Pair of columnar apple tree pollinators

This pollinator duo of columnar apple trees brings together the varieties 'Ballerina Maypole' and 'Ballerina Bolero'. Both are compact apple trees with a narrow habit, perfectly suited for small spaces and container cultivation. They are also highly decorative with their spring flowering or even their foliage in the case of the former. Planted close to each other, these two apple trees pollinate each other, ensuring a good fruit production. Their beautiful, high-quality apples are harvested in September and October. You can adopt them in a small garden, in a hedge, on the terrace, or in a patio.

This duo consists of:

- x 1 Columnar Apple Tree 'Ballerina Maypole': a highly decorative variety with its carmine pink spring flowering and its red foliage in summer and bronze in autumn. Its exceptional, abundant, and colourful flowering is both early and prolonged, from mid-March to mid-April. It is frost-resistant. This apple tree produces round, dark red fruits. Their flesh is sweet and juicy. Harvest takes place in October and the fruits can be stored until April.

- x 1 Columnar Apple Tree 'Ballerina 'Bolero': this variety produces round fruits, light green in color, golden yellow on the sun-exposed side. Their flesh is sweet and juicy. Its magnificent flowering, abundant, with a pinkish-white color, is early, occurring in early March, but it is frost-resistant. Harvest takes place from September and the fruits can be stored until December.

The apple tree is native to Europe, especially in France where its presence has been documented since ancient times. The Columnar Apple Tree Ballerina is a variety resulting from a natural mutation of McIntosh, making the tree columnar in 1969. This interesting aspect has led breeders to crossbreed this tree with varieties like 'Golden Delicious' and 'Greenleves' to improve its taste qualities. Four hybrids were born from these efforts, including the Columnar Apple Trees Ballerina 'Bolero' and 'Maypole'.

The columnar habit, taller than wide, is both space-saving and decorative, making these varieties particularly interesting for small gardens and even terraces and balconies as they can be grown in large pots. Pruning is not necessary for this tree with its astonishing habit. Its foliage is composed of very large, ovate, slightly fuzzy, deeply toothed leaves. They take on beautiful colors in autumn before falling. The Ballerina apple tree is very hardy and suitable for cultivation in all regions. Self-sterile, the presence of apple trees with flowering occurring at the same time is necessary. The columnar variety Ballerina 'Maypole' will be the best pollinator in the series.

In the kitchen:

The apples of Maypole and Bolero are particularly suitable for making pastries. They can be consumed cooked, in compotes, jams, on tarts, baked, in jellies, and in savory dishes, in combination with cheeses, for example.