Apple Trees

History: Akane was developed in Japan in 1937 at the Morioka Experimental Station. It is one of several kinds of produce created to better feed citizens and troops during WW2. The name 'akane' literally translates from Japanese as 'deep red.'

Why We Grow It: This crisp, sweet apple is great for fresh eating and has bright red skin. It tends to begin bearing at a young age and is relatively diseases resistant.

History: This unique apple, orangey-yellow-red undertones with russet over top, originated in the UK in the 1700s and has remained popular for over two centuries. There is some debate whether it was raised by a Dr. Ashmead or a lawyer named William Ashmead. 

Why We Grow It: This Old World English apple has stuck with us thanks to it's unique flavour: nutty with notes of pear and spice. Fantastic fresh off the tree, and also in cider blends, Ashmead's Kernel mixes well with Cox's Orange Pippin.

History: This cold-hardy apple was developed in the prairies and is for growing in colder, northern areas.

Why We Grow It: This unique apple produces a yellow fruit with red stripes. It is a rather uncommon variety and is great for sauce. It has begun producing reliably in our test orchard the last few years, and always has a bountiful crop.

History: Bedan des Parts is a French cider apple from Normandy that originated in the 1800s. It is still a popular cider apple in the area today.

Why We Grow It: The continuing popularity of this apple is due to the good quality bittersweet juice it produces that blends well with other varieties. Although a late bloomer, it is quite a heavy cropper. 

History: This apple was discovered as a chance seedling in 1856 in Boskoop, Netherlands where it has remained popular ever since. 

Why We Grow It: Here's one for those of us who love some sharpness in an apple. With its sharp taste and large, greenish-red fruit, this apple is still popular at farmer's markets throughout Europe for both fresh eating and cooking (keeps its shape). It has value as a sharp in hard cider blends as well.

History: Once one of the most popular commercial apples in the United States, Ben Davis apple trees were planted across the continent following its discovery around 1800. Due to its firm fruit and excellent keeping qualities, this apple was extremely easy to transport over longer distances which led to its popularity. Once storage and transportation improved, this apple was slowly replaced with better tasting varieties and it is now a relatively rare find. It's also a parent to Cortland.

Why We Grow It: The mellow, sub-acidic, mildly aromatic red fruit is not quite as flavourful as some apples but it stores exceptionally well, lasting into spring. Flavour improves in storage, like many heritage apples. The trees are reliable and heavy croppers, earning them the nickname of 'mortgage-lifters' when they were grown commercially. 

History: A traditional French cider apple grown in Normandy, it is one of the varieties approved by the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for use in cider production in the region.

Why We Grow It: This apple produces an aromatic, bittersweet juice that can be used in cider and apple brandy. Although it only bears fruit every other year, it produces a considerable crop in a single season. It is also a great pollinator for other varieties due to its long blooming time.

History: Discovered in New Zealand by farmer O. Moran in 1952, Braeburn took the world by a storm, becoming one of the most popular commercial apples in the United States and parenting many modern cultivars such as Jazz and Sweetie. 

Why We Grow It: Its winning sweet-tart flavour wrapped in an attractive orangey-red skin makes it an excellent fresh eating apple. It is firm and holds its shape well when cooked, and keeps about 4 months. This variety is fairly disease susceptible, meaning it is better for the experienced natural grower or conventional orchards. It is moderately vigorous and a heavy cropper.

History: Brettacher Sämling (sämling meaning seedling in German) originated as a chance seedling on a farm in Brettach, Germany in the early 1900s. It is possibly a descendent of the French cooking apple, Lebel. It is known for its excellent storage qualities and is still grown commonly in parts of Germany.

Why We Grow It: Brettacher Sämling produces large, juicy apples with a sweet-tart fruity flavour that has a hint of spice. The apples, green with a red blush, are best enjoyed after being stored for two months. They are fairly versatile, also considered suitable for sauce and juice/cider. Compared to other apple trees, this variety is relatively low maintenance and only requires a hard prune every two to three years. 

