Apple Trees

Every apple here needs a pollenizer, which means a different apple or crabapple blooming at the same time. A few are triploids and need two other apples nearby, including Ashmead's Kernel, Gravenstein, Belle de Boskoop, Claygate Pearmain and Roxbury Russet. Our pollination maps show what blooms together.

In cold country, start with the hardiest. September Ruby, Wealthy, Oriole, Prairie Sensation, Kindercrisp, Mantet and Norda are rated to zone 2, and Honeycrisp, Haralson, Goodland and Frostbite to zone 2b. In zone 3b and warmer you can add Cox Orange Pippin. Northern Spy and Newtown Pippin need zone 4.

You can spread the harvest out, too. Lodi, Pristine and Crimson Beauty are ripe by mid August, while Newtown Pippin and Binet Rouge hang on till late October. Then there are the keepers. Black Oxford, Thunderbolt, MN 1628 and Yates all scored 9 out of 10 for winter storage, so you're still eating apples long after the trees go bare. See the ripening maps and our Best Of list for winter storage.