Description

Masses of eye-catching, very showy flowers in spring followed by a good crop of small to medium sized apples, pearmain shaped, which are bright red with attractive yellow lenticels. The rich, sweet, crisp and aromatic fruit is best if eaten straight from the tree but they will keep well in a cool place until February. It has good disease resistance. An old variety but only recently discovered growing in the sheltered garden of a 19th century abbey at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. The blossom attracts bees, and later any fallen fruit is eagerly consumed by thrushes and other similar birds. Bullfinches are, unfortunately, partial to the buds.