Apple Delight!

[lesa]

That is fabulous news! Last year was our year for apples, I think we got 5 this year! Enjoy your pies!

 

[ninnymary]

Lesa, it's good to see you again! Don't stay away too long.

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

@Nyboy, that recipe looks interesting, but I think I'll deal with the regular apples first and if that doesn't wear me out I'll give a crabapple pie a whirl. It sure is a pretty color though!

@ninnymary, So Lucky is right. The Prairie Fire crab apple was grafted on to the roots of a different apple, they do that for hardiness and other reasons. The tree above the graft died so the trunk below the graft took over and grew (I had cut the grafted part off when I saw the rootstock growing) into a tree. It's interesting to me that the four trees that grew from the root stocks are all a different kind of apple tree.

And yes, they are all regular apple size. One of the trees made some really large sized fruit, bigger than a Granny Smith. The Prairie Fire has tiny deep red fruit, smaller than a cherry.
If I can figure out how to load my camera pix on to this new operating system on my computer I'll post some pictures.

 

[thistlebloom]

Here's a good chart about crabapples:
http://www.jfschmidt.com/pdfs/JFS_CRAB_CHART.pdf

 

[digitS']

@Carol Dee DH's experience with wine was my experience with elderberry. I even tried apple wine but variety must make an important difference.

Once in awhile, our lucky stars must smile down on us but you had to wait a long while to know, Thistle. I wonder what varieties were used for rootstock.

Can you imagine @thistlebloom sharpening the chainsaw and waiting to see how those trees turned out ... Ornamental was your intention, delightful that they look good, have tasty fruit, and right where you can enjoy your good fortune just passing by, 12 months a year.

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

You planted the crabapples for spring flowers, how do the rootstock flowers compare?

 

[ninnymary]

Thistle, I NEED to see a picture of those trees! Haha. Can you use your phone to post pics?

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

Whatever they used for rootstocks @digitS, they were all different. The growth habit, the blooms and the leaves. I would have expected more uniformity, especially since they all came from the same nursery, that big wholesale one in Montana.

The blooms on the trees that regrew are okay, but not even close to the PF @Nyboy. In fact, I had considered taking them all out 2 years ago and replacing them with maples to match the other side of the driveway, but DH talked me down off the ledge on that one.

No Mary, my phone does take pictures, (even though it isn't smart), but I don't know how to get them on to my computer, and even if I did, I would still have to figure out how to put them in a folder, so I may as well just do all that figuring for my camera. Kid#2 said he'll teach me on his day off. I guess he figures it will take a whole day
for me to comprehend it! He's right, no doubt.

 

[Jared77]

FIL does a crabapple jelly that's dynamite. Crabapple Liquour sounds just as tempting.

Congrats to good apples & good neighbors!!

 

[Nyboy]

I wonder if the rootstock was seed grown, thats why different apples.