PACKINGTON SUMMERLING We were informed of this old apple variety by Jeremy Winter who knew of a tree with this name at Swepstone. Packington (just over a mile from Swepstone) is a village close to Ashby de La Zouch, in North-West Leicestershire. His information came to his mother from a farmer’s wife, now deceased, called Mrs Carter of Carters Farm, Swepstone. The tree is growing on an adjacent farm behind the church at Swepstone, owned by Mrs Brenda Sumner of Manor Farm. She was unaware of its name. Jeremy Winter asked permission to take scions and sent some to us. Coincidentally, Brenda Sumner said she had a very old tree in a small orchard at the rear of her house and she recalled her grandfather telling her that it had been planted by his father and that it was called a Sumner Imperial, a cooking apple which keeps well. Jeremy also sent us scions of this and we now have trees. A happy chance finding of yet another old apple. We presume that Packington Summerling is an early season apple, but we have yet to see fully formed fruit and can not describe it as we would wish. We include it because it is a named old local variety. Pollination Group 6
  
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

PADLEY’S PIPPIN Raised about 1810 by Mr Padley, gardener to George III at Hampton Court, Surrey. The apple was last officially recorded when exhibited in 1889 and has since disappeared in Britain. We located it in the USDA collection at Cornell University, who received it from the RHS in 1952. The flesh is greenish yellow, crisp and aromatic. It is a sweet, rich, excellent dessert apple, though small. Trees are also small. Best in November, keeps till January. Unusual apricot blossom. Pollination Group 6
 
 
 
 
 

 

  

PAIGNTON MARIGOLD An old Devon cider and dessert apple, but without recorded history before 1934, when it was exhibited at the Apple and Pear Conference at Wisley. A very colourful, medium to large apple, used as a cider bittersweet but also a good dessert apple when the mild tannin disappears at full ripeness in September. The apples will last until the year end but tend to lose their flavour in November. Pollination Group 4

    
 

PAINTED SUMMER PIPPIN One of a number of old apples in the former kitchen garden of Lodge Farm at Wotton Estate. Medium sized fruit; flattish, round, often asymmetrical, and with a hint of ribbing. The shallow eye basin is slightly puckered, with a closed eye. The stalk is stout and short. It is a very early apple, ripe in mid to late July and of dual purpose - a refreshing eater, but best as a cooker, even though small. A quite beautiful apple with translucent skin of bright green, specked, flecked, splashed and streaked with amber and bright red, more green in the shade, more red in the sun, all broken up with bright green spots. Initially it is very crisp, softening within a few days. When cooked it keeps its shape and is ideal for tarts and puddings, and ready very early in the season. The name was given by us. It is likely to be an old, known and respected named variety, now anonymous. The tree (now gone) was about 100 years old in 1998, the variety could be much older. All the many old fruit trees in the walled garden, once part of Wotton House grounds, made way for a swimming pool and tennis court, enjoyed by former PM, Mr Blair and his wife. Pollination Group 3

    
 
PARKER’S PIPPIN An old apple dating back, probably, to the 18th century. It was received by Diel from England in the early 1800s, and thought to be English in origin. It has considerably more history in Europe than here, but it was included in the supplemental list of Scott in his ‘Orchardist’ of 1872 and might be the ‘Parker’ noted by Barron in 1883, though this might have been made a synonym by the National Apple Register in error. Parker’s Glory Pippin, sent by Scott to Barron in 1883, might be a closer match. We might never know. It is a medium sized late dessert apple, ripe in October and storing to January. The skin is green-yellow and slightly flushed with light brown russet dots. The flesh is fairly crisp, firm and subacid, slightly aromatic and with a rich flavour. Pollination Group 3
    
 
PEACEMAKER Raised by Charles Ross at Welford Park, Newbury, Berkshire, and first recorded with an award of merit in 1913. It was a cross between Houblon and Rival. A flattish, round, medium-sized, pale golden green apple with a broken red flush. It is a mid-season dessert, ripe in September and keeping a few weeks. The flesh is firm rather than crisp, but juicy and with a good flavour. Our thanks to Mary Walters of Oxford for providing scions from her old tree. Pollination Group 4
   
 
PEAR APPLE There have been various ‘pear apples’, dating back to Parkinson in 1629 and Evelyn in 1669. This one is an old variety obtained by John and Helen Hempsall from an old collection at Ranworth Nursery. We are grateful for their sending us scions. A curious, rather than a top quality apple. It is ripe mid-season and lasts to October but soon goes soft and mealy. A pleasant dessert apple if caught in time. It is more likely to have been used as an early cider variety. The narrow and very long apples are yellow skinned, slightly ribbed and often have a ‘waist’ in the middle. It might possibly be the Pear Apple briefly described, in the London Horticultural Society catalogue of 1842, as green, obovate, small, cider, ‘poor or indifferent quality’, season November. The description is credible, if not exact. Dark coloured buds. Pollination Group 3
    
 
PEASGOOD'S NONSUCH Raised from a seed, in 1853, by Mrs Peasgood when she was a child living in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Later she moved the tree to Stamford. A middle season culinary apple, with very large fruit, which cooks to a sweet, delicate purée and makes particularly good baked apples. Once popular for exhibitions, the fruit is quite showy, having greenish-gold skin with an orange flush and broad red stripes. Bunyard and Thomas reported that a single apple can weigh 26 ounces. Trees have a spreading habit. Pollination Group 4
    
 
PEGGY’S PRIDE Another of the apples raised by F.W. Wastie of Eynsham, Oxfordshire, by crossing Allington Pippin with Golden Spire, in 1922. It was first recorded when received by the National Fruit Trials in 1943 and was named by his son, J.F. Wastie, after his own wife. It is a crisp, very juicy, tangy, sweet and fragrant dessert apple, with a hint of attar of roses. Apples are ripe in September and keep into November. The pale golden yellow skin is blushed red and dotted and in sunny and hot years the apples can be largely covered with red. Pollination Group 2
    
 
PHELP’S FAVOURITE Triple purpose, dating from the mid 20th century or earlier and found at Minsterworth by Charles Martell. Medium to large conical fruit with green skin and red streaks and splashes, sometimes fully red. The flesh is crisp and sweet, but a little acid if picked too young. Ripe in October and storing to December. Pollination Group 5
    
 
PIGEON DE JERUSALEM An apple known to be in existence in the late 17th century, though it was often confused in the naming and it is uncertain whether the apple known today is the original. There were and still are many ‘Pigeon’ apples. In 1820 it was listed by Alexander Forbes, gardener at Levens Hall nursery, Kendal as Jerusalem Apple which is a synonym of Pigeon de Jerusalem, but also a synonym of Pigeon. The two are distinguished by Pigeon having a bloom on the skin, which is absent in Pigeon de Jerusalem. The flavour is also different. Hogg, though assuming Pigeon and Pomme de Jerusalem were the same, ascribes the name ‘Jerusalem’ to the observation that the four cells in the core, if cut across, ‘are disposed in the form of a cross’, though he notes it is not a permanent character and can also be three or five cells. The apples are oval to conical, green and finely striped with red, sometimes fully blushed, and with pale flecks. The flesh is crisp, sweet, juicy, rich and aromatic. Ripe in October, the apples will store until the New Year. Pollination Group 4