Orleans Reinette and Wagener apples are great choices for the home orchard.
Both of these pple varieties are heirloom varieties that continue to be popular because they taste great.

Orleans Reinette Apple

This very old apple dates to 1776 or so. It is believed to have originated in France, but no details about its origins are available.

This magnificent apple deserves a place in the home orchard. The plant dislikes cold wet sites. The upright spreading, vigorous tree is hardy and very fruitful.

Orleans Reinette apple is susceptible to disease in cold areas, especially in certain soil types. This spur bearing tree’s fruits tend to ripen late.

This apple is described as the best flavored of the rough skinned Reinette types. The fruits can be stored for long periods. They usually keep well into March or April.

The beautiful apple is large to medium sized. It is rounded and somewhat flat. The skin is greenish-yellow to gold with brown russeting and orange blushes on the sunny side with irregular splashes of red.

The flesh is yellow. It is very juicy and very crisp. The rich nut-like flavor is sweeter than that of Cox’s Orange Pippin apple.

Wagener Apple

Wagener apple tree has been around since 1791. It originated in Penn Yan, New York. The parent apple trees were European varieties although no source seems to say who these were.

The plant was originally grown from seeds. This apple tree is medium sized to large. Free of disease, this plant is very fruitful .

This bears very hard high quality fruits that ripen very late—as late as January to April or so. These can remain hard and green until March or April. Wagener apple is a wonderful dessert apple.

The large to medium sized apple is oblate. The shiny, yellow skin has patches of reddish-pink. The flesh is aromatic and fine grained.

This is juicy and crisp with a lovely carmine to white color with tinges of yellow. Wagener apples have a subacid flavor.