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The apple has always been Greenmantle's primary fruit
focus. This obviously reflects the broad adaptation and distribution
of such a fundamental fruit, as well as its long list of distinct varieties.
It also derives from the apple's primacy and longevity in the local landscape.
More than a century ago, our region was settled by an influx of Euro-American
homesteaders who "proved" their claims in part by establishing
orchards. Many survivors of these plantings still stand and produce fruit.
And most of them are apple trees.
Old
abandoned
still extravagantly productive
A Wickson Crab in Etter Orchard, circa 1985
Here in the Mattole River watershed
we are situated on the Western frontier of the apple's manifest destiny.
The ubiquitous presence of the apple in the New World reflects the early
dominance of British colonization. The apple tree thrives in Great Britain,
and the British have long enjoyed a nearly obsessive love affair with
the genus Malus. Ironically,
most of the varieties they attemped to import into North America were
not fully hardy here. It took the planting of tens of thousands of
pips to create a new breed of American apple.
England's devotion to the apple took root and grew to huge proportions
in the American soil. Many of the world's great varieties began as seedlings
planted during the colonial period or shortly thereafter. New York and
New England became centers of apple culture. The resulting varietal legacy
includes Esopus Spitzenberg, Swaar, Northern Spy, Baldwin, Tompkins King.
Roxbury Russet. Jonathan, Rhode Island Greening, and many more.
As the frontier was pushed westward, apple trees - both grafted varieties
and unproven seedlings - moved with it. The story of John Chapman aka "Johnny
Appleseed" is a national legend based on fact. Chapman's pioneer
nurseries provided thousands of apple seedlings for settlers in the Ohio
River Valley. Some of these ended up as rootstocks grafted over to established
varieties brought from the eastern states. And many were left to produce
nondescript fruit which was blended into hard cider and apple jack; these
were the most popular beverages on the American frontier.
By the time Euro-American dominion established itself in Northern California
(circa 1850), the roster of "domestic" apple varieties had
become quite extensive. These formed the foundation for homestead orchard
plantings here. A survey of the surviving trees reveals that the Mattole
and Eel River Valleys of Humboldt County were well suited for growing
the classic varieties of NewYork State, including Tompkins King, Esopus
Spitzenberg, Jonathan, and Northern Spy. Southern apples like Arkansas
Black, King David, and Winesap also flourish here.
Despite its wizened structure, this
century old Tompkins King apple tree continues to bear dependable
crops of fine fruit.
While California is not usually regarded as "apple country",
all kinds of varieties seem well adapted to the Northwestern corner of
the state. Our own experience confirms this remarkable felicity. Notoriously
tempermental English varieties like Cox Orange Pippin and Pitmaston Pineapple
bear first-rate fruit next to long-season Japanese varieties like Fuji
and Mutsu. Apples from all over North America and the world seem at home
here in the coastal mountains of Humboldt County.
Hyde King Apple - Though
it originated in the Midwest circa 1880, this excellent winter-keeper
seemed to be extinct except in our local homestead orchards. It
deserves to be rediscovered by orchardists everywhere.
MASTER LIST OF APPLE VARIETIES
PLEASE NOTE: We are not able to maintain
an inventory of trees for sale representing
our entire apple collection (250+ varieties). Instead, we focus
our propagation on those varieties we deem most important and/or popular.
Availability varies from year to year. Quantities - and rootstock options
- are limited.
ALL our apple varieties are available each season
as dormant benchgrafts in a range
of rootstock options ( M26, MARK, MM111, domestic seedling
). Sorry - but we do NOT sell scionwood…….. |
CODE: EHC - Euopean Hard Cider AHC
- American Hard Cider
* indicates the variety is described in the Greenmantle Catalog
 The apple portraits are reproduced from Apples of New York
- S.A. Beach (1905). All these varieties, except Roxbury Russet,
have been collected in old homestead orchards in Southern Humboldt....
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Baldwin |
Adam's Pearmain
Akane (syn. PrimeRed)
Akero
Alaska *
Alkmene
Almata
Amberoso ™ (Etter 27-10)
Amére de Berthecourt - EHC
American Pippin
Arkansas Black *
Aroma
Ashmead's Kernel
Atalanta ™ (Etter 22-17)
Baldwin *
Beauty of Bath
Bellflower - EHC
Belle de Boskoop
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Black Gilliflower |
Benham
Benoni
Bentley Sweet
Berne Rose
Bietigheimer (Red)
Black Gilliflower (syn. Black Sheepnose)
Black Twig
Blenheim Orange
Blue Pearmain
Blush Rosette ™ (Etter 14-1)
Braeburn
Bramley's Seedling
Brown's Apple - EHC
Brown Snout - EHC
Bullock (syn. Sheepnose)
Bulmer's Norman - EHC
Calville Blanc d'Hiver (syn. White Winter Calville)
Canada Red
Carolina Red June |
