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Mother Apple

scionwood
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Malus spp.
This is a twig for grafting. Fall, red skin.

General Stephen P. Gardner intro, Bolton, MA, before 1811. Originally named American Mother. Also known as Queen Anne and Gardeners Apple.

Very high-quality early-Massachusetts dessert apple. In his 1884 The Fruit Manual, British pomologist Robert Hogg called it, “remarkably tender, crisp, and breaking, very juicy, sweet, and with a balsamic aroma.” Medium-large roundish-conic fruit, colored with muted reds and oranges and covered with tiny russet dots. We believe Mother has the potential to be popular in the 21st century on a commercial scale.

General Gardner was a prominent Bolton entrepreneur on the old road between Boston and Greenfield, in what was to become the epicenter of Massachusetts orcharding. There are still almost a dozen orchards in the Bolton area. Keeps into January. Blooms mid-late season. Z4.
ships in early spring
Quick Details
Skin Color
red
Harvest Season
fall
Hardy to Zone
4
Compare
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Claygate Pearmain scionwood blushed yellow fall 4
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Cornish Gilliflower scionwood blushed green fall 4
Court Pendu Plat scionwood russeted orange fall 4
Cox’s Orange Pippin scionwood russeted orange-red fall 4
Dabinett scionwood red-striped late fall 4
Ellis Bitter scionwood red-striped early fall 4
Fameuse scionwood ruby red early fall 3
Freedom scionwood red-striped early fall 4
Grimes Golden scionwood yellow fall 4
Harrison scionwood yellow mid-late fall 4
Hewe’s Virginia Crab scionwood red fall 4
Holstein scionwood orange-blushed fall 4
Hudson’s Golden Gem scionwood russeted yellow fall 4
I-95 scionwood red-blushed and striped fall 4
Kavanagh scionwood russeted lime green fall 4
Kennebec Russet scionwood russeted yellow fall 4
King of Tompkins County scionwood dark orange-red fall 4
Kingston Black scionwood russeted red fall 4
Liberty scionwood bluish red late summer-fall 4
Macoun scionwood purplish red-blushed fall 4
McIntosh scionwood red fall 4
Medaille d’Or scionwood russeted yellow late fall 4
Mother scionwood red fall 4
Opalescent scionwood deep red fall 4
Otterson scionwood dark red fall 4
Pinova scionwood orange-blushed gold fall 4
Pipsqueak scionwood russeted pink fall 4
Pitmaston Pineapple scionwood russeted yellow early fall 4
Pomme Grise scionwood russeted green-yellow fall 3
Porter’s Perfection scionwood red-blushed late fall 4
Redfield scionwood rusty red fall 3
Roman Stem scionwood bronze-blushed yellow fall 4
St. Edmund’s Russet scionwood russeted yellow early fall 4
St. Lawrence scionwood red-striped early fall 3
Sweet Sixteen scionwood bronze-red fall 3
Twenty Ounce scionwood red-striped fall 4
Wealthy scionwood red-striped fall 3
Westfield Seek-No-Further scionwood rusty red-striped fall 4
Wickson scionwood bright red fall 4
Windham Russet scionwood russeted brown late fall 4
Wolf River scionwood red fall 3
Additional Information

Scionwood

Scions are twigs, not trees. They have no roots and will not grow if you plant them. They are cuttings from dormant branch tips, intended for spring grafting.

We do our best to provide ¼" caliper stock. Because of factors beyond our control (such as weather!) stock may be 3⁄16–3⁄8".

We sell scionwood in two ways:

  • By the stick: One 12" stick can graft 4-6 trees.
  • By the foot: Minimum order of 10 feet per variety. For orchardists grafting large numbers of trees of a particular variety. In our own nursery work, we are usually able to graft 6-8 trees from one foot of scionwood.

You can graft right away or store scionwood for later use. It will keep quite well for several weeks stored in sealed ziplock bags in the refrigerator.

For more info:
About Scionwood

Apples

Choosing the Right Apple

Not sure where to start? Check out our Apple Chart!

Choosing a variety: Not every variety may be right for you. All-purpose apples are just that—they’re good for a bunch of jobs. If you're planting just one tree, perhaps start there. However, if you’re a history buff, consider the historical varieties and maybe plant one that originated nearby. If you don’t eat many apples but love pies, go for the pie apples. If you’re a dessert connoisseur, skip all the others and go for the highly flavored dessert varieties. Some are strictly for cider. Some are great to put out at the camp for summer use. Some are perfect for those who want fall fruit but don’t have a root cellar. Others keep all winter and into the following summer.

  • Summer apples ripen in summer, are generally crisp only for a short period, do not store well, and are often best for cooking.
  • Fall apples store longer and are useful for a wide variety of purposes.
  • Winter apples ripen mid to late fall, store well, and reach their best flavor after weeks, or even months, of storage.
  • Dessert apples are delicious eaten raw.
  • Crabapples are less than 2" in diameter. Some crabs bear edible or culinary or cider-making fruit. Some have persistent wildlife fruit that hangs on the tree for weeks or even months. Others have hardly any fruit at all. Some are beautiful ornamentals.
  • Cider apples are especially suited to making fermented “hard” cider. Some cider apples are also good dessert fruit, but most are not.
  • Subacid means tart!
  • Russet or russeting is a skin texture (fairly common on apple varieties and on a few pears and potatoes) which looks and feels somewhat like suede.
  • Bloom is a naturally occurring dust-like yeast film on the skin of some varieties of apples, plums, grapes and blueberries.

Cider Apples

Each year we offer a different assortment of the best European and American cider varieties, including new wild apple introductions from local fruit explorers and cidermakers. Many of these are NOT for fresh eating. They do however possess qualities that make them very desirable for fermented cider production.

Seedling Apples

These trees were grown from seeds, rather than grafted onto rootstock like the other apple varieties we offer. These standard-sized trees will grow to 20–30'.

Flowering and Culinary Crabapples

A crabapple is any apple with fruit smaller than 2" in diameter. All crabs bear edible fruit, some more favorable for culinary use than others. Some fruits are persistent, hanging on the branch through winter and providing forage for robins, jays and waxwings in the early spring. The flowers, tree form and even the shape of the leaves can vary subtly or profoundly. Most are magnificent in bloom and ornamental year round, especially in winter when the leaves drop and the trees show off their interesting forms.

Growing Apples

  • Soil: Adaptable, but prefers well-drained fertile soil.
  • Sun: Full.
  • Pollination: Requires a second variety for pollination. Any apple or crabapple blooming within a quarter mile will probably do.
  • Planting and Pruning: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting, pruning, and pest control.
  • Spacing:
    • For trees on Malus domestica (standard) and Bud 118 rootstock, 20–25' apart.
    • M111 semi-dwarf, 15–20' apart.
    • G890 semi-dwarf, 10–15' apart.
    • Bud 9 dwarf, 5–10' apart.

Shipping

Orders for scionwood placed after February 20 will ship around late April through mid-May, in the order in which they were received. Sorry, we cannot expedite these orders.