Hi Paul, welcome to our group! Its always good to see another Marylander.
I grew St. Edmunds Russet but I didn’t get enough apples off it before the tree succumbed and I decided not to replace it. The demise of the tree was not its fault. But, its similar to Ashmead’s Kernel in being a small russet so it probably not required. Bramley would be another big English apple, or if she likes Cox try a Rubinette which grows well in our area.
Thank you! Are you right in the city of Baltimore?
Barely, I’m 100 feet from the border.
Oh, another good Cox-like apple is Kidd’s Orange Red. Its more aromatic but less sweet/sour then Rubinette; both of those are easy to grow unlike Cox.
Scott, Are you close to Columbia? I’m going to do the trees espalier over a 7’arch. I was thinking of doing a Rubinette on one side of the arch as I am sure that is close to many English apples in taste. I am also toying with the idea of doing a two variety tree on the other side of the arch that would include Ashmead’s Kernel and another variety to pollinate the Kernel. Would Reine des Reinettes work as far as being the second tree to pollinate the Kernel. I cannot find it on the Orange Pippen website. Also, could I find sion wood for the Reine des Reinettes? Thanks!
Paul, I am on the other side - north. You should be fine for pollination, one apple 50’ away is enough. Reine des Reinettes is another good apple to consider, its similar or same as King of the Pippins which is a classic British apple. I always have assumed same and in fact my RdR I should call King of the Pippins as thats what name I bought it under from Southmeadow. Many places should sell it, I think Big Horse Creek may even have a tree of it now for fall shipping.
What a fantastic comprehensive list! This will definitely influence my variety selection especially since I’m in the mid atlantic as well. I just attended the 2015 Apple Tasting at Monticello and found the best tasting apple to be Zabergau Reinette wowee it was just divine, complex, juicy a little spicy but in a demure way. I’m so glad to find this site, so many knowledgable folks sharing information.
Yes, there are many fantastic apples out there. The hard part is picking which ones to grow out. I did try to grow Zabergau but it was in 2002 when I was just starting and I put the tree in a far too shady spot and after a few years I dug it up.
I keep updating my list of favorites, here it is now FYI.
General top at this point plus or minus a few
1) Hooples Antique Gold
2) Gold Rush
3) Suncrisp
4) Rubinette
5) Pitmaston Pineapple
6) Adam’s Pearmain
7) Blenheim Orange
8) Ashmead's Kernel
9) Freyburg
10) Reine des Reinettes
11) Mother
12) Kidds Orange Red
13) Nonpareil
14) Newtown Pippin
15) Swayzie
16) Bonne Hotture
17) Pomme Gris
18) Golden Russet (American)
19) White Winter Pearmain
20) Golden Nugget
21) Wickson Crab
22) Maigold
23) Abbondanza
24) Wagener
25) Hawaii
26) Ribston Pippin
Overall top including growability, reliability, storage, usefulness, etc.
1) Hooples Antique Gold
2) Gold Rush
3) Rubinette
4) Suncrisp
5) Reine des Reinettes
6) Adam’s Pearmain
7) Kidds Orange Red
8) Newtown PippinScott,
What is your favorite low acid, sweet, crunchy, and fragrance apple.
Tony
Tony, that would probably be Kidds Orange Red. Many of the older apples are not so crunchy which rules them out. For example Mother is even more fragrant than Kidds but is not particularly crunchy. Kidds is a parent of Gala and is somewhat similar.
Scott,
After reading reviews on Wickson on other sites I am thinking about growing one. Do you think it is worth growing here in Maryland? Also there seems to be confusion between the naming of Wickson and Crimson Gold. Who would be a reliable source to get Wickson from? I see Cummings carries Wickson.
Funny you should mention that… I just chopped down my last Wickson tree last night. On some thread here I posted pictures of my Wickson this year, let me find it.
They crack like this fairly often, and most of the crop was ruined this year. It also is highly prone to cedar apple rust. I don’t think it is good at all for Maryland. Even when they were good I didn’t find much to do with them, they do have a unique taste but are very chewy so after an apple or two they are not so exciting for fresh eating. They probably would be a good pie apple, but they stay extremely firm when cooked and may stay too firm. For cider they certainly are good. I could have used the above guys in cider but the bits of rot will put an off flavor in cider if there is too much of it.
Thanks Scott, That certainly saves me some trouble. I will try something else.
Scott,
Thank you for this personal report on your varieties!
I live in Georgia, zone 8a, so I’m sure the info doesn’t translate perfectly, but it’s a lot closer to my climate (hot, humid) than many lists I’ve seen.
