BAMBINELLA PEAR
Bambinella pears originate from the island of Malta, where they have been grown for thousands of years. While they are not very well-known here, they are one of the most sought after pears in the U.K. for their sweet and crunchy taste and diminutive size. Those at Grobe's this year originated from a chance meeting at Canada Blooms between our grower and an avid fruit tree enthusiast named John Attard who resides in Mississauga. After seeing the images of the gentleman's now established tree laden with delicious small mini pears (about 1/2 the size of a regular pear) it was decided to collect cuttings, bud them on root stocks and give them a go. Grobe's is fortunate to have some of the very first of these trees available in Ontario for sale this year. The fall tour found these young trees in the field with a few fruit upon them.. and they are DELICIOUS! They will grow to small trees of about 15 feet tall by the same wide in full sun. Bartlett and Clapp's Favourite will pollinate these trees.
KIEFFER PEAR
You likely have never heard of this pear - so here's what makes it special. It originated on the farm of Peter Kieffer in colonial Philadelphia (so it could be considered and 'heirloom' pear) and it is said to have been an accidental cross between a European and an Oriental pear. A fast-growing tree, it produces a heavy crop of large, tasty fruit that are sweet, crisp and juicy - making it excellent for fresh eating, canning, preserves, and baking. Best of all, this tree is self-fertile (only one tree is required) AND fortunately it is also on a dwarf root stock. This makes it perfect for the person wanting pears in a small space. Ripens mid-September to mid- October.
COLUMNAR APPLES
SCARLET SENTINEL APPLE
These naturally dwarf, hardy, disease resistant columnar trees (only 8-12 ft. tall at maturity) are covered with white blossoms followed by lots of large, juicy, sweet, greenish-red apples with a red blush and crisp, sweet, white flesh produced on short spurs along the trunk. Good for eating and baking, it is an ideal choice for small gardens and large patio pots. Plant with Golden Sentinel for pollination. Fruit ripens in mid-late Sept.
GOLDEN SENTINEL APPLE
These naturally dwarf, hardy and disease resistant, columnar trees (only 8-12 ft. tall at maturity) become a pillar of white blossoms followed by large juicy, sweet golden yellow apples produced on short spurs along the tree trunk. Ideal for fresh eating, baking and cider, this is an excellent choice for small gardens and large patio pots. Plant with Scarlet Red Sentinel for pollination. Fruit ripens in mid-Sept.
BLUSHING DELIGHT URBAN APPLE
Blushing Delight is from a series of columnar trees bred in Czechoslovakia that produce their fruit on spurs along the main stem. It has green fruit with a red blush over it, and the fruit that sweetly flavoured. They have been bred for disease resistance, flavour, and ease of growing in small spaces, and they have a narrow upright habit. While best in our climate planted into the ground, it's possible that with insulated containers they may survive planted in them through the winter (plant at your own risk). They grow to about 8' tall by 2' wide. Like other apples, you will need two different urban apples for cross pollination.
TASTY RED URBAN APPLE
Tasty Red is from a series of columnar trees bred in Czechoslovakia that produce their fruit on spurs along the main stem. It has bright red fruit that is juicy and sweet. They have been bred for disease resistance, flavour, and ease of growing in small spaces, and they have a narrow upright habit. While best in our climate planted into the ground, it's possible that with insulated containers they may survive planted in them through the winter (plant at your own risk). They grow to about 8' tall by 2' wide. Like other apples, you will need two different urban apples for cross pollination.
GOLDEN TREAT URBAN APPLE
Golden Treat is from a series of columnar trees bred in Czechoslovakia that produce their fruit on spurs along the main stem. It has beautiful golden fruit with a lovely sweet flavour. They have been bred for disease resistance, flavour, and ease of growing in small spaces, and they have a narrow upright habit. While best in our climate planted into the ground, it's possible that with insulated containers they may survive planted in them through the winter (plant at your own risk). They grow to about 8' tall by 2' wide. Like other apples, you will need two different urban apples for cross pollination.
In addition to our feature apple trees shown above, Grobe's offers a number of very hardy apple trees that are great for fresh eating or baking. Varieties available on site for 2024 include semi-dwarf Ambrosia, CrimsonCrisp, Honeycrisp, Royal Red Honeycrisp, Royal Court, McIntosh, Rising Sun Fuji, Smoothee Golden Delicious and Northern Spy on semi-dwarf rootstock (Malling 106 or 7). There are also a limited number of Honeycrisp and Red Delicious apples on dwarf root stock (Malling 26).