Photo credit: Sven Teschke 

History: Brown's Apple was discovered in Devon, UK, in the early 1900s and is considered a traditional English cider apple. It remains quite popular in the area.

Why We Grow It: This traditional variety boasts cold-hardiness and a resistance to scab. It is great for making cider thanks to being simultaneously high in both acid and sugar, an uncommon feature in most apples. Brown's Apple presses to a fragrant, vintage quality juice.

History: Calville Blanc d'Hiver was discovered in France and first documented in 1598. It spread to other countries and was even grown by Thomas Jefferson in Monticello.

Why We Grow It: Known for its rather misshapen and lumpy appearance and the odd red splotches on its green skin, this apples exterior belies a strong, sweet-sharp flavour that makes it great for fresh eating, cooking, and cider. Some claim it rivals Bramley's Seedling as one of the best cooking apples with the added benefit that, unlike Bramley's, it holds its shape when baked or cooked. It is also boasts a high Vitamin C content.

History: This vintage quality cider apple is believed to have originated near Martock in England. This apple is so old it's not entirely certain when exactly it was first discovered, with estimates ranging from the 11th to 14th century. 

Why We Grow It: This lesser-known apple is bitter with high acid, featuring a fruity flavour with a bitter aftertaste that is great when made into cider on its own or when mixed into a cider blend. 

History: Chisel Jersey is believed to have originated in Martock, England in the 1800s. It spread little outside the immediate area for about a century but during the mid-1900s this apple became quite popular in commercial cider orchards. It has, however, lost some of that renown today despite being an excellent cider apple.

Why We Grow It: With small, green fruit featuring a striped red flush, this bittersweet cider apple is highly recommended in England as well as in Canada. It is high in tannins and sugars but low in malic acid and makes a great cider apple.

History: Cox's Orange Pippin was first grown in England in 1830 and was named after the retired brewer and horticulturalist who first bred it, Richard Cox. Its excellent flavour has earned it a spot as one of the best fresh eating apples in England where it has remained popular ever since. In fact, it still accounts for over 50% of fresh eating apples grown in the UK today. Despite its reputation, it is seldom grown commercially in North America due to its precocious nature and susceptibility to many common apple diseases.

Why We Grow It: This apple's reputation is hard to ignore with its sweet, subtle, aromatic flavour and attractive orange-red skin. Not only is it good for fresh eating, it is also popular in cider blends.

2025 Staff Favourite

Cripps Pink Apples are Jodi's favourite this year! She has this to say about this variety: “I really like Cripps Pink for its crisp/crunchy bite texture along with its sweet-tart flavour. To top it off, they store well so I get to enjoy the crunch of them well into winter.”

All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.

History: Cripps Pink was developed by John Cripps at the Western Australia Department of Agriculture in 1973 as a cross between Lady Williams (an Australian variety) and Golden Delicious. The successful result was introduced to the market in 1985. In just ten years, Cripps Pink became an extremely popular variety and over a million trees were planted in Australia alone. This variety remains popular in many countries around the world. This apple is also known as Pink Lady which is its brand name when the fruit meets very strict criteria for quality.

Why We Grow It: Cripps Pink has a refreshing honeyed sweet-tart flavour that makes it great for fresh eating, baking, and cider. The lovely fruit, yellow with a pinkish-red blush, is slow to brown and also stores exceptionally well.

History: Delbarestivale was developed by Delbard, a nursery in France, in the 1950s. Likely named as a portmanteau of 'Delbard' and 'estivale' (translated from French as 'summer') due to its early ripening time, this variety goes by many other names including Delcorf, Monidel, Dalili, and Ambassy. It was bred in an attempt to create an improved version of Golden Delicious. Although not quite as popular as Golden Delicious, it is still grown commercially in parts of France and England and the Royal Horticultural Society awarded it the Award of Garden Merit in 1998.

Why We Grow It: This French apple is very sweet but balanced nicely with a sharp flavour. The flesh is aromatic and crisp and the skin is a lovely, stripey bi-colour with reddish streaks overlaying green. The apples store quite well for an early-ripening variety, although they do tend to bruise easily.

