Heritage With Bite
The Age
Saturday February 18, 1995
ANTIQUE apples are joining heirloom tomatoes as desirable components of 1990s kitchen gardens. Interested gardeners can see such apples growing in Melbourne and near Castlemaine, taste them and buy them for their own gardens.
The two Melbourne outlets, Rippon Lea at Elsternwick and Petty's Orchard in Templestowe, are gearing up for their regular open days, the first of which is tomorrow at Rippon Lea.
Horticulturist Allen Gilbert helps manage this orchard, which boasts some 150 heritage apple varieties and about 20 heritage pear varieties. The apples are grown on a dwarfing rootstock to produce small trees. Varieties include the perennial favorites Cox's Orange Pippin and Pomme de Neige (snow apple), old cooking and cider apples such as Catsface and Roundaways Magnum Bonum, and apples named after once-famous people such as Lord Derby and Lady Carrington.
There are also apples that taste like other foods Gooseberry Pippin, Winter Banana and Chenargo Strawberry.
Rippon Lea's orchard offers displays of pruning and espaliers for apple trees, as well as a tree that boasts more than 100 grafts of 70 varieties. Allen Gilbert says many home gardeners buy triple or multigrafted trees, for variety and a longer fruiting season.
Rippon Lea's tasting days are tomorrow from 2-4pm, then 25 February, 5 March and 12 March at the same time (National Trust admission charges apply).
Petty's Orchard in Templestowe offers group tours (between 15 and 40 people) in February, March and April at $4/adult. The orchard, run by Melbourne Parks and Waterways, showcases more than 200 varieties of apples whose fruit can no longer be bought commercially. Visitors can also explore the museum, which includes historic orcharding machinery and equipment. Petty's antique apple festival is on 18-19 March.
At Chewton, Clive and Margaret Winmill have sold heritage apples for almost 20 years from their Badger's Keep nursery. Their annual list of 100 varieties is drawn from a private collection of about 600 (including crab apples). Their best sellers are Cox's Orange Pippin, Bramley Seedling and Twenty Ounce. Orders are taken year-round for bare-rooted delivery in July and August. Send a stamped, addressed envelope for a list, or $6 for a descriptive catalogue.
Rippon Lea, 192 Hotham Street, Elsternwick, tel. 523 6095; Petty's Orchard, corner Monkton & Homestead Roads, Templestowe, tel. 846 4499; Badger's Keep Nursery, Chewton 3451, tel. (054) 723338.
© 1995 The Age
