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Simple bare root fruit trees and ornamental trees

Hidden Rose®

Malus domestica
Hidden Rose apples
Hidden Rose is listed in the RHS Plants for Pollinators

Hidden Rose is named for the surprising pink flesh concealed behind the plain green skin.

It is one of the best flavoured of the American red-fleshed apple varieties, and (perhaps no coincidence) also one of the latest ripening. It can be stored for a few months too.

The flowers are a pretty candy-floss pink, similar to pink-blossomed flowering cherries, and the leaves are a conventional green colour. This puts Hidden Rose in the middle of the spectrum which runs from regular mainstream apples with white or light pink blossom, green leaves, and white or cream flesh, to the dark-fleshed crab apples which usually have very dark pink blossom and bronze leaves. 

Hidden Rose apple trees for sale

  • 1-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

Recommended pollinators for Hidden Rose apple trees

Hidden Rose is not self-fertile and is also a poor pollinator of other varieties. Ideally you need two other different but compatible varieties planted nearby in order to produce fruit, or one compatible self-fertile variety. The following varieties are good pollinators for Hidden Rose. If you are not sure about pollination requirements don't hesitate to ask us.

  • Pollinator Red Windsor
    Red Windsor
    Red Windsor is one of the easiest to grow of all dessert apple trees, and with a pleasant apple flavour.
  • Pollinator Egremont Russet
    Egremont Russet
    Egremont Russet is the most popular English russet variety, and a good apple tree for the garden.
  • Pollinator Bountiful
    Bountiful
    Bountiful is an easy-to-grow cooking apple, it retains its shape when cooked, fairly sweet for a cooker.
  • Pollinator Greensleeves
    Greensleeves
    Greensleeves is a reliable and popular mid-season green/yellow apple, easy to grow and productive.
  • Pollinator Bardsey
    Bardsey
    A hardy disease-resistant apple, discovered growing on an island off the west coast of Wales.
  • Pollinator Stirling Castle
    Stirling Castle
    A traditional Scottish cooker from the Victorian era, with a good sharp flavour.
  • Red Sentinel
    Malus Red Sentinel has classic white blossom and a profusion of tiny scarlet persistent fruits.
  • Pollinator Keswick Codlin
    Keswick Codlin
    Keswick Codlin is a popular early-season cooking apple, easy to grow, and productive in most climates.

History

Hidden Rose was named in 2001, but was discovered in the 1960s growing as a seedling tree near Airlie in Oregon, USA. It is still widely known by its original name - Airlie Red Flesh.


Hidden Rose characteristics

  • Gardening skillAverage
  • Fruit persistenceNormal ripening
  • Self-fertile?Not self-fertile
  • Pollinating othersPoor
  • Pick seasonVery late
  • Picking monthOctober
  • Picking periodlate Octoberearly November
  • Keeping1-2 months
  • Food usesCulinaryJuice
  • Country of originUnited States
  • Period of origin1950 - 1999
  • Fruit colourGreen - light

You might also like these varieties

  • See also Rosette
    Rosette
    Probably the best-flavoured of the pink-fleshed apple varieties, and produces lovely pink juice.
  • See also Surprize
    Surprize
    An unusual new apple variety with a unique combination of orange skin and pink flesh.
  • See also Tickled Pink
    Tickled Pink
    A new red-fleshed apple variety, with attractive crimson blossom, also known as Baya® Marisa.

More about apple trees

We've all grown up with Bramley cookng apples so we take it for granted that cooking apples are different to eating apples, but, surprisingly, the UK is one of the few countries that makes such a distinction between apples for cooking and apples for eating fresh.

The main qualtities of a good "cooker" are size - the bigger the better - and acidity. Counter-intuitively, it is the acid which gives cooking apples their flavour. In contrast the flavour of sweet dessert apples collapses with cooking.

Cooking apples are usually easier to grow than eating apples, and will tolerate partial shade.


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