Photo Credit: 4028mdk09 

History: Egremont Russet first emerged in Britain in the early 1870s and has remained popular ever since. Even today, it is the third most common apple grown commercially in England. 

Why We Grow It: Although the russet, a thick rough skin, coating this apple can be an acquired taste, there is a reason this apple has remained so popular. The fruit itself is an attractive gold dotted with yellow and it has an excellent sweet, nutty flavour. They are delicious fresh, when used for cooking, and in ciders. The trees are known for producing good, regular crops. 

History: The creation and selection of Empire apples was a lot more intense compared to the chance origins of some of our older varieties. In 1945, scientists from the Cornell University New York State Agricultural Experiment Station collected thousands of seeds from the orchard of fruit nutritionist Lester C. Anderson. For years these seeds were grown and tested until Empire emerged as the best apple from amongst its siblings. It was released to the public in 1966 and has since become one of the top ten most popular apples in North America.

Why We Grow It: Empire is an excellent general-purpose apple for the Great Lakes area. The attractive green and red fruit is crisp and sweet and keeps well into the winter. The trees crop heavily and reliably, and the fruit is resistant to bruising, making life easier for the grower. They are also resistant to fireblight and cedar apple rust.

History: Esopus Spitzenberg was discovered near Esopus, New York in the early 1700s. Its main claim to fame is its supposed designation as Thomas Jefferson's favourite apple, a claim supported by the numerous Esopus Spitzenberg trees he had planted at his plantation Monticello. This apple was very popular in the US in the 1800s, considered one of the best for fresh eating, valuable for cooking, and a nice addition to cider blends.

Why We Grow It: The flavour of this particular variety is complex with high acid content, considered by many to be a high quality fresh-eating apple. This is helped by the attractive medium sized fruit which sports bright red skin. This variety keeps, with good flavour, until March. Despite being susceptible to just about every common apple disease, we still believe this apple is worth the extra effort and haven't had much issue growing it here. 

History: Fallawater originated in Pennsylvania sometime before 1842, possibly from seeds brought by European colonizers. At one time it was quite popular in the southern United States. This variety has over twenty different names, many of which resemble Fallawater such as Fallenwalder, while others are more fun and unique like Molly Whopper, Green Mountain Pippin, and Prim's Beauty of the West. 

Why We Grow It: No matter which name this variety goes by, you can always expect a large, attractive apple with a mildly sweet flavour. Fallawater is an excellent sauce and cooking apple and the fruit stores for a long time.  

History: Freedom was developed in a breeding program at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York in 1958. The goal was to create an apple that was immune to apple scab, and this particular variety was chosen from 120 other apples that were planted out from seed selected through an intensive breeding program. It was released in 1983 and given the name Freedom to represent its freedom from apple scab. 

Why We Grow It: Low maintenance, disease-resistant, vigorous, good flavour, and a good keeper... all in one apple! Freedom is the perfect variety for growing organically, for pick-your-owns, backyards, and community orchards. Large red skinned apple, similar to McIntosh in flavour with sweet, subacidic, sprightly flavour and juicy white flesh. Crunchy, fine grained flesh.

History: A highly regarded cider apple of Normandy, France, where it has been grown for centuries. This cultivar is one of the traditional cultivars in the production of calvados (a brandy made from apples and sometimes pears) in the Pays d’Auge region.

Why we grow it: This cider apple has a unique spicy flavour that is high in tannins, low in acidity, and low in sugar. With it's rich history and beautiful brass coloured juice, this cultivar is a must in every well-rounded cider orchard. 

History: Gala apples are one of several varieties created by J.H. Kidd in New Zealand as part of his project to cross Cox's Orange Pippin with American varieties in the 1930s. He definitely succeeded with the Gala apple which has since become one of the most popular apple varieties worldwide and a mainstay in grocery stores. 

Why We Grow It: This apple earned its popularity with its amazing flavour, especially when eaten fresh off the tree. Although many sports with a deeper red colour have been introduced and marketed as Gala, they often come at a compromise to flavour so we offer you the original Gala with full sweet crunchiness.

