All about apples, pears, plums, and cherries - and orchards where they are grown

Welcome to Orange Pippin

If you are interested in apple varieties, pears, cherries or plums, or orchards where these fruits are grown, you have come to the right place.

Fruit varieties

Information on over 700 apple varieties, as well as pears, plums, and cherries.

Orchards

Listings for over 2,000 orchards in the United States, Canada, UK and elsewhere.

Tree Register

Our Fruit tree register has details of more than 11,000 trees registered by their owners, including blossom and harvest records.

Our website is named after England's most famous apple variety - Cox's Orange Pippin - widely regarded as the finest of all dessert apples. 'Pippin' is an old English word derived from the French word for 'seedling', and like many old apple varieties Cox's Orange Pippin was discovered as a chance seedling.

Recent variety reviews

You can add your own comments on any variety page.

  • Apple - Red Delicious

    02 May 2019 
    Until recently I would have agreed with the negative reviews here - they weren't very good. However, I believe that just as with other apples, it all depends on how good a specimen you find. I've been trying all types of apples that I can get at our local stores and comparing them, and decided I might as well try Red Delicious again - it has been many years since I've had bad experiences in the past. To my surprise, the apple I got was in excellent condition, and tasty enough for me to go back and purchase more. The specimens I got were grown in Washington (and I ate them in April in Colorado). They are juicy and sweet, with a fine grain. They are crisp but not dense to bite into. The skin is a little thick and slightly bitter - I'm wondering if that contributes to the potential health benefits found by some studies (try an internet search for the NIH study "Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits", which puts this apple near the top of the varieties they studied). All that being said, I can't claim this to be my favorite apple. It is rather one-dimensional (although I can't think of any other apples that have the same flavor), and for supermarket varieties I've tried lately I might prefer Pink Lady/Cripps Pink, Jazz/Scifresh, and Envy/Scilate - but variety is key and I will add a few of these to the rotation as long as the quality of the fruit available to me stays as high as it is now.

  • Apple - Envy

    01 May 2019 
    Reminiscent of Jazz - similar flavor, perhaps more sweet/honey flavor (comparing them from Colorado grocery store in April). Dense flesh and good flavor. I enjoy it chilled out of the fridge.

  • Apple - Fireside

    28 Apr 2019 
    Our Fireside produced many sweet sugary apples (great for pies, juice, sauce and dehydrated snacks) for the last 50 plus years since my parents bought our farm in 66 and it was a old timer then already. Last year was its last year after a terrible wind storm. We were all saddened by its' demise. But Good news, a few good buds survived and this spring I was able to successfully whip graft on to two rootstock trees. Both trees are doing well and we look forward to Firesides once again. This tree should be in every apple lovers yard.

  • Crab-apple - John Downie

    28 Apr 2019 
    Where can you get the john downie in the US? Can anyone make a suggestion?

  • Apple - D'Arcy Spice

    22 Apr 2019 
    Bought December 2016 as a very young tree. Planted in a sheltered garden with no other apple tree in the garden. First fruit gathered 2018 and stored. Only two apples were allowed to grow, other being removed as soon as the blossom was over. The first fruit was 155g picked in October, the second 195g picked in November, therefore not accounting that it was the smaller of the two, it has gained at least 25% in weight over six weeks. It was still very firmly attached to the tree and I wonder whether it could have been left even longer. We shared one between all of us on Christmas Day, the second on boxing day, best apple tasted. First flowering 2019 15 April but it has been a very warm and dry spring. I am following the progress of this tree on my blog.

Latest spring blossom records from registered fruit trees

Find out how to record your blossom dates in our Fruit Tree Register.

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