Northwest Greening

Fruit Description

Size: Large to very large.

Shape: Round, round-conic, often irregular or ribbed.

Skin: Pale green to yellow green, occasionally flushed, some russeted dots or white dots.

Stalk (stem) and Cavity: Stem reportedly short, but in Montana specimens long and slender also.  Cavity russetted, acute or acuminate deep.

Basin: Abrupt, wrinkled.

Calyx (Eye): Small, open or closed.

Core (Vertical): Calyx tube conical, sometimes urn or funnel shaped, wide.  Carpels round, broad, sometimes mucronate.  Stamens median.  Core median to sessile.  Core lines meeting sometimes clasping.

Carpels and Axial Sac (Transverse): Axile closed or partially open. Axial sac medium to large.  Carpels medium to wide, convex to point.

Seeds: Small to medium, inconsistent shape.

Flesh: Yellow, firm, crisp, juicy.

Flavor: Subacid, delicate aroma.

Additional Notes

Synonyms: Nortwestern Greening, Nor-Western Greening, North West Greening

First Recorded: Introduced commerically in 1872, planted by seed in 1849

Origin: Waupaca County, WI

Bloom time:  Mid to late

Harvest: Late

Use: Culinary, ok for eating

Storage: Long, may last into spring when properly stored.

Disease: Modertate resistence to fire blight, scab, some susceptibility to juniper apple rust

Tree: Moderately vigorous, extremely cold hardy, upright-spreading.  Large terminal buds and numerous lenticels on twigs. Slow to bear.

Parentage: Alexander x Golden Russet

Frequency in Montana Orchards based on DNA testing: Low, primarily east of the divide

Look alikes: Patten's Greening

History

Known to be one of the most cold hardy American cultivars, Northwest Greening was first planted by seed in 1849 by Jasen J. Hatch of Iola, Waupaca County, WI.  It was later propagated commercially by E.W. Daniels who officially introduced it in 1972.  By 1900 it was presumably being grown in Montana for commercial purposes as it was listed as one of the hardiest apples in Ravalli County and among a list of cultivars inspected in the First District which included Dawson, Carbon, Custer, Park, Yellowstone, Sweet Grass, and Rosebud Counties in 1901.

 

Noted by Hedrick in Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits as "mediocre in quality," but due to its hardiness and storage ability it became an important apple in Wisconsin and Minnesota fruit production.  Despite this quality, a bushel won first prize at the Chicago World's Fair in 1913.  The same year it was recommended as a cultivar for growers in Lincoln County, MT.

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