This fruit was produced by a small tree in a two gallon pot. Gideon Sweet is an old cultivar from Minnesota that was thought to be lost until one tree was found growing in Washington state where it had been planted by Swedish settlers. GS is supposed to have some similarities to Arkansas Black in that it is a very good keeper that starts out somewhat tart but mellows and sweetens as it ages.
Nice looking apple. Good size.
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Very nice! I think I heard that the original tree here has since died. I hope you enjoy it.
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Where are you?
That apple looks very nice. I had just heard of this apple variety this year. It sounds like one that would actually work well in my area. Let us know how this tastes and also keeps. If you are trying to store any of them for a while. I usually try to store some new varieties I grow just to test them out.
Glad you have found a tree to plant. I have been trying to grow older more rare varieties as well.
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I had read at some time that the tree had been declining a few years ago. Are you familiar with the tree?
I am close to Seattle. The tree was found in the SW corner of Washington, not far from Portland, OR.
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Those are the people who gave me my scionwood 3 or 4 years ago.
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The two most interesting (to me) apple trees I am growing right now are this one, which I have not tasted, and a Japanese cultivar which I have tasted. The Japanese apple is fantastic. It’s a cultivar named Alps Otome. Although it’s a Fuji seedling from the 1970s, it tastes more like an heirloom European apple because the pollen parent was a crab which has given it a lot of flavor. This is Alps Otome. They’re not very big -
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They look great. Looks like a crabapple size. As long as they taste good, that all that matters to me.
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@Quill not familiar with the tree familiar with Venesburg though, and upon further thought doesn’t surprise me either. I knew of several other old apple trees up there that were almost dead and old. It’s a lot of clay and get a lot of rain up there. Been awhile should go up there to see if those old apple trees are still there and see what they are.
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I emailed them. “No longer have that tree. A truck backing up at the turn-around on our dead end road knocked it down two years ago. But the Home Orchard Society has scions of one we donated a few years ago.” They said contact Contact Joanie Cooper (The Temperate Orchard Conservancy) for scions. That’s the place they said they donated there scionwood to. So it’s still possible to get the apple.
It is on there list of available scions.
http://www.temperateorchardconservancy.org/contact-us/
Download there order form if you want this apple.
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