Apple pie

[Herb]

Well, not yet. But there's enough here for at least one pie, I think. It's a Bramley apple - the best pie and sauce apple there is.

[Muffy]

Oh wow! The thought of apple pie just makes me drool....LOL!!

[newtohosta-no more]

That looks like a whopper of an apple! Did you grow it yourself or buy it from an orchard?

[Herb]

It grew in our garden here in Victoria, B.C. We first planted the tree about 30 years ago. It was a semi-dwarf rootstock & a friend of mine who was an agriculture scientist bud-grafted the Bramley onto it. When we moved house a few years later, we dug it up, brought it with us, & replanted it where we now live.

The original "Bramley" tree grew, some time in the 19th century I think, from an unknown apple seed that somebody had planted near a house in England called Bramley Cottage - hence the name Bramleys' seedling. Nobody knows what its parent apple trees were, but some day, with genetic science becoming so sophisticated, its ancestry may be ascertained.

Bramley is a triploid & that results in it needing another, different apple tree nearby that can act as a pollenizer. Golden Delicious is a good pollenizer. We have one growing next to the Bramley.

Another characteristic of the Bramley is that it bears heavy and light crops in alternate years. In our case, even in a light bearing year, we get enough fruit for all our needs. In a heavy bearing year friends & neighbours enjoy the surplus.

The only bad thing I can think of about Bramleys is that Codling Moth like them too, so we try to do whatever we can to combat them.

[newtohosta-no more]

Very interesting ,Herb! Do enjoy those apples. They look delicious.