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(Carolina) Red June *
Carpentin
Centennial Crab
Champagne Reinette
Chenango Strawberry
Chestnut Crab
Chisel Jersey - EHC
Christmas Pink ® (Etter - 12-9)
Cinnamon Spice
Coe's Golden Drop
Cole's Quince
Colvis Spice
Coos River Beauty
Cornish Gilliflower
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Duchess of Oldenburg |
Cortland
Court Pendu Plat
Cox Orange Pippin
Crimson Gold *
Criterion
Dabinett - EHC
D'Arcy Spice
Dapple ™ - (Etter 24-18)
Delicious (Hawkeye) *
Detroit Red
Devonshire Quarrendon
Discovery
|
Esopus Spitzenberg |
Dolgo Crab
Duchess of Oldenburg *
Dyer (syn. Pomme Royale)
Early Harvest
Early Joe
Early Strawberry
Eden ™ (Etter - 30-32)
Edward VII
Egremont Russet
Ellison's Orange
Elstar
Emneth Early
Empire
Esopus Spitzenberg *
Etter's Gold *
Fall Pippin
Fall Russet
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Fall Pippin |
Fameuse (syn. Snow) *
Fearns Avenue Pippin
Foxwhelp - EHC
Freiherr von Berlepsch
Freyberg
Fuji
Gala
Gala, Royal
Garden Royal
Geeveston Fanny - EHC
Gloria Mundi
Glowing Coal
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Golden Russet |
Golden Delicious (Mullins) *
Golden Harvey - EHC
Golden Noble
Golden Nugget
Golden Russet
Granny Smith
Gravenstein
Gravenstein (Red)
Grenadine ® (Etter 7-13)
Grimes Golden *
Harrison's Cider - AHC
Harry Masters Jersey - EHC
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Gravenstein |
Hauer Pippin
Hawaii
Herefordshire Redstreak - EHC
Hewe's Virginia Crab - AHC
Hightop Sweet
Holstein
Honey Sweet Cider
Hubbardston Nonesuch
Hudson's Golden Gem
Humboldt *
Hyde King *
Idared
Ingrid Marie
Irish Peach
Jade ™ (Etter 26-5)
James Grieve
Jefferis
Jonagold
Jonathan *
Jonwin *
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Hyde King |
Kandil Sinap
Karmijn de Sonnaville
Katharine *
Keepsake
Kerry Pippin
Keswick Codlin
Kidd's Orange Red
King David
King Solomon (syn. Rainier) *
Kingston Black - EHC
Knobbed Russet
Lady Apple *
Lamb Abbey Pearmain
Lawver
Laxton Epicure
Leslie
Liberty *
Liveland Raspberry *
Lord Lambourne
|
Jonathan |
Lord's Seedling
Lubsk Queen
Lyman's Large Summer
Macoun
Maiden Blush
Malinda
Marechal - EHC
Margil
McIntosh
Medaille d'Or - EHC
Melba
Melon
Melrose
Merton Beauty
Michelin - EHC
Milam
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Northern Spy |
Montreal Beauty Crab
Morgenduft
Mother
Mountaineer
Muscadet de Bernay - EHC
Muscadet de Dieppe - EHC
Muscadet de Lense - EHC
Muscat de Venus ™ (Etter 31-2)
Muster
Mutsu *
Nehou - EHC
Niedzwetzkyana (Redvein Crab))
Northern Spy *
Northfield Beauty *
Old Nonpareil
Ontario
Opalescent
Orenco
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Red Astrachan |
Orin
Orleans Reinette
Parmentier
Peck's Pleasant
Pine Mountain
Pink Lady
Pink Parfait ® - (Etter 7-9)
Pink Pearl *
Pink Pearmain ® - (Etter 14-9) *
Pitmaston Pineapple
Pomme Gris - EHC
Porter
Porter's Perfection - EHC
Primate
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Roxbury Russet |
Ralls *
Reasor Green
Red Astrachan (Striped) *
Red Astrachan (Blushed)
Reine des Pommes - EHC
Reine des Reinettes
Reinette Ananas
Reinette Étoile
Reinette Gris du Canada
Reinette Simerenko
Rhode Island Greening *
Ribston Pippin
Rome Beauty *
Rosemary Russet
Ross Nonpareil
Roxbury Russet
Rubaiyat ® - (Etter 8-11)
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Tompkins King |
St. Edmund's Pippin
Salome
Sekai Ichi
Shizuka
Sinta
Skinner's Seedling *
Smith Cider
Smokehouse
Sops of Wine
Spigold *
Splendour *
Stark *
Stayman Winesap
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Transcendent Crab |
Stearns
Sturmer Pippin
Summer Pearmain
Summer Rambo *
Summer Rose
Suncrisp
Suntan
Surprise
Swaar *
Sweet Alford - EHC
Sweet Bough
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Winesap |
Sweet Coppin - EHC
Sweet Sixteen
Taylor's Sweet - EHC
Thornberry ® - (Etter 16-32) *
Tolman Sweet
Tompkins King *
Transcendent Crab
Tremblett's Bitter - EHC
Twenty Ounce *
Tydeman's Late Orange
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Yellow Bellflower |
Vandevere *
Victoria Limbertwig
Vilberie - EHC
Virginia Gold
Vixen ™ - (Etter 34 - 3)
Von Zuccalmaglio's Reinette
Wagener *
Waltana *
Wealthy *
Westfield Seek-No-Further
White Astrachan *
White Winter Pearmain *
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Yellow Newtown Pippin |
Wickson Crab *
Winesap *
Winter Banana
Wolf River
Worcester Pearmain
Wyken Pippin
Yarlington Mill - EHC
Yates
Yellow Bellflower *
Yellow Ingestrie
Yellow Newtown Pippin *
Yellow Transparent *
York Imperial
Zaubergau Reinette
"Why do we need so many kinds of apples? Because there
are so many folks. A person has a right to gratify his legitimate
tastes. If he wants twenty or forty kinds of apples for his personal
use, running from Early Harvest to Roxbury Russet, he should be accorded
the privilege. Some place should be provided where he may obtain
trees or scions. There is merit in variety itself. It provides more
points of contact with life, and leads away from unifromity and monotony."
- Liberty Hyde Bailey, The Apple Tree 1922
Liberty
Hyde Bailey (1858-1954)
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