Margil Apple (Spring 2027)

This is our first year growing Margil, so everything below is secondhand until we get more long-term data from our own mother trees.

Overview

Margil is a very old European dessert apple, and it may well be a parent of Cox's Orange Pippin. It's small and russeted, with a big aromatic flavor, and it's grown for taste rather than for size or yield.

Origin and History

A 2020 genetic study in BMC Plant Biology (Muranty and others) notes that the French pomologist Leroy called Margil a very old variety from Normandy, described in 1608 by Olivier de Serres. The UK's National Fruit Collection says it was known in England before 1750. It has gone by a long list of other names, including Never Fail, Munche's Pippin and Reinette Musquée. That same 2020 study used DNA to trace Margil in the family trees of 87 later apples, mostly through Cox's Orange Pippin, which it identified as a first-generation offspring of Margil.

Fruit and Uses

Robert Hogg's Fruit Manual (1884) describes it as small, conical and "distinctly five-sided," with orange skin "streaked with deep red, and covered on one side with patches of russet." The flesh is "yellow, firm, juicy, rich, and sugary, with a powerful and delicious aromatic flavour." Cummins calls it intensely flavored, rich and aromatic, and says it's always russeted on one side. It's picked in early October, and Cummins says it keeps until about December in New York. This is a dessert apple, for eating fresh.

Growth Habit and Spacing

Ours are on Bud 118 semi-dwarf rootstock. Plan on about 15 feet between trees, up to 18 feet for airflow. Cummins describes Margil as a small tree and a light cropper, so don't expect bushels.

Pollination

It needs a pollenizer. It blooms mid-season, so pair it with something like Haralson, Macoun, Cortland, Frostbite, Wolf River or Kerr.

Cold Hardiness

We haven't found a hardiness rating for Margil from anyone we trust, and most of what's written about it comes from England and France. We've listed it at zone 4 for now as an estimate. Treat it as untested in a cold climate until we've wintered our own trees.

Illustration: “Margil” by Amanda Newton, USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library (POM00000475). Public domain.

Photos: “Malus Muskatrenette 4245” by Sven Teschke, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0 DE; “Muskatrenette jm55041” by joergens.mi, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.