of storage? My Black Limbertwig graft isn’t bearing yet, but I noticed with both Caney Fork and Brushy Mountain LT that the apples were really boring right off the tree, yet were quite good after a couple of months in storage. Perhaps Black LT is similar in that respect.
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There is no cure for low brix, IME. One season and I’m confident the apple is worthless for me- it was a very good year for most varieties.
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I’m looking forward to Black Limbertwig. When I decided to try a limbertwig, this is the one I picked. Kinnairds Choice may be in the same ballpark. Will be awhile…don’t remember if I put them on G-30 or some other rootstock.
With over 70 varieties I’ve grafted and not yet tasted, it’s quite likely I’ll have a new favorite apple someday.
But, it’s like enjoying a craft beer, some days you want one, and some days not.
Fuji or a ripe red delicious straight from the orchard would be what I’d reach for over half the time, but sometimes something different is a great experience…even if it doesn’t become a “favorite”. Jonathan is perhaps the best all-purpose apple, but I tire of eating them fresh after just one or two. Variety is the spice of life. But Fuji is my “Linus Blanket”.
Among those definitely “not favorites” are Granny Smith, Yellow Delicious, Liberty, Anoka, Geneva Early, EarliBlaze and Horse apples. But, even so, some can be fine for cooking or other purposes besides fresh eating.
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Same here, far more varieties grafted than I’ve yet tasted. That should provide plenty of opportunity for new favorite(s) in years to come…
A properly ripened Yellow Delicious I enjoy. Fuji though, I’ve yet to try one that I’d speak highly of. Been a few years but agree on Jonathan. And Granny Smith… Have always liked King David.
Most years we purchase a bushel (or two) of Stayman and eat on them all winter. If any of my trees which haven’t fruited yet are better than it, I’ll be happy…
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Is this one still sold?