Apple identification please!

Three years ago now, I bought an apple tree to replace the rowan I unsuccessfully moved. I purchased it from the wonderful Hopetoun Garden Centre near Edinburgh. They have a 'search and rescue' section, which I do love to browse. There were several apples reduced as the labels had been lost. Being the chancer I can sometimes be, I chose the best looking specimen, and paid �£20 for it.

The first year, it bore beautiful pink blossom, and them went on to produce 3 fruit. All deep red, and delicious! The second year, there were more, and this year, the best crop yet! We must have had a good 15 giant fruit so far, and there are still plenty left. The fruit is HUGE - I have lost a few branches due to the weight. They are the best apples I have ever tasted! Sweet and juicy, the deep red skin permeates the flesh. I am thrilled that what may have turned out to be a disaster, has become a delight! The apples are ready to eat now (early to mid October).

An identification would be wonderful!

 

OOps - I forgot to add the pics! :rolleyes:







(sorry about lack of focus on the last one in particular - I forgot I had macro! One of those days!

 

)

!!!

(Would go back and take another - but have eaten the subject matter!)

 

Jarbax, if it wasn`t for the flesh colour I would have said it was Spartan. Or another 2 possibles, Red Delicious or Mcintosh. David.

 

Is the juice red? It could be Red Devil.

 

Yes, when cut into, the juice is red.

Thanks for the ideas so far! We have narrowed it down to a Spartan or Red Delicious or a McIntosh, or a Red Devil. A friend here told me she thought it was a Pink Lady, but she was really just guessing.

Any other thoughts anyone?

 

Just did a quick google image search, and can rule out the Red Delicious, as it is the wrong shape, and the red skin is deeper in tone than the McIntosh.

 

It doesn't look like Spartan to me which is more boxy in shape. Also Spartan has pure white flesh without the staining. I ate one just to check!

 

Could well be Red Devil.
Look at this site
http://www.brogdale.org/nfc_plants1.php?plantid=7
look under National Fruit Collection and type name into search. There is a photo of Red Devil and photos of it cut up.
Good site but a pain if you try to plough through them all. they have over 1,800 varieties of apples described.
Oh I see I have linked it to the correct page. Just type the name in.

 

Red Devil has what i would call purple blossom but you can check it on this web site
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/suttonelms/apple52.html

 

"pink lady" are slighly more elongated in shape and not so red.

 

Hmmmmm!!!

Thanks so much Geoff for all the input! Great links too, though now I am at a loss (thanks too to miraflores eliminating the pink lady)!

The blossom is definitely not the same as the, until-then-favorite 'Red Devil' when everything else was pointing to that being the variety! The blossom is what I might describe as a blush -kind of a pale pinky white - pinkish buds becoming paler.

A real head scratcher so far!