At the opposite end of the spectrum - the newest apple instead of historic apples - Washington State just named its newest one. Sunflare. Nice name. They wont be on the market this decade. https://www.capitalpress.com/ag_sec...cle_b455f96c-b741-11ef-a15d-b37a024dfa40.html This is the same program that released Cosmic Crisp. Every new apple is the "best and the finest", according to the promoters, until the next one happens. I really do like Honeycrisp, which was one of the parents of Sunflare. Also Cosmic Crisp is one of the very best in my garden. So delicious, wonderful crisp juicy texture. Fairly disease resistant. I loved experimenting with historic apples. I read the biographies of many. I have several from this list, on multigraft trees. https://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/?cat=Scionwood They don't all do well here, but it was fun grafting and growing them. A bunch are gone now because of my garden and orchard editing. p.s. I have two trees in my garden that I grew from my own pollinating apple flowers. They are crosses of columnar apple tree (I think North Pole but maybe Golden Sentinel) with the red flesh "Redlove Calypso". I was curious if I could make a red flesh, columnar tree with apples not as sour as Calypso and maybe a little bigger. Well, they have red roots, flowers, and leaves, like Calypso, and columnar, like North Pole. But the few flowers that bloomed last year didn't produce fruit. We'll see what happens next year.
@Daniel W Thank you for the link to Fedco - great resource. I think a fedco page pictured an apple that was here long before we came along. This land was part of a orchard/farm in the 1940’s Nice to hear that Washington University has another new apple to put on the market eventually…the new name of “Sunflare” might be a yellow skin apple? Let’s keep our fingers that next year you’re will see results of your apple cross . Calypso apple with red flesh / North Pole sounds interesting . It seems the bee’s missed their chance to pollinate them last season. Hopefully next season the bee’s will do their job , or take a chance and use a paint brush to pollinate the flowers next season. What a fun project. You’re always doing a fun type project in your garden. More info on Oregon Heirloom Apples: The oldest apple tree in the Pacific Northwest is located six miles from downtown Portland in the middle of a highway interchange. This tree was planted circa 1826 and marks the beginning of western expansion in what is now Oregon. The Wittman Historical Society’s Lost Apple Project is working to identify and preserve historic apple trees and orchards in Oregon, as well as in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. **** The project also sells newly grafted heritage and rediscovered varieties of apple trees. *** Kiyokawa Family Orchards Located on the Hood River County Fruit Loop, this orchard was established in 1951 by Mamoru Kiyokawa, a Japanese American.
