Green Thumb Corner

Fuji apples have it all--super sweet, super juicy and super crisp. What a great snacking apple! Fuji apples are aromatic, sweet, juicy and crisp with a firm texture. The Fuji's appearance varies from yellow-green with red highlights to mostly red. The Fuji's spicy, crisp sweetness gives it exceptional eating quality. The Fuji is excellent for fresh salads. The Fuji is quickly becoming an apple with a large consumer audience.

The Golden Delicious apple is an excellent all purpose cooking apple. This apple has firm, white flesh that retains its shape when baked or cooked. Its rich mellow flavor, sweet and crisp, is an asset to any recipe.You can cut down the sugar in pies and sauces made from Golden Delicious apples. The skin is so tender and thin that you can skip peeling for many recipes. It is also outstanding when used in a fruit bowl and for fresh fruit.

The Granny Smith apples have been cultivated for at least 140 years. Sour apple fans will tell you that the Granny Smith should not be cooked, but eaten raw. If you crave and enjoy a juicy burst of tartness, this apple is for you. This glorious tree has handsome supermarket-size (up to 3" diameter) apples. Plant these in the yard and you'll be pickin' sweet and hearty apples when the snow flies, because they ripen in early November! That tart flavor really lasts, and stays fresh all winter and spring. Granny Smith is your kind of apple. It is known for keeping its zesty flavor even when it is used for cooking or sautéed.

The Honeycrisp apple is a high quality apple which keeps well for 5-6 months in common storage. The tree is one of the most vigorous and hardy of apple trees, showing little damage at -40 degrees. Needs to be thinned heavily. Honeycrisp fruit is characterized by an exceptionally crisp and juicy texture. Its flesh is cream colored and coarse. The flavor is sub-acid and ranges from mild and well-balanced to strongly aromatic, depending on the degree of maturity. Great eating apple with its subacid flavor. Develops its full aromatic flavor if left on the tree until mid October.

The McIntosh apple is a early and heavy producer. The flesh is white, soft and fine-textured. The flavor is distinctively tangy and aromatic. The McIntosh has a rather tough skin that has mixed red and green coloring. It's a favorite apple for eating out of hand but also is widely used in salads, sauces, pies. It is a mainstay in fresh cider and an all-time favorite for fresh eating and salads. It has a large fruit and is used in juice, pies, and eating raw.

The Red Delicious apple is America's favorite snacking apple.The Red Delicious is the most widely grown variety of apple in the world. Red Delicious apples have firm, white or cream white flesh that is juicy, aromatic, sweet tasting. They are best eaten raw because of their thick skin. The heart shaped fruit is bright red and sometimes exhibits some red striping. It is crunchy with a mildly sweet flavor. The Red Delicious is widely used in salads. Red Delicious apples look great for a long time so they are the favored choice for holiday centerpieces and wreaths. The fruit keeps fresh very well and can be found year around in stores.

The Sonata apple has a taste that is similar to a Golden. It is a medium sized apple with excellent flavor. It is a very attractive apple, with a bright, pinkish red blush over a yellow background. With a firm and finely grained, creamy colored flesh, it is cold hardy and highly precocious and productive. The Sonata keeps well in storage, retaining its flavor essences better than Gala. We highly recommend Sonata for hobbyists and home gardeners as this is truly a gourmet apple. Sonata apple trees have low to medium vigor. Matures similar to Golden Delicious. Primary assets are the combined excellent cosmetics with a pleasant exciting flavor.

The Winesap apple is an old apple variety. It is still one of the leading strains being grown in the US. Winesap apples are good for eating, juice, and baking. Juicy and tart, the Winesap apple has a crisp, yellowish flesh covered with a deep red skin. This all-purpose apple has good keeping qualities. The fruit is good sized. The flesh is tinged with yellow and sometimes red veins run through it. It is a firm, rather coarse, moderately crisp apple with a sprightly, medium acid taste. It is resistant to russeting.

The Chestnut Crabapple blooms in early to mid-May. It has a pleasant nut-like flavor. It produces a very large crabapple, up to 2" in diameter that ripens in early September. Outstanding flavor and good texture for fresh eating as well as being a pollinator. A very hardy plant with a medium storage life. It usually has a partially russeted skin and hangs well on the tree. It is a very productive annual bearer, and is loaded with white blooms in the bloom stage. The fruit quality holds well on the tree, being quite spritely at first and becoming sweeter later on. An excellent pollinator for other fruit apples.

Akane, Malus 'Akane', is an apple tree that produces fruit that is attractive, medium sized, bright red, and has firm, white, juicy flesh that is somewhat tart. 'Akane' has moderate scab and mildew resistance. Harvest time is mid-August to late September. Akane's good candidates for cross pollination are: 'Liberty', 'Spartan', and 'Gala'. Careful early training, annual pruning and shaping are required to insure healthy and productive trees. Akane is a cross between a Jonathan and Worcester Pearmin. Because of this heritage, the Akane is an excellent dessert apple, with a tart flavor & distinct aroma, but does not store well. Ideal for coastal climates. Akane is very reliable, even in poor fruit years you can count on this tree to have fruit on it!

The Beacon Apple, Malus 'Beacon', is a juicy bright red, medium-sized apple that is wonderful for eating. Its flesh is mildly acid. The Beacon is a hardy, heavy bearing tree, with the fruit having a short storage life. It is a good apple for eating fresh or cooking. It ripens mid to late August and is susceptible to fire blight. Plant about a month after the first killing frost in the fall or about a month before the last killing frost in the spring. Select a planting site that has good air, drainage, full sunlight and deep, well drained soil.

Connell Red Apple, Malus 'Connell Red', is a red blush mutation of Fireside apple. Similar to Fireside except that it has more intense red color. It is hardy, a heavy bearer, and excellent for eating or cooking with a distinctive flavor. The Connell fruit keeps well until April or May. It is an unsuitable pollinator for Fireside. The Connell Red Apple is a magnificent deep red, stripe-free, solid blush. It has a banana essence, very sweet, and mellow. This apple is a large fruit with sweet flavor and fine-grained flesh. Connell Red is good for fresh eating, salads, and baked apples. The tree is vigorous, weeping, and matures in late October. Plant about a month after the first killing frost in the fall or about a month before the last killing frost in the spring. Select a planting site that has good air, drainage, full sunlight and deep, well drained soil.