Some of these tree varieties may not be familar to you - here's a primer on the very newest:
Royal Court® - a limb sport of an original Cortland cultivar. Jacob Hartenhof discovered the apple variety in Nova Scotia. The apple has a solid blush color. The fruit tends to ripen in early October. Royal Court® apple tree is considered the superior of all the Cortland strains.
Royal Red Honeycrisp - Similar to it’s parent, the famous Honeycrisp Apple, the Royal Red Honeycrisp (RRHC) is more uniformly red, sweeter and has better storage capacity than the original.
Rising Sun Fuji® - another apple tree discovered as a limb sport by Chuck Gilmer of Augusta, Michigan. This is an early ripening Fuji apple with a beautiful, brighter color and smoother finish than other early Fuji’s. It is mildly sweet with a great crunch that consumers love. Ripens in October.
Ambrosia - while perhaps not as rare as those preceding, Ambrosia apples are a Canadian bred success story, and one of the most popular of the sweet apples. It has a distinct honeyed and slightly perfumed flavour. The skin is smooth, with a bright, almost iridescent pink blush over a creamy background. The flesh is tender and juicy, with a very fine, crisp texture.
Crimson Crisp - Deep crimson skin covers sweet, crisp, subacid yellow flesh. Tree is upright with a round canopy. Disease-resistant to apple scab. Ripens early to mid-September.
For those fruit tree lovers with limited space, Grobe's offers a varied selection of grafted multiple varieties on one fruit trees. Each individual grafted branch is a different variety of the same fruit, ensuring cross pollination on a single tree. Available for 2023 are Combo Apples, Combo Pears,and a limited number of Combo Plums, Combo Cherries, Combo Asian Pears and Combo Espalier Apples.
Sweet luscious summer pears are easy with these hardy pear varieties. Pear varieties available for 2024 include Bosc, Bartlett, Flemish Beauty, Red Bartlett and Summercrisp. Pears like Bartlett and Flemish Beauty are excellent pollinators for the others. There are also a limited number of Dwarf Pears such as Bartlett and Kieffer , as well as Bambinella Blush Maltese Pears and Combo Asian Pears.
Grobe's offers a number of tasty sweet and sour cherry varieties. Provincial shortages of sweet cherry varieties continue, but some that are still available in limited quantity for 2024 are standard Stella Cherryand sour cherry Montmorency. 'Prairie Cherry' or Saskatchewan Cherry varieties mentioned above are 'technically' a 'tart' cherry, but they have a higher Brix rating (sweetness) which makes it much more desireable to eat fresh. They grow generally more 'bush' like in form. To meet the demand for smaller growing trees, there are also a limited number of Bing, Stella, Lapins and Vandalaydwarf cherries as well as Meteordwarf sour cherry varieties for 2024. Sweet cherry trees are not well suited to soils that do not percolate moisture away from the root zone, nor are they cold hardy for all locations.
Saskatchewan Dwarf Cherry
These are super winter hardy Saskatchewan-bred sweet/sour cherries in bush form grow to 7' tall. Juliette, Romeo and Valentine offer an amazing taste experience as they have as much sugar content as a sweet cherry, but with the refreshing zip of a tart one. (It's been likened to 'sour cherry' candies). Excellent for eating, or for baking.
Grobe's offers European and Japanese plums for home gardeners. For best fruit pollination, European types should be crossed with other European, and Japanese with Japanese. In addition to the Combo Plums mentioned elsewhere, the available European varieties for 2024 are Mount Royale, Dwarf Italian and Dwarf Yellow Egg. Available Japanese varieties include Early Golden and Santa Rosa. Plums are not suited for rural or northwind exposed planting locations, do not tolerate heavy soils, and are not warrantied if inappropriately sited.
Grobe's offers a varied selection of delicious peach trees in both freestone and clingstone. Varieties for 2024 include Coral Star, Redhaven, Redstar, and Reliance. All peach trees are container grown trees that are self-fertile. Peaches are not suited for rural or northwind exposed planting locations, do not tolerate heavy soils, and are not warrantied if inappropriately sited.
Harovin Nova and Harovin Rouge are vigorous, productive trees that bear freestone, attractive, medium to large sized sweet tasting fruit. The fruit softens quickly near maturity, yet it still carries a good level of resistance to bacterial spot, brown rot and powdery mildew. Self-fruitful, they ripen in late August. Nectarines are not suited for rural or northwind exposed planting locations, do not tolerate heavy soils, and are not warrantied if inappropriately sited.
