Apple time is nearly over and each type of apple has its season. Our transparent apples, tart cooking apples, are the first to ripen, followed by the Gravenstein, a delicious eating apple. Then comes the MacIntosh, thinner skinned, but also a good eating apple, and finally the best winter apple I’ve ever tasted, the Wilmuta.
The apple trees were loaded this year, probably to make up for last year’s almost non-existent crop.
I’m guilty of not pruning the trees well (or at all) last winter and the trees were so weighed down with apples that a major branch threatened to break. I stuck a piece of wood under it to prop it up. I promise to prune the trees for next year.

I had never heard of Wilmuta until I bought this one, almost 30 years ago. My favourite apple is probably the Gravenstein, but Jonagold comes a close second. Wilmuta is a cross between these two varieties. The goal of apple biologists was to produce a large apple like Jonagold, but with the rosy colour of a Gravenstein. The result was a huge mouth-watering late season apple that is as sweet as it is hardy, well into late October.

October is nearly over and these apples are still on the tree, but I think it’s time to bring them in out of the cold soon. They are really good keepers, except for getting eaten eagerly once they are ripe.
If I were to buy another apple tree, Wilmuta would be my first choice.
*****
Apples keep the doctor away. Sorry, Doc.
Baking with apples
Crunchy fruit
Delicious, dripping sweetness
Eve tempts Adam
Festive
Gravenstein
Hardy
I love apples
Juicy Jonagold
Keepers
Lovely
MacIntosh
Nutritious
Over the top
Pippins
Quantities – never enough
Ripe
Sweet apple sauce
Tart transparents
Unbelievably good
Varieties abound
Wonderful Wilmuta
X-tra good
Yes, they’re the best
Zero calories … almost.
October 26, 2020 at 6:28 pm
Your apples look so good (and fresh!). 🙂 I haven’t heard of Wilmuta apples before. Looking forward to trying one some time.
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October 26, 2020 at 7:24 pm
I hadn’t heard of them either until I bought that tree at a nursery. I’ve never seen Wilmuta apples for sale either, only Jonagold or Gravenstein (the parent apples). But I sure do like these Wilmutas.
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October 26, 2020 at 8:04 pm
Aren’t you clever with your A-Z list. Nothing like a beautiful sweet crisp apple from your own tree. Now get out there and start pruning!
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October 26, 2020 at 8:14 pm
I will have to do it this winter, for sure. A friend pointed out that by having so many small twigs for fruit to grow on, I get a lot of apples but not as big or healthy as they might have been if there were fewer and the skinny branches wouldn’t be as overburdened by the weight. I lost a couple of big branches this year. Just negligence and ignorance. Live and learn!
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October 27, 2020 at 1:25 am
Beautiful apples! By looking at the picture I was tempted to grab a bunch of them. I still don´t know how to prune my roses, never mind pruning fruit trees. I like your A – Z list!
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October 27, 2020 at 10:16 am
I know there are basic rules for pruning, but cutting anything is better than cutting nothing.
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October 27, 2020 at 2:45 am
There’s nothing better than a crisp and sweet apple. Nice A-Z, Anneli!
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October 27, 2020 at 10:15 am
The best for a sweet snack.
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October 27, 2020 at 4:07 am
I am going to have to pay much more attention to the apples at our grocery store and the local farmers markets! Fun A to Z!
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October 27, 2020 at 10:15 am
Hope you can find some good ones.
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October 27, 2020 at 4:16 am
They look wonderful and a snack right off the tree 😊
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October 27, 2020 at 10:15 am
They do taste really good,
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October 27, 2020 at 3:42 pm
Lovely Ode to Apples. But what can you do with so many apples? A person can only eat so many pies.
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October 27, 2020 at 4:10 pm
I know. I’ve been making apple upside down cakes, and apple crisp. If we’re not careful the Cap and I will be as round a apples ourselves!
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October 30, 2020 at 6:22 pm
Apple crisp! I haven’t had that in ages. Yum.
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October 27, 2020 at 6:00 pm
I like apples, but don’t love them…However, your post and photos had my mouth watering for a crunchy red globe of an apple – freshly picked off one of your trees, of course!
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October 27, 2020 at 6:38 pm
That’s so funny. I feel the same way about store-bought apples. I’m not tempted at all. But a fresh apple right off the tree – it’s like a completely different food.
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October 29, 2020 at 12:24 am
Oh my gosh that’s quite a selection of apples you have there they look so delicious too…
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October 29, 2020 at 9:10 am
They’re so good right off the tree, but it is a lot of “apple work.”
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October 29, 2020 at 2:41 pm
How lovely! I’m not familiar with those varieties. Bramley apples are common around here, as are wild crab-apples, which the deer like to munch.
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October 29, 2020 at 2:45 pm
A friend of mine has a Bramley tree and I noticed that the apples were kind of squashed and wide, compared to the shape of other apples, and I believe they were pretty much for cooking/baking because of being a bit sour. But they were good for that.
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October 29, 2020 at 3:07 pm
Yes, very much a cooking species. It’s traditional to bake them with blackberries in an autumnal pie here.
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October 29, 2020 at 3:59 pm
Ooh! That sounds really good. We have blackberries. I must try out that combination.
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October 30, 2020 at 4:51 pm
My mouth is watering, Anneli. I loved this discussion of the apples and the expertise you have honed over the decades. I love apples. There are many Gravenstein orchards in our county in No. Calif. I think it’s wonderful that you have trees and the photos reflect really healthy-looking fruit. My favorite is the Painted Lady which, I just looked up, is a cross of Golden Delicious and Lady Williams…come from Washington State. I have never heard of Wilmuta but I have no doubt it’s excellent. Delightful post.
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October 30, 2020 at 5:41 pm
Thank you so much, Jet. I haven’t heard of Painted lady except in a butterfly. Neither have I heard of Lady Williams. So much still to explore and experience. Thanks for your input!
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October 31, 2020 at 11:27 am
We planted trees a few years ago, and the deer have been relentless. Sigh. I’m so jealous of your bounty. A fun poem, Anneli. Happy Harvesting!
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October 31, 2020 at 12:34 pm
I know how it feels. We finally had to put a fence around the trees.
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October 31, 2020 at 1:17 pm
We should have built a fence The deer around here are so brazen!
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October 31, 2020 at 1:51 pm
The first few years I chased the deer away and several times found the smaller trees completely stripped of leaves, so we put all the fruit trees in one area and put a high deer fence around them, but the Captain didn’t like the look of it. He kept saying it looks like a prison compound. Not many years after that, the area became a dog walkers’ paradise – a place you could “let you dog run free to poop wherever,” so we had to put a fence around the whole place. (Now they poop just outside our gate where we’re sure to step in it). But the deer problem is solved.
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October 31, 2020 at 1:56 pm
Lol. The trials of country living.
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October 31, 2020 at 1:57 pm
You know all about it, too, I’m sure.
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November 1, 2020 at 4:38 pm
The many different kids of apples is staggering. I love Braeburn. Super A-Z.
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November 1, 2020 at 4:39 pm
Those are the tart ones, right? Great for baking.
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November 2, 2020 at 4:21 am
Yes!
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November 7, 2020 at 9:33 pm
Love me some apples during the fall! 🙂
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November 7, 2020 at 9:52 pm
Yes, me too. That’s the best time to eat one – right off the tree!
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