SUSSEX SLIP APPLE In 2016, Fiona Denman, a retired District Nurse from West Sussex, but now living in Scotland, told us about this very interesting apple and sent us wood to produce new trees. In the 1960s, Fiona was given three ‘slips’ by a friend at 26A Hillside, Horsham. He had an old tree in his garden (which might still be there) and he would eat an apple with boiled bacon, each morning, for his breakfast. The word ‘slip’ is most commonly used to mean a cutting from a garden plant, to be rooted. This apple is one of those sometimes called a ‘burr knot’ or ‘pitcher’, denoting one of the few apple varieties that will root from cuttings, while most need to be grafted. Such apples were often passed around widely to friends and neighbours. Fiona tells the story “an old woman was wanting to thank someone for a kindness and gave them her stick and said to plant it!” It is a similar tale to that of Mr Bide’s Walking Stick and the variety Burr Knot. Fiona’s father was a respected horticulturist and he also had a Sussex Slip Apple, much earlier, when working at Warnham Court near Horsham, where other old apples were grown in the orchard. This apple might still be there. When Fiona moved to Scotland, 25 years ago, she took her apple tree with her and still enjoys the fruit in her mid 80s. She also told us of a tree of this apple where she once lived at the old Post Office in Broadbridge Heath and probably another at Barton, Cowfold, both in Sussex. Perhaps these trees also still exist. One year, in Scotland, Fiona put some apples aside for storing and forgot about them, only to rediscover them in October the following year. They were still in acceptable condition. This is probably the only record of an apple lasting that long, albeit they were in Scotland. The apples ripen in late October with us. The flesh is fairly dense, fine, cream, not over juicy but enough, crisp to bite, sweet and with a rich slightly floral flavour. The acid is lively but the apples become sweeter with a little storage. It is a perfectly good eating apple, and is also good for cooking, when it softens fairly quickly and keeps its shape. The taste is rich but some will want to add sugar, for a full experience. A very useful apple. Pollination Group 5

SUTTON SUNSET Near Pulborough, in Sussex, is the village of Sutton, where Fiona Wallace rented a house, before moving to Tasmania, she was struck by a rather unusual apple tree in the garden and having enjoyed the fruit greatly during her tenancy she told us about it from her new home in Australia. She told us that the tree flowered deep pink and that the leaves were copper coloured, while the apples were stained deep magenta throughout. We initially thought it was just another seedling of the Russian Crab, Malus Niedzwetskyana, which has red stained wood, deep pink blossom and apples with red flesh. However, her further description marked this tree out as being a bit special. The fruit when young and the size of large marbles already had deep red skin, flesh of deep magenta throughout, but even at this size were quite sweet, which is not typical of Malus Niedzwetskyana progeny, which are sharp, even a little bitter. Later, when the apples of this tree become medium sized they are still sweet and crunchy, good both for eating or cooking. We wrote to the address Fiona gave in the hope that the current owners would respond – and they did. Robert and Avril Southwell were also intrigued by their tree and were very enthusiastic, sending apples and photos. The tree, in the nature of its growth, clearly has a bit of another species of apple in its origin, as well as Niedzwetskyana and the domestic apple, Malus Domestica. The apples which Robert sent in the latter part of September, though not large and the best that were available that year, were very interesting. One was quite red skinned, while others had very broad but vague red stripes, uniformly spaced around, over a translucent pale green. The apples were red fleshed at the core and close to the skin. We found that the flesh could be just a little dry when fully ripe, but were mostly juicy, sweet and with gentle acid. The flavour was rather good for such a strange apple. Avril Southwell named it Sutton Sunset because their tree faces west and they get good sunsets there, illuminating the already warm tones of the tree, as the dying sun passes through. Given the stunning dark pink blossom in Spring, this mysterious tree has a lot to commend it. We are very grateful to Fiona, Robert and Avril for all their help in giving it a wider audience.

SYKEHOUSE RUSSET First described in 1818. Originally from Sykehouse in Yorkshire, though locally it was believed to have been bred from a Portuguese apple planted at Pontefract. Small golden apples, sometimes with patches and streaks of red, with some russet, and crisp, juicy, yellow flesh, sweetly flavoured. A late dessert apple, storing until February. Good crops. Pollination Group 3