Cultivar 289: Northwest Greening

Northwest Greening is a large, late keeping apple grown for kitchen use more than dessert quality. Sources describe it as very large, smooth, and handsome, green at first and turning yellow as it matures, with firm, sub acid flesh. Daniels Nursery called it the "one best winter greening" and a bright green fruit that belonged in every orchard for its keeping quality and baking value. [S2] [S3]

The sources place Northwest Greening in northern nursery trade and recommendation lists, but they do not identify a breeder, parentage, or release date. By 1937 it was already being promoted in a northern hardy fruit catalog. By 1950 Daniels Nursery still treated it as one of the dependable old apples for the upper Midwest. A South Dakota extension nursery list also shows it was widely offered by several nurseries, including at least one listing on dwarf rootstock. [S1] [S2] [S3]

Fruit descriptions are very consistent across the sources. It was sold as a very large green to yellow apple with firm, sub acid flesh, valued especially for pies and baking. One catalog says it was in good demand as a cooking apple in late winter and spring, while Daniels says it keeps well all winter in ordinary storage and may last into summer in a good vegetable cellar. Another source gives its season as December to March, which fits its reputation as a long keeper. [S2] [S3]

Its regional fit appears narrower than the phrase hardy northern fruit might suggest. The 1937 catalog recommends it as a commercial sort in the southeast third of Minnesota, south of St. Paul, and similar territory, and says it should be planted very sparingly farther north. This makes Northwest Greening important in prairie and Upper Midwest fruit history as a storage and baking apple, but not one the sources present as broadly dependable across the coldest northern districts. [S2]

The documentary record here is strongest on fruit quality, storage, and regional use, and thin on breeding history. No direct hardiness zone, breeder, or parentage statement appears in the provided sources. [S1] [S2] [S3]

Summary source basis

• S1: Nursery Plants Available from South Dakota Nurseries
• S2: Hardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937
• S3: Daniels planting guide, 1950

This summary currently draws chiefly from Hardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, with 2 additional supporting sources linked below.

Selected source quotations

“Northwest Greening Fruit very large, smooth and handsome; green turning yellow as it matures.”
— Hardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p6

“Northwest Greening The One Best Winter Greening”
— Daniels planting guide, 1950, p21

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Northwest Greening Fruit very large, smooth and handsome; green turning yellow as it matures.Hardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p6
• Northwest Greening Fruit very large, smooth and handsome; green turning yellow as it matures.Hardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p6
• Northwest Greening Fruit very large, smooth and handsome; green turning yellow as it matures.Hardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p6
• Northwest Greening Fruit very large, smooth and handsome; green turning yellow as it matures.Hardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p6

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context