Description
Raised in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1853 by Mrs Peasgood, this was described as 'one of the most handsome apples in cultivation' by the RHS Fruit Committee in 1872. Certainly the golden fruit overlaid with bright red stripes are a fine sight in September. When eaten fresh these are brisk and juicy with a strong sweet aroma. Cooks to a sweet delicately flavoured puree, or else makes a fine baked apple. A first-class dual purpose variety with heavy crops of large fruits. Very hardy, but the blossom can suffer from late frost damage so not a good choice for a very cold or exposed site.
"When Mrs Peasgood was a child she raised this now famous Lincolnshire apple from a pip in her Grantham garden some time between 1853—58. When she grew up she took the fruit to the Stamford exhibition, and under the wing of Thomas Laxton, to the Stamford Horticultural Society exhibit at the RHS London Exhibition Of 1872, where it was described by the Fruit Committee as 'One of the most handsome apples in cultivation'. Subsequently introduced by Laxton, it became one of the most popular apples of the 19th century, for exhibition and in gardens, where it is beautiful as well as useful. In the north, it isn't an orchard apple, it dislikes exposure and blossom is sensitive to frost, but it was often grown in trained forms in walled gardens, where it basks in the warmth and shelter; I've restored old cordons in an Edwardian kitchen garden in Perthshire. A beautiful baker, even straight from the tree; it cooks down to a sweet lucent purée of fresh, delicate flavour." © Lin Hawthorne - 'The Northern Pomona'.
For help with choosing the correct rootstock for your needs, please click here A Guide to Rootstocks
For help with choosing the correct size and shape, please click here A Guide to Fruit Tree Shapes
