Pristine is not a June apple here, but IMO it’s one of the best of the early apples.
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Best early-season apple I’ve ever grown is MonArk. It’s not a ‘June’ apple - typically ripe mid-July here, but it is great! Fairly large, firm, crisp flesh, good sweet/tart balance, good for fresh eating, cooking, drying, and will keep for 6 wks+ in the fridge before going mealy.
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Thanks for the tip about tropic sweet I’ve been looking for another low chill Apple never even heard of it
Now I just need to have my hands on one around October or November. I don’t do well with bare roots so it’s gotta be in a pot the bigger the better. I found out that Walmart does carry them in their plant line so maybe there’s hope for me.
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Thanks!
Rural King got a load of Tropic Sweet in this season. All of them were gone in less then a week. Lots of folks are tired of Anna and Dorsett Golden here with our late frost issues. They are ok in a non-frost year. I am not sure if Tropic Sweet answers that problem here though.
This area needs PG 2 group trees for more reliable fruit sets.
Tropic Sweet is reported to bloom with Anna (low chill).
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I agree, the Monark is a fantastic apple in my orchard. Early and also very large and crisp. One of my favorite varieties I have in my orchard. Perfect first apples for me to enjoy.
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not really a june apple here but maybe one in a warmer clime is williams pride. its a aug. apple here and one of the earliest. i got 6 good sized apples off of mine last year for the 1st time off of a 6ft ft tree. they were excellent . still not a long keeper but were firm and tasty. Steve, skillcult, gives high praise to this apple. that says alot and its super disease resistant. mine came from fedco and fruited in its 2nd year. im thinking of adding pristine also.
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This one is intriguing. Scroll down to the Jim Day apple.
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Looks interesting to me, thanks! Calhoun said in “Old Southern Apples”, that Jim Day won a Bronze medal at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition
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By the way, I recently contacted Horne Creek Farm and asked if they still sell scions to the public. I was told to contact them in January 2027, to inquire if they will be selling them next year.
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Generally the have not sold scions to date. But they sell trees on Geneva rootstocks quite inexpensively. We are trying to gather all Georgia origin trees up and then will get the rest through Horne Creek. Sort of holding out for Taunton to be ready soon.
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It’s not advertised, but if call and ask, they can help you get what you need. There probably needs to be a local go-between who can pick them up and ship them. I’ll meet the management later in the year once the tasting room is open.
Buyers do need to understand their core mission is preservation, not breeding fire blight resistant apples. Preserving these apples varieties hasn’t been a picnic for HC. There is near zero information on disease resistance for many of the apples they grow. This is a problem for a buyer of scions.
This may well be true (no direct data on disease resistance). But, most of these old varieties were rediscovered as very old trees, this is a good indication that they are genetically pretty well set up.
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Great link and info. Always interesting in reading about older apples.
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Where did you get them, that they already flowered for you?
This is a post from a grower on Hobby Fruit Growers posted on June 10 2026
The grower explains the history of their tree that is more than 70 years old.
These June apples came off a tree older than me I am 70. My granny used to make apple butter and fried pies from them. It has been starved for some TLC for close to 40 years so beginning in January I gave it a lot I groomed and fed it and it rewarded me with a bowl full of lovely yellow apples. Hoping for more next year. There were three trees originally now just this one
Very few remain around here they named them Lodi Apple but folks around here call them June apples used only for drying and cooking. I have mine in the crockpot making apple butter this morning.
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looks like them but the ones on top are past prime. the ones underneath that still have some green are better. more likely y. transparent as lodi was developed much later.
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Those apples look a lot like Early Harvest/Yellow June. In fact there are a handful of Early Harvest sports and seedlings. Like Collins June. Prince’s Harvest is likely a sport.
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Did anybody taste both, Park’s Pippin and Horse? I wonder how they compare.
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