There are thousands of varieties of apple being grown around the world, and new varieties are being developed all the time. Many people who have an apple tree in their garden don’t know the variety, and it can be difficult to find out. There is no simple test – it is a judgement call, based on the size, colour, shape, smell and taste of the apple.
Very few people can identify more than a handful of varieties with any certainty. The best apple identifiers are much in demand – and the three that visit Frome’s Apple Day are busy all through October.
Who are the apple experts?
Peter Collett – who has picked, eaten, grown and won awards for apples, and many other types of fruit, for several decades. He is a former headmaster, as well as a successful fruit grower, exhibitor and writer. His collection of 30 plus kinds of fruit includes over 100 varieties of apple (many of which will be on display at Apple Day). He featured in the RHS publication ‘The Garden’ in 2004, is president of the Hampshire Federation of Horticultural Societies, is an RHS Fruit Judge and member of the Fruit Group Committee.
Paul Barnett – a successful professional tree nurseryman and propagator. He has featured on the BBC’s Gardeners’ World, and appeared in the RHS’s ‘The Garden’ in 2009. His amazing Bramley tree now produces more than 250 apple varieties, which he has personally hand-grafted onto it. You can expect to see some of these on display at Apple Day.
Brian Fox – involved with the southwest branch of the RHS Fruit Group, his identification skills are also put to the test at the RHS Rosemoor gardens.
Why do you need to know the variety of apples in your garden?
You can, of course, live quite happily not knowing what apples are in your garden. But if you do know, you may have a better understanding of when to harvest the fruit, how well it will store, how it should taste and look, and how it might best be used (ie, for juice, cider, cooking? ).
And I think that when you know what kind of apple you are growing, you might just love your tree a little more!
We bought 85 Locks Hill at the end of July. 1930 detached house with large garden. 7 apple trees counting a collapsed crab apple. You are welcome to visit and map the trees – and we’ll benefit from knowing what we have in the garden. Contact via email or 228641. I think we have a Cox’s Orange, Bramley, Worcester Permain, and ????