History: Golden Delicious was discovered by chance on a family farm in West Virginia and sold in 1914 to the Stark Brothers Nurseries. It has since become one of the most popular apples in North America. Since 1972, Clay County, where the apple was found, has hosted an annual Golden Delicious Festival and in 1995 it was declared the state fruit of West Virginia. Golden Delicious is also the parent of many varieties, including prominent ones such as Ambrosia and Gala.

Why We Grow It: It is easy to see why this apple is so popular with its attractive golden yellow skin and sweet, crisp cream-coloured flesh. Golden Delicious is a favourite for fresh eating, sauce, and apple butter. On top of that, it is resistant to scab, powdery mildew, and fire blight.

History: Goldrush was bred specifically for scab resistance as part of the collaborative PRI disease-resistant breeding program run by Purdue University, Rutgers University, and the University of Illinois. It was developed in the 1970s and released in 1994. This variety has a complex heritage of Golden Delicious mixed with a cross of several other varieties for their disease resistance.

Why We Grow It: This is arguably the best scab-resistant variety released from the PRI Breeding Program as far as flavour is concerned. The dense, crisp flesh of this yellow apple is full of sugars and flavour. It is distinctly spicy and tart at first but mellows the longer it is in storage. The fruit stores exceptionally well. This truly multi-purpose apple is also great for drying and, unusually for a modern variety, is good in hard cider.

History: Grimes Golden was discovered on the Grimes farm in what is now West Virginia in 1832. Local legend claims that it grew from a seed planted by John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed. After its discovery, it was widely planted up until the 1930s when it became supplanted by more popular varieties such as its (likely) descendant, Golden Delicious. 

Why We Grow It: Although less popular now than Golden Delicious, many claim that Grimes Golden has a superior flavour: sweeter and with a hint of spice. The fruit is great for fresh eating and making cider, and it stores quite well. The tree is moderately resistant to fire blight and mildew.  

History: Haralson apples were developed at the University of Minnesota in 1922 and named after Charles Haralson who was superintendent of the university's fruit breeding farm. It is one of almost 30 apple varieties the university has developed in its breeding program since it began in 1888.

Why We Grow It: The skin of this variety is striped red with russet dots and the flesh is white, juicy, and of pleasant albeit mild flavour. Haralson boasts excellent cold hardiness and general disease resistance.

History: Honeycrisp apples were developed by the University of Minnesota in the 1960s and released in 1991. It is one of almost thirty varieties created by the university's breeding program since it began in 1888. The excellent flavour of Honeycrisp has allowed it to become one of the most popular apples in North America and in 2006 it became the state fruit of Minnesota.

Why We Grow It: Honeycrisp is popular for a reason. The apples are large and attractive with good flavour under favourable growing conditions. However, they are not an apple for beginner growers due to issues with some diseases especially in storage, but with diligent care you can produce these crunchy sweet apples in your own backyard/orchard.

History: Honeygold apples were developed by the University of Minnesota and introduced in 1970. It is one of nearly 30 varieties that have been developed by the university's breeding program since it began in 1888. This apple is a cross between Golden Delicious and Haralson, designed to combine the taste of the former with the cold hardiness of the latter. Honeygold is also famous for being mistakenly identified as one of the parents of Honeycrisp, although that has since been rectified.

Why We Grow It: With the sweet taste and appealing look of Golden Delicious but the cold hardiness of Haralson, this is an excellent apple for anyone living in colder hardiness zones. It is great for fresh eating as well as making pies and applesauce. The tree is also somewhat scab resistant.

History: The exact origins of Hyslop are unclear but it was discovered sometime in the early 1800s around Boston by the Hyslop family who helped develop the area. This apple was popular for over a century but in recent years has fallen into obscurity. 

Why We Grow It: Although definitely not recommended for fresh eating, Hyslop crabapples have a sub-acid, astringent flavour and are great in cider blends. They are also known as being one of the best apples for jellies. The tree is quite attractive with blue tinged blossoms in the spring and brilliant red/purple fruit in the fall.