Howgate Wonder Apple Trees

Howgate Wonder Apple Trees: Cooking, Juicing, Eating

The Howgate wonder is a large apple, red streaked over a ground of yellow/green in that properly old-fashioned fairy tale look. Gorgeous pink and white blossom in May.
The cream-coloured flesh has a crisp crunch, that bridges the gap between cooker and eater when fully ripe.

Mainly used as a cooker, it rivals the famous Bramley by keeping its shape when cooked, a bonus for apple tarts. The juice is refreshing and works well when mixed with another, sweeter apple.

Even in less than perfect conditions, it will perform well producing a generous crop of large apples. 

Browse our range of apple trees, or all our fruit trees.
Read our guide to buying apples.

Delivery season: Bareroot plants are delivered in late Autumn to Spring, about November-March inclusive. Pot grown plants, year round. 

Features:

• Colour: red/green
• Use: cooking, cider, eating
• Holds its shape baked
• Spur bearer (good for cordons & espaliers)
• Pollination: Self fertile, group D
• Picking: October.
• Storage: Until February
• Apple colour: Red/Green
• Suitable for Scotland
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Howgate Wonder Apples

Apples like rich, well drained soil, and will thrive on clay in locations that do not get waterlogged in winter.
A full day of sun and shelter from the wind is ideal.

Disease Notes:
Good disease resistance

Rootstocks:
We use MM106 for Howgate Wonder, the UK standard for medium-sized trees, ideal for gardeners. It gives a half-standard about 4m tall, and a bush about 3m. 
MM106 maidens are suitable for cordons and espaliers.

The vintage look of the slightly streaky red and green apple, the blossom in spring, and a summer flowering rambler rose like Albertine or Felicite Perpetue make Howgate Wonder a decorative feature for three seasons of the year.

Pollination Partners

Your trees are self fertile, making decent crops without a pollination partner, but still perform best with one.
Howgate Wonder is in Pollination Group D, which cross-pollinates with other apple trees in Groups C, D, and E.

Use our Fruit Pollination Checker to quickly find pollination partners, or Apple Pollination Guide to learn more.

Notes on planting apple trees:
All fruit trees like a rich soil with decent drainage, protection from the wind and plenty of sun. Apple trees like clay soil, as long as it is not prone to bad waterlogging.

Prepare your site before planting:
Improving the soil helps trees establish quickly and be productive for years. Preparing weeks or months in advance gives best results: fill the planting hole back up, don't leave it open to either dry out or fill with water.
Do not plant less than 30cm from a wall.

• Destroy weeds and grass,
• Dig the soil over in a square of at least 1 metre, remove stones, then mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades, unless you are on heavy clay:
• On thick clay soil, only dig over the soil to break it up. Apply organic matter as a mulch over the soil after planting.

Soak the tree roots in water for about an hour before planting.

Spacing apple trees:

• Freestanding bushes: 15-18 feet (5-6m) between trees and rows.
• Freestanding half-standards: 18-30 feet (6-10m) between trees and rows.

In general, allow 1 more metre between rows than between trees along the row.

• Wire-trained cordons: 60-100cm apart along a row.
• Espaliers: 10-18 feet (3.5-6m) apart.

• Watch how to plant a fruit tree for a bush or half-standard.
• To grow a cordon or espalier, you need to install sturdy training wires.

Water well after planting, mulch the dug over area, and water weekly through the first summer. 

Pruning apple trees: 

• Maidens can be pruned in any style, including into bushes or half-standards.
• Bushes - start here when you buy a bush.
• Half-standards - start here when you buy a half-standard.

Accessories:
For bush and half standard apple trees, a tree planting pack, which includes a wooden support stake & rubber tie (a bamboo cane is enough support for a maiden), and a biodegradable mulch mat, with pegs, to preserve soil moisture stops and prevent weeds.

We strongly recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of all transplanted trees.

Winter wash and greasebands are effective, organic pest prevention.

Did You Know?

Howgate Wonder is a cross between the large varieties Blenheim Orange and Newton Wonder, bred by Mr Wratton at Howgate Lane in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight during the first world war in 1915; it was awarded an RHS AGM in 1929.
It holds the British apple record at 3lbs 11oz, or 1672g.

Apple Tree Delivery Shapes:

Most of our fruit trees are delivered in up to 3 shapes (maiden, bush, and half standard), and you can buy selected varieties as ready-made cordons and/or potted mini patio trees: scroll up to see what's in stock. 

Maiden: Unbranched tree, the most basic starting size, which you can train into the other forms (apart from mini patio trees).
Bush: Freestanding tree with a short trunk about 60cm tall. It will grow to about 3m. Ideal for small gardens.
Half-Standard: A freestanding form with a trunk about 120cm tall. It will grow into a full sized, "normal" apple tree, about 4m. Ideal for orchards, easy to mow underneath.

Cordon: Howgate Wonder is a spur-bearer, suitable for cordons and espaliers.
Mini Patio Tree: Only sold pot-grown, these use a dwarfing rootstock to drastically reduce the tree's vigour and restrict the mature size. They are suitable for large patio containers, and for small gardens where a normal-sized bush or half-standard form won't fit.

Guide to Fruit Tree Sizing.