I was thinking about a Goldrush, and your positive experience confirmed my decision to order it. Easy to grow and great tasting sounds like a winner.
(I also ordered a Galarina, which you haven’t grown, just because everyone in my family loves Galas.)
And finally, I was going to play it safe and order another of the newer disease resistant varieties, but I decided to order a Rubinette instead, thanks to your glowing reviews. Hopefully it gives me some good fruit, but I’m much more excited about trying this than ordering, say, a Liberty (which you say is a bug magnet anyway) or an Enterprise.
The other apple I was thinking about ordering was an Akane (for early fruit) but your experience steered me away from that. I can imagine your problems with it would only be magnified here.
And now, I’m also thinking about a Black Limbertwig. I had thought about it (having a native Georgia apple tree in my landscape appealed to me) but never knew anyone who grew it, and didn’t want to buy it without some reports on it. But now, I’m thinking maybe I might try to find some scion wood of this and see how it goes.
Thanks again for sharing your experience! It is very helpful.
I don’t have any particular reason for the most looking forward to trying a winesap, perhaps its the name, elegance sounding but it peaks my curiosity. It will be probably at least 2019 before I taste one but am a bit let down you didn’t get to taste this one. I feel robbed… LOL! 
I should add that I immensely enjoyed this read as again I love everything apple. Though I’m in W Michigan, I’m happy to hear your thoughts in & around Maryland.
I have a Winesap tree that I got from Lowe’s last year. It was about 6ft tall when I put it in the ground in May. Soon after that, it got its leaves stripped up to about 4ft up and some branches damaged by a deer, so I put 4ft fencing around it and all my other fruit trees. But it recovered nicely over the summer and grew almost two more feet, and put on some new branches.
Since it’s so big now, I might let it set a few fruit next year; none of other apple trees are that big yet, so no fruit for them next year. My next tallest tree is a Grimes Golden, at about 6ft, but doesn’t have many branches.
I did sample some Winesaps from a local orchard, and they were in my top 5 out of maybe 30 varieties that we sampled. Big fruit, slightly crisp, but juicy with a good sweet/tart balance. They don’t keep a real long time, but that’s OK. Now whether my Winesap produces similar fruit we’ll have to see.
BTW, there are other Michiganders on this forum, @Drew51, @chartman, @Sue-MiUPz3 and @Chills are just a few, so they could offer some comments on your choices.
Matt_in_Maryland
Mar '15
Scott, you might consider trying the Pink Lady “Maslin” strain. It is supposed to ripen a few weeks earlier than the original “Cripps” variety. One of the local orchards here grows it, and it tastes great at November harvest. The apples are a bit smaller, but I think they have a superior flavor & texture, and keep better in cold storage. Sometimes Willow Drive carries it.
Thanks Matt, I’ll add that one to my queue of varieties I want to try.
Scott
Did you end up adding that variety Scott?
No but its on my list. In the past I grafted too many apples to the same stock so now I just “virtually add” them, I put them in the queue and they eventually make it to the top as I remove other varieties. One advantage of this is I often get overly excited about a variety, now instead of already having that guy grafted when I cool on it I can just delete it from the queue … a lot less work overall 
So your saying you have like a apple netflix exchange.
I don’t have a winesap (in fact never tried one either)… Add it to the list eventually…
I only have a honeycrisp (poorly sited has bloomed but not fruited yet,
A Liberty … Fruited 2 years much better last year than its first
A Sweet Sixteen… Fruited in a pot ( I kind of forgot it) hasn’t fruited since I severed the roots and put it into the ground. It gave us 3 of the best (and largest) apples I’ve ever had.
And a Gimes Golden that is horribly sited and has never bloomed or fruited (and its 8 years old). After all that time, it’s still only about 6 feet tall too.
When I got into this I focused on things I couldn’t get in stores and that wouldn’t likely require spraying (hazelnuts, pawpaws, mulberries, etc)
My wish list for apples is small right now, I have had limited success with grafting (persimmon last year) and I would like to add Rhode Island Greening to my Liberty. Why that variety? Simple, I’m originally from Rhode Island (though I cannot recall ever having tried one)…anyone got one of these?
Scott
I grow it as well as get some off old trees at a local orchard. I like it. As a baking apple, it really excels, but I enjoy eating them out of hand, as well. It does not have the complexity of flavor of, say, Ashmead’s Kernel, but it is a good to very good tart dessert apple. It’s been disease free for me. Compared to what is said online about it, I have found a little less of an tendency to be biennial, but not as long a storage life (I may be picking them too late, though, as I let them ripen on the tree for fresh eating).