Annual Tree Order

Every year I have ordered trees, there is always the thought "This is my last tree order. Next year I will work on..."

but every year there are more fruit trees that I can't resist. Is shopping for fruit trees something that shouldn't be done on an empty stomach, like grocery shopping? Should I only look at catalogs when stuffed full of apples/grapes/nuts/plums and cherries?

This year Would Be Different. Only one tree, a rare cider apple tree, where the apples aren't used for eating or cooking, but for adding tannins and depth to hard cider. Only one tree was good in theory, but in practice I ordered four.

Tree One: Dabinett Cider Apple - Late Fall. Medium bittersweet. Probably a seedling of Chisel Jersey, Middle Lambrook, Somerset, England. Most popular cider variety in Somerset today and the mainstay of Poverty Lane’s cider orchard. At the MOFGA cider workshop, Steve Woods told us, “If you’re going to plant one bittersweet, plant this one.” Medium-sized roundish fruit covered with sooty brownish brick-red stripes and blush. Looks rotten even when perfectly firm and ripe. Dense astringent juicy flesh. Sugar content fair and fermentation moderate. High quality well-balanced low-acid cider with a soft-tasting tannin. Pick last week of October, blend with other late varieties. Crops regularly. Grower-friendly tree with a spreading drooping habit, may require help in developing a strong central leader. Not pollen compatible with Chisel Jersey. Midseason bloomer. Z4-6. ME Grown.

This was the original tree that I had been planning to buy for about three years. I have a fascination with hard cider that isn't satisfied by commercial brands of cider. My Guy and I have been trying different kinds for a few years now, and nothing actually tastes like apples. At least not in a good way. So this tree is the base of what I hope will be the beginning of my own personal hard cider cellar. And also something to give to my friend Big Cat, as a testament to her years of friendship and her devotion to hard cider drinking.

Tree Two: Grimes Golden Apple - Fall. Unknown parentage. West Virginia, c. 1804. All-around excellent variety grown in old Maine orchards for over 100 years. Medium-sized roundish fruit with opaque yellow skin, scattered with grey russet dots and an occasional faint blush. Thought to be a parent of Golden Delicious. Tart citrusy crisp dense firm fruit is excellent for dessert and cooking: wonderful spicy fresh eating and wonderful apple sauce. Makes a thick sweet cider and a good single-variety hard cider: light and fruity. Tends to begin dropping fruits before you can pick them, but fret not; they’re ready to eat. Just collect them off the ground as they fall and use them up. Then pick the rest off the tree and store in the root cellar until spring. Productive, annual bearing, precocious. Highly recommended. In short supply; order early. Z4-8. ME Grown.

This is the tree I don't have room for, didn't intend to buy, but how could I resist? Can you imagine a whole tree filled with bright golden apples? Tart citrusy apples? Apples that just fall off the tree begging to be eaten? Two of my friends will really appreciate this apple. One for its name and the other who loves yellow apples more than red ones. My Guy, Miss Critterpants and I spent the day walking around the property trying to find a perfect spot for it. I think it will have to go at the edge of the lawn over by the barbecue pit/smoke house area. We can watch the grill and eat apples. My Guy can have all the prunings for his smoker and everything will be fine for this poor, unintended tree.

Tree Three: Stella Sweet Cherry - Midsummer. 2C-27-19 (Lambert x John Innes Sdlg. 2420) Canadian Dept of Ag Research Stn, Summerland, BC, 1968. The first hardy good-quality self-fertile sweet cherry. Large heart-shaped black-skinned fruit has juicy medium-firm black flesh. May be a disappointment to sweet cherry aficionados from the Northwest but could be like a dream come true for orchardists living in the warmer locales of Maine. Fruit buds are relatively tender. Upright spreading vigorous productive tree will grow to 25–30'. Self-pollinating, also pollinates other sweet cherries. Z4.

To replace my dying Black Gold Cherry. I trust Fedco when they say it is a zone 4 sweet cherry, and there has to be a sweet cherry tree in my orchard collection. It is of great importance that we have too many cherries to eat on an annual basis.

Tree Four: Ember Plum - Late Summer. MN 83 (Prunus salicina Shiro x P. americana (?) South Dakota #33) U Minn, 1936. Medium-sized roundish-conic slightly pointed mostly red-blushed fruit with a medium bloom. Rich yellow very firm but tender, meaty juicy sweet flesh. Recommended for cooking and fresh eating. Tastes and looks like an apricot. Low spreading vigorous tree. Underwood is said to be a good pollinator. Z3. ME Grown.

I'll share a secret with you, I love apricots and many of the people I love, love apricots too. Unfortunately, zone 5A is not a apricot-friendly zone. I already have two plums planted and a third wouldn't be too much of a strain space-wise. Fedco recommends that hybrid plums be planted so closely that their branches mesh. One more plum added to the mix makes a pretty grouping of three, and maybe I can nestle a little bench beneath the plum grove. And plum-apricot butter sounds so good! Plus apricot-plum jam, dried plums, three plum tart, all things made with apricot flavored plums!


This order brings the tree count up to:
5 apple trees (plus one chance seedling)
3 plum trees
3 cherry trees (one dying)
1 almond tree (dead)
1 grape vine

next year i swear, only one last apple tree. Another rare cider apple tree, and that's it!


And maybe a yellow grape vine, a couple of kiwi vines, some northern pecans or hicans, some white oaks for the back of the property, another almond to replace the dead one, three pear trees, and lingonberry bushes, and maybe a couple of wintergreen plants....

Apples up to my eye

The apple picking season is over, but my favorite orchard still has a whole harvest for sale out of their storage. I can't stop buying Northern Spy, Wealthy and Empire apples. Northern Spy and Wealthy are amazing to cook with. Pies, apple butter, crisps and crumbles keep marching out of my kitchen and the flavor of these apples really shines.

Northern Spy is an accidental seedling discovered in the early 1800's in either New York State or Connecticut, and one of its parents is Wagener. Wherever it came from, it is an excellent culinary apple and not too shabby to eat out of hand! The trees can take up to ten years to bear, so I am grateful for my local orchard for their foresight and love of pies.

I planted a Wealthy apple tree on our property two years ago, and we will probably be getting fruit in two years. Bred in Minnesota in the 1800's from a crab apple, it is cold hardy, disease resistant, and yummy. They keep all winter and are sweet, tart and addictive. The texture is like a firm McIntosh, good for pies, eating and even cider.

The Empire apple is a cross between red delicious and McIntosh apples. I don't really care for either of its parents, but I can't stop eating Empire apples. They are crisp and flavorful and are so dark red they almost look black. Snow White would have taken a bigger bite of this apple. Eve would have eaten the whole thing and gone back for another. Atalanta would have thrown a dozen races. I love these apples and eat about three a day.