About

An upright, spreading old English heritage Victorian cooking variety, originally bred in Cumbria and suited to cooler parts of the UK. Self-sterile and therefore requires pollination from a different apple cultivar flowering at the same time. Harvest from September to October as fruit does not store well. Produces green foliage and white flowers in summer followed by a good crop of large, tangy pale green fruit, ripening to yellow.

About the genus

Malus are small to medium-sized deciduous trees with showy flowers in spring and ornamental or edible fruit in autumn; some have good autumn foliage colour

Growing conditions

SunlightFull sun
Soil typeClay, Loam, Sand
Soil pHAcid, Alkaline, Neutral
Soil moistureMoist but well-drained, Well-drained
AspectSouth-facing, West-facing
ExposureSheltered
UK hardinessH6

Plant details

Plant typeFruit Edible, Trees
HabitColumnar upright, Spreading branched
FoliageDeciduous
Height2.5-4 metres
Spread2.5-4 metres
Time to full height5-10 years
Suggested usesCity and courtyard gardens, Cottage and informal garden, Wildlife gardens

Care notes

CultivationPrefers a deep, fertile, moist but well-drained, neutral soil in a sheltered, sunny position. Will not thrive on very acid soils, shallow chalk soils or with shade for more than half the day. May require fruit thinning to improve fruit size and quality. See apple cultivation
PruningPrune according to chosen training method. See apple pruning
PropagationPropagate by chip budding or grafting onto a clonal rootstock. The rootstock used will largely determine the size of the tree
Pest resistanceMay be susceptible to aphids, including rosy apple aphid and woolly aphid, fruit tree red spider mite, codling moth and other caterpillars
Disease resistanceMay be susceptible to apple canker, apple scab, blossom wilt, brown rot, fireblight, honey fungus and powdery mildews