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Late-season eating apples

Apple varieties that ripen late in the season, and are usually good for keeping as well as eating straight away.

  • Adams Pearmain

    Adams Pearmain apple trees
    Adams' Pearmain is a popular Victorian-era English apple with a distinctive 'pearmain' shape.
    £56.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Ashmead's Kernel

    Ashmead's Kernel apple trees
    A versatile English 17th century russet apple, Ashmead's Kernel is noted for its distinctive pear-like flavour.
    £56.50 - £61.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Ballerina Samba®

    One of the best-flavoured Ballerina minarette-type apple varieties.
    £60.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Braeburn

    Braeburn apple trees
    Braeburn is one of the best-flavoured supermarket apple varieties.
    £56.50 - £60.50buy
    • Picking season: Very late
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4

  • Bright Future

    Bright Future apple trees
    An excellent late-season English apple with a very good sweet/sharp flavour and crisp hard flesh.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Chivers Delight

    Chivers Delight apple trees
    Chivers Delight is an under-rated Cox-style apple from Cambridgeshire. Crisp and sweet.
    £56.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4

  • Christmas Pippin®

    Christmas Pippin apple trees
    Christmas Pippin is a new high-yielding Cox-style apple, discovered as a chance seedling tree.
    £57.75 - £63.00buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Core BlimeyTM

    Core Blimey is a red Cox-style eating apple, suitable for most areas of the UK.
    £57.75buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Cornish Aromatic

    Cornish Aromatic apple trees
    An attractive late-season apple from Cornwall, with a good aromatic flavour.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 2

  • Cornish Gilliflower

    Cornish Gilliflower apple trees
    Cornish Gilliflower is a popular English eating apple with an excellent sweet aromatic flavour.
    • Picking season: Very late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4

  • Court Pendu Plat

    Court Pendu Plat apple trees
    Court Pendu Plant is a traditional French apple with an aromatic pear-drop flavour.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 6

  • Eden®

    Eden apple trees
    A new dual-purpose apple which has a naturally non-browning flesh, ideal for salads and fresh apple juice.
    £57.75 - £63.00buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 2

  • Egremont Russet

    Egremont Russet apple trees
    Egremont Russet is the most popular English russet variety, and a good apple tree for the garden.
    £56.50 - £61.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 2
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Fiesta

    Fiesta apple trees
    Fiesta (or Red Pippin) is one of the best Cox-style apples, easy to grow, with a good aromatic flavour.
    £56.50 - £60.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Golden Delicious

    Golden Delicious apple trees
    The flavour of home-grown Golden Delicious is far better than its supermarket reputation.
    £56.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4
    • Awards: RHS AGM (former)

  • Granny Smith

    Granny Smith apple trees
    Granny Smith is the world-famous green apple from Australia, a good choice for warmer apple-growing regions.
    £56.50buy
    • Picking season: Very late
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Herefordshire Russet

    Herefordshire Russet apple trees
    Herefordshire Russet is a modern russet apple variety, with an excellent strong Cox-like flavour.
    £56.50 - £61.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Honeycrisp

    Honeycrisp apple trees
    Honeycrisp is an American cold-hardy disease-resistant apple - it shows just how good modern apples have become.
    £56.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4

  • Jonagold

    Jonagold apple trees
    Jonagold is a high quality American apple, with a good balanced sweet/sharp flavor.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Jupiter

    Jupiter apple trees
    Jupiter is a popular Cox-style apple with a slightly stronger flavour.
    £60.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Kidd's Orange Red

    Kidd's Orange Red apple trees
    Kidd's Orange Red is one of the best Cox-style apples, aromatic, sweet, and easy to grow.
    £56.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • King of the Pippins

    King of the Pippins apple trees
    A popular and versatile dual-purpose apple, widely grown in the Victorian era.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • King's Acre Pippin

    King's Acre Pippin apple trees
    A traditional late-season English apple with a robust flavour.
    • Picking season: Very late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4

  • Laxton's Superb

    Laxton's Superb apple trees
    Laxton's Superb is a deservedly popular English late-season dessert apple from the Victorian era.
    £56.50 - £61.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4

  • Little PaxTM

    Little Pax apple trees
    A new English apple variety, recently discovered on the Isle of Wight - but its appearance and flavour hark back to the Victorian era.
    £57.75 - £63.00buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Melrose

    Melrose apple trees
    Melrose is a well-regarded American apple, with a pleasant sweet flavour.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Norfolk Royal Russet

    Norfolk Royal Russet apple trees
    Norfolk Royal Russet is a glorious golden-russet apple which tastes as good as it looks.
    • Picking season: Mid
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Orleans Reinette

    Orleans Reinette apple trees
    Orleans Reinette is a traditional French apple variety, and remains popular for its old-fashioned flavour.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4

  • Pitmaston Pine Apple

    Pitmaston Pine Apple apple trees
    A small English 18th century apple with a distinctive fruity pineapple-like flavour.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4

  • Pixie

    Pixie apple trees
    Pixie produces lots of small Cox-style apples, easy to grow and keep well.
    £56.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Queen of the RealmTM

    Queen of the Realm apple trees
    A new apple variety, released in 2022 to celebrate the Queen's platinum jubilee.
    £58.25buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Red Falstaff®

    Red Falstaff apple trees
    Red Falstaff is one of the best garden apple trees, heavy crops, easy to grow, and very juicy.
    £57.00 - £62.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Ribston Pippin

    Ribston Pippin apple trees
    A handsome English apple from the 18th century.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Rosemary Russet

    Rosemary Russet apple trees
    A classic English russet apple with excellent flavours, but not as well known as its Victorian contemporaries.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Spartan

    Spartan apple trees
    Spartan produces lots of crimson maroon apples, crunchy, sweet, easy to grow, delicate "vinous" flavour.
    £56.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Sunset

    Sunset apple trees
    Sunset is a popular garden alternative to Cox, easier to grow, with a sweet aromatic flavour.
    £56.50 - £60.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • Topaz

    Topaz apple trees
    A modern and reliable disease-resistant variety with a sharp flavour.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3
    • Awards: RHS AGM (current)

  • William Crump

    William Crump apple trees
    A little-known high quality English apple, related to Cox and Worcester Pearmain.
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

  • Winter Gem

    Winter Gem apple trees
    Winter Gem is a late-season apple variety with a very good aromatic flavour.
    £56.50 - £60.50buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 3

How to choose Late-season eating apples

Towards the end of September and into October we see late-season apple varieties beginning to ripen. Their longer ripening period typically means these varieties have the most interesting flavours.

Unlike mid and early season apples which are generally best eaten straight from the tree, many late-season varieties need to be stored in a fridge for a few weeks to mature before their flavours are at their peak. So if you want to be able to eat home-grown apples through the winter then late-season varieties are your best choice.

Some of the most famous English apple varieties fall into this category - including the classic Adams Pearmain, and the ancient Ashmead's Kernel with its peardrop flavours. We also find popular modern varieties such as Spartan, Red Falstaff, Fiesta, and Kidd's Orange Red all coming to perfection at this time of year.