Christmas Pippin®
Christmas Pippin is a new Cox-style apple variety introduced in 2011. Unusually for a modern apple variety, it is a genuine "pippin" apple, raised from seed and of unknown parentage.
Christmas Pippin is a very "more-ish" apple, with a definite apple flavour, juicy melting flesh and a thin skin - and it tastes exactly like an apple should. The flavour is essentially sweet, but with some sharpness too. It is bound to be popular with fans of Cox's Orange Pippin or similar varieties - and it is much easier to grow.
Christmas Pippin apple trees for sale
RF12-year bare-root
tree
on M9 rootstock£43.00
Mature height: 2m-3.5m after 10 years
Suitable for growing a small bush-trained dwarf apple tree, will need a permanent stake.
Available next season
RF22-year bare-root
tree
on M26 rootstock£43.00
Mature height: 2m-3.5m after 10 years
Suitable for a medium bush-trained semi-dwarf apple tree.
Available next season
RF31-year bare-root
tree
on MM106 rootstock£34.95
Mature height: 3m-5m after 10 years
Can be trained on as a large free-standing apple tree, a half-standard apple tree, a large apple fan or espalier, or a pleached apple tree.
Available next season
RF42-year bare-root
tree
on MM106 rootstock£43.00
Mature height: 3m-5m after 10 years
Suitable for a large bush-trained free-standing apple tree.
Available next season
Growing and Training
Christmas Pippin is easy to grow, with better yields than Cox's Orange Pippin. It can be pollinated by most other apple varieties.
Recommended pollinators for Christmas Pippin apple trees
Christmas Pippin is not self-fertile, so you will need another different but compatible variety planted nearby in order to produce fruit.
The following varieties are good pollinators for Christmas Pippin.
If you are not sure about pollination requirements don't hesitate to ask us.
EveresteEvereste is one of the most well-known crab-apples, featuring white blossom and red-yellow fruits.
FiestaFiesta (or Red Pippin) is one of the best Cox-style apples, easy to grow, with a good aromatic flavour.
GorgeousMalus Gorgeous has pink/white blossom and spherical cherry-like red fruits which are good for jelly.
GreensleevesGreensleeves is a reliable and popular mid-season green/yellow apple, easy to grow and productive.
KatyKaty is an attractive and versatile early apple variety from Sweden, very easy to grow.
Red DevilRed Devil is a good apple variety for the UK garden, and produces a sweet red-tinted juice.
Red FalstaffRed Falstaff is one of the best garden apple trees, heavy crops, easy to grow, and very juicy.
SaturnAn attractive modern English apple, crisp flesh and an excellent flavour.
History
Christmas Pippin is a modern variety, first introduced in 2011, so you might expect it to be the result of a major university-led apple breeding programme. In fact the original tree was discovered growing beside a road near an orchard in Somerset, so it is a genuine seedling or "pippin" variety, perhaps from a motorist's discarded apple core. The parentage is unknown, but there is clearly an influence from Cox's Orange Pippin in its ancestry. The leaf shape has some resemblance to Gala (which itself is distantly related to Cox's Orange Pippin).
Christmas Pippin characteristics
- Gardening skillBeginner
- Fruit persistenceRipens over a period
- Self-fertile?Not self-fertile
- Pollinating othersAverage
- Pick seasonLate
- Picking periodearly October
- Keeping1-2 months
- Food usesEating fresh
- Country of originUnited Kingdom
- Period of origin2000
- Fruit colourOrange flush
You might also like these varieties
BraeburnBraeburn is one of the best-flavoured supermarket apple varieties.
Chivers DelightChivers Delight is an under-rated Cox-style apple from Cambridgeshire. Crisp and sweet.
PixiePixie produces lots of small Cox-style apples, easy to grow and keep well.
SaturnAn attractive modern English apple, crisp flesh and an excellent flavour.
More about apple trees
Apples are very versatile, and all varieties can be eaten or used in the kitchen. However varieties specifically grown as eating apples tend to have the best flavours for eating raw.
The main thing to decide when choosing an eating apple is when you intend to eat the apples. Early season apples are typically ready in August, and generally don't keep very long. Mid-season apples are ripe in early September, while late-season apples start to become ripe in late September and October. Many of the late-season varieties can also be stored in a fridge or cold shed for several months into the winter.
Some apple varieties are self-fertile, but most are not. However in most areas of the UK you do not need to worry whether your apple trees are self-fertile or not, as there will be other apple trees in nearby gardens to help with pollination.
