Community and Resources for Home Gardens
RETAIL NURSERY VARIETY LIST
Nilsen Company
424 Main Street
Ferndale, California 95536
707.786.9501
Plant varieties ordered from Dave Wilson Nursery for 2021:
Fuji Apple
Introduction from Japan that quickly became California's favorite apple. Sweet, very crisp and flavorful, excellent keeper. Dull reddish orange skin, sometimes russeted. Ripe mid-September. Excellent pollenizer for other apple varieties. Low chilling requirement - less than 500 hours. Self-fruitful. USDA Zones 6-9.
Golden Delicious Apple
Long-time favorite for its sweetness and flavor. Reliable producer, adapted to many climates. Pollenizer for Red Delicious. Midseason harvest (September in Central CA). 700 hours. Self-fruitful. USDA Zones 5-10.
Granny Smith Apple
From New Zealand. Large, late, green, all-purpose. Crisp, tart, excellent keeper. Requires long summer. Thrives in hot climates. 400 hours. Prolonged bloom: good pollenizer for other apples. Self-fruitful. USDA Zones 6-9.
Gravenstein Apple
Famous for sauce and baking, also used fresh. Crisp, juicy, flavorful & tart. Early bloom, early harvest. 700 hours. Pollenizer required: Empire, Fuji, Gala, Red Delicious. Not a pollenizer for other varieties. USDA Zones 2-9.
Honeycrisp Apple
Winter hardy tree from the University of Minnesota. Fruit is crisp and juicy with an aromatic flavor. Striped red over yellow color. Stores well. Ripens mid-August. Pollenized by Gala, Granny Smith, Empire, McIntosh and Red Delicious. USDA Zones 3-8.
Jonagold Apple
Superb flavor, a connoisseurs choice. A cross of Jonathan and Golden Delicious. Yellow with red-orange blush. Crisp, juicy, subacid, all-purpose. 700-800 hours. Pollenized by Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith or Red Delicious, but not Golden Delicious. Not a pollenizer for other varieties.
King (Tompkins King) Apple
Large, old-time red-striped apple with classic apple flavor. Its coarse, crisp flesh is subacid, sweet and distinctly perfumed. Used for dessert, cooking and cider. Well-colored fruits are a very attractive red with some contrasting yellow. Fairly rectangular shape, with ribs near the base. Ripens midseason, about with Golden Delicious. Keeps several months, but at its best soon after harvest. Horizontal limbs, spreading growth habit. Originated in New Jersey prior to 1804. Estimated chilling requirement 800-1000 hours. Pollenizer required. USDA Zones 5-10.
Pink Pearl Apple
Unusual pink fleshed, highly aromatic fruit. Medium-sized, cream and pale green skin, sometimes blushed red. Tart to sweet-tart, depending on time of picking. Early fall harvest. Good keeper. Makes colorful, tasty applesauce. Early, profuse, pink blossoms in spring. 600 hours. Pollenizer required. USDA Zones 4-8.
Waltana Apple
Known by old timers arround Ettersberg, CA as The Etter Apple. This apple is sometimes green on younger trees but is normally red with a yellow/green background. Originally a seedling of Wagner it is known for its versatility (cider, canning, dessert and fresh eating) and its excellent storage properties.
Bing Cherry
Large, firm, juicy, sweet, nearly black when ripe. Superb flavor, the No. 1 cherry. Midseason. Large vigorous tree. Pollenized by Black Tart, Van, Rainier and Lapins. Also Stella in colder climates. 700 hours. USDA Zones 5-9.
Black Tartarian Cherry
Medium-sized, nearly black, sprightly flavor, early season. Vigorous, productive tree. 700 hours. Pollenizer required - interfruitful with all popular sweet cherries. USDA Zones 5-7.
Royal Ann Cherry
Long-time favorite yellow sweet cherry for eating fresh or canning. 700 hours. Pollenizer required - interfruitful with Van and Black Tartarian, not Bing. USDA Zones 5-7.
Double Delight Nectarine
Sensational fruit: consistently the best flavored yellow nectarine plus magnificent, double pink flowers. Dark red-skinned, freestone fruit is sweet, with unusually rich flavor. Very high scoring in taste tests. Heavy bearing tree. Harvest early to mid-July in Central CA. 300 hours. Self-fruitful. (Zaiger)
Frost Peach
Resistant to peach leaf curl (10-year trials at Washington State Univ.). Delicious yellow freestone. Slight red blush over greenish-yellow to yellow skin. Heavy bearing, excellent for canning or eating fresh. July ripening. Showy pink bloom in spring. 700 hours. Self-fruitful.
Gleason Early (Lemon) Elberta Peach
Also called Improved Elberta or Lemon Elberta. Reliable, frost hardy yellow freestone for Utah and Pacific NW. Juicy, rich flavor. Harvest 10 days before Elberta. Can/freeze/fresh. 800 hours. Self fruitful.
Bartlett Pear
World's most popular pear. Early midseason, high quality, tolerates hot summers. 500-600 hours. Self-fruitful in most climates of Western U.S. Elsewhere, pollenized by Bosc, D'Anjou, Winter Nelis.
Santa Rosa Plum
Most popular plum in California & Arizona. Juicy, tangy and flavorful. Reddish purple skin, amber flesh tinged red. Late June in Central CA. 300 hours. Self-fruitful.
Satsuma Plum
Long-time favorite plum in California. Mottled maroon over green skin, dark red meaty flesh. Sweet, mild, not tart. Excellent for jam. Harvest late July. 300 hours. Pollenized by Santa Rosa or Beauty.
Peggy Clarke Flowering Apricot
Prunus mume 'Peggy Clarke'
Prunus mume. Beautiful double dark pink flowers, distinctive fragrance. Early bloom. 20 x 20 ft. long-lived tree.
Golden Chain
Laburnum x watereri 'Vossii'
Small tree to 30 ft. Green bark, clover-like bright green leaves. Yellow flowers in wisteria-like 10- to 20-inch-long clusters. Prefers neutral to acidic soil, not tolerant of extreme heat. Relatively pest free. Sunset Zones 1-10, 14-17.
Royal Purple Smoke Tree, bush form
Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'
Purple foliage, rich purple "smoke": hazy-appearing clusters of fuzzy, purple flower stalks. Multi-trunked shrub or small tree to 20 by 20 ft. Likes cold, needs good drainage, resists oak root fungus. All zones.
