Category: Apple trees
Collections: Easy apple trees, Apple trees suitable for organic culture
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Apple trees

Greensleeves

Greensleeves is the result of an interesting experiment, crossing the crisp sweet flavours of Golden Delicious with the juicy acidity of the famous Scottish apple variety, James Grieve.  The result is a mid-season apple that crops heavily and grows very easily.

The flavour is, as you might expect, simple and straightforward - basically sweet but quite a bit sharper than Golden Delicious.  Even so, since Golden Delicious prefers a warmer climate than is found in much of the UK, Greensleeves can be considered as a reasonable substitute.

As with many varieties that have James Grieve in their parentage, Greensleeves is a notably juicy apple, and useful for juicing and cider.

Fresh fruit for sale of this variety

Greensleeves apple trees for sale (2010/2011 season)

Deliver to mainland UKDelivery to the mainland UK (price includes delivery)

Mature heightSupplied as*Delivery
period		Price
inc. delivery		Quantity
Very small (1.5m - 2m)2-year - 12L container - M27 rootstockSept-April£37.00
Medium (2.2m - 3m)2-year - 12L container - M26 rootstockSept-April£36.00
Large (2.5m - 4.5m)2-year - 12L container - MM106 rootstockSept-April£36.00

Product formats | Bare-root or Container-grown | Delivery | Rootstocks

All prices include delivery. We offer a discount on orders of multiple bare-root trees for delivery at the same time - this will be shown at the checkout.

*Delivery period: Container-grown trees will be delivered from September 2010. Bare-root trees will be delivered from mid-November 2010. You can order now and your items will be reserved for you, but you will not be asked to pay until nearer the time of delivery.



Uses

  • Flavour quality - Average
  • Flavour style - Sweet/Sharp
  • Good for eating fresh
  • Good for juice
  • Picking season - Mid-season
  • Use / keeping - 1 week

Growing

  • Cropping - Heavy
  • Fertility - Partially self-fertile
  • Flowering group - 3
  • Good pollinator
  • Fruit bearing - Spur-bearer
  • Gardening skill - Easy
  • Disease resistance - Good
  • Vigour - Average growth
  • Attractive blossom
  • Attractive fruit

Climate

Pollination partners for Greensleeves

Greensleeves is in flowering group 3. It is partially self-fertile, but a nearby pollination partner is beneficial. The following varieties will pollinate Greensleeves:

Important: advice about pollination


Horticultural characteristics of Greensleeves apple trees

Greensleeves is one of the easiest apple varieties to grow, and is partially self-fertile, and this probably accounts for its steady popularity amongst gardeners.

Greensleeves is also a very good pollinator for other apple varieties because its blossom is unusually long-lasting (a quality it inherits from both Golden Delicious and James Grieve, which are both good pollinators).

Historical details

A cross between Golden Delicious and James Grieve, developed at the famous East Malling Research Station in Kent, UK, in the 1960s.




Example trees as supplied (container-grown only)

This is an illustration of what our products look like as delivered. Please remember that trees are natural products, so this information is for general guidance only. The trees at this stage are 1-2 years old, and will get larger as they grow older, the likely mature heights are indicated in the ordering section above. The trees you receive may differ in some respects from those shown here, for some of the following reasons:

  • Many of these photos were taken in early autumn - trees delivered during winter will not have leaves.
  • There can be a considerable size variation between different varieties of the same species.
  • Some varieties naturally "feather" or produce many side branches at an early age. Others may not feather at all.
  • In some cases we may have to "tip" the tops of trees to fit in our delivery cartons. Please do not be alarmed, as this will be carried out immediately prior to despatch, and is actually good practice when planting a new tree.

For comparison purposes the model in our photos is 5ft 6" / 1m 68cm tall. Click any of the images to view a larger one.




Product photo
2-year pre-trained apple tree in a 12L container on M27 rootstock
Product photo
2-year pre-trained apple tree in a 12L container on M26 rootstock
Product photo
2-year pre-trained apple tree in a 12L container on MM106 rootstock
Product photo
1-year apple tree in a 3L container on M9 rootstock
Product photo
Cordon apple tree in a 12L container on M9 rootstock