Apples - Part IV

July 12, 2026

Patricia Hanbidge, Lead Horticulturist, Orchid Horticulture

Key points from this story:

• Last part of four-part series
• Features various apple cultivars
• Includes information on apple characteristics
• Details on storage and cooking uses
• Highlights hardiness zones for each cultivar
• Provided by Lead Horticulturist

This is the last article in a four-part series that is devoted to growing apples. These last cultivars are some of my personal favourites! So read on and enjoy learning more about the apples we grow right here!

'Patterson' was released by Dr. Cecil Patterson of the University of Saskatchewan in 1960. Fruit is 6 cm, greenish yellow with orange blush. It matures in late August. Flesh is white, soft, sweet and slightly acidic. It is good for fresh eating, cooking, drying and juice. Will store well for six weeks. It is heavy yielding and must be thinned to one apple per cluster to avoid biennial bearing. Trees are hardy to zone 2a and resistant to fire blight.

'September Ruby' has 6-7 cm round and slightly flattened apples. Fruit also looks slightly ribbed. The base colour is light green with a bright red overcolour that may be solid or striped. Flesh is greenish-white and moderately acidic. It is good for fresh eating, cooking, and juice, and will store in good condition for up to four months. Trees are semi-dwarf, upright, spreading with good branch habit. It is hardy to zone 2a and moderately susceptible to fire blight.

'Sunnybrook' fruit is 6.5 cm in diameter, round, yellow, striped with red and mature in early September. Flesh has coarse texture, is slightly acid and sweet but susceptible to water core. It is good for cooking and fresh eating and will store for about four weeks.

Late Season Apples - harvested late September to late October

'Collet' is 6-7.5 cm in diameter, round to cone shaped and light green striped with red. Flesh is white, fine textured, crisp, sweet and slightly acidic. It is good for fresh eating and cooking. It will store for 10 weeks. Trees are medium-sized and round to pyramidal in shape. It requires a protected site in zone 3 and 2b.

'Edith Smith' a seedling of 'McIntosh' selected by Leonard Smith of Lucky Lake, Saskatchewan and introduced in 1964. Fruit is 6-7 cm in diameter, yellowish green washed with pale orange-red. The skin is somewhat tough and bitter. Flesh is greenish-white, medium texture, slightly tough and pulpy. It is fair for fresh eating and good for cooking. It will store well for up to three months. Plants are hardy to zone 2b but highly susceptible to fire blight.

'Goodland' fruit is 6-8 cm in diameter, light green washed with red. Flesh is creamy-white, fine textured and slightly acid. It is good for fresh eating and cooking and will store for up to 20 weeks. It is susceptible to chlorosis where soil pH is much higher than 7 and is only reliably hardy to 3a.

'Haralson' was released from the University of Minnesota in 1923. 'Haralson' has been used in much breeding work of hardy apples. Fruit is 6 cm in diameter, round to cone shaped, greenish-yellow almost completely covered with red. Flesh is slightly tough. It is good for cooking and fair for eating. It stores for up to 25 weeks with flavour being enhanced during storage and is only reliably hardy in zone 3a if growing in a protected microclimate.

'Luke' is an apple of unknown parentage that originated with Mr. John Luke of Rosthern, Saskatchewan, and was introduced by the Morden Research Station in 1961. At 9 cm in diameter, 'Luke' is the largest apple that can presently be grown on the prairies. The fruit takes on a barrel shape, has a green undercolour that is mottled and heavily streaked with dark red. It is fair for eating fresh, and good for cooking. It keeps for ten weeks. The tree is large, vigorous and rounded to spreading, but fruit is late to ripen, and may be damaged by frost on all but the longest seasons.