Identification of St Ives Community Orchard Fruit trees.
St Ives Community Orchard has over 100 different types of fruit and nut trees, with at least 50 different varieties of Apple trees, mostly Cornish and Heritage varieties. See our full St Ives Orchard Tree list
We are working to get all of the fruit trees identified as well as making notes on their flavour, texture, blossom colour, time of year that the apples blossom and apples fall which will all help in their identification. Fruit ID website
Many of our trees are mapped using GPS co-ordinates as you can see on this Tree map.
It’s not very accurate so we are also using What3words and are working on a physical numbered map.
A new labelling system was introduced in 2023, hanging silver, numbered metal disks on the apple trees , starting from below the orchard shed, zigzagging down the orchard from left to right. Dotted between the apple trees are other fruit trees which will be recorded separately with gold metal numbered disks. Apples that are sweet to eat have a green ribbon hanging from the number.
Apple Trees with tasting notes
** This means that it’s not a definite identification, it is possibly this type of apple.
- ?? Sweet, red, stripy, very crisp.
- ** Court Pendu Plat
Tasting notes: 2024 – Big, green/red, hard, sour, tough skin.
23rd Oct 2025 – Skin red & green, some striping, slight roughness in places, little wax.
Texture: crisp, firm, “more of a bite”, denser, maybe. Very slightly and finely grainy.
Taste: very aromatic, floral, complex, sweet, very slight tannins. - Winter Peach Big, yellow, sweet. Mostly fallen by end of Sept. Does not store well. Red flush on one side of the apple that faces the sun.
- Laxton Superb Big, green/red. Initially hard, sour, tough skin but if picked late season and stored for a couple weeks, the apple is sweet and delicious. Adopted by J&M
- Laxton Superb as above
- James Grieve?
- Charles Ross– memory tree planted by Senara
- Laxton Superb
- ?? No apples
- Sunset – Yellow / Red / sweet – spotted apples
- ?? Dark red / large / super sweet
- ?? Small green / sour
- ?? No apples in 2024, red / yellow stripy apples – Early
- ?? Small green / brown, tough, semi sour
- Bloody Butcher / Breadfruit, no apples 24 / 25
- Ellisons Orange **
- ?? quite similar to Ellisons Orange
- ?????
- ?? Khaki brown, tough skin, not sweet but nice
- ?? Large, green/yellow, sweet
- ?? Small green, not very sour but dry / tart
- ?? Small, mottled red, sweet, not a happy tree, very short n stubby
- ?? Very sweet, red / green, small apples
- ?? Semi sweet, nice crunch
- ?? No apples
- Cox’s Orange Pippen. Sweetish, red apples
- ????
- ?? Sweet, red/yellow
- ?? Khaki green and red, not sour but not sweet
- ?? Red, not that sweet, Stained pink flesh inside.
- ?? Yellow mottled, sweet, thin branches. Possibly same as tree below.
- Ashmeads Kernal. Yellow mottled, sweet, thin branches
- ?? Wide branching, no apples
- ?? Early sweet red
- ?? Large red apples with amazing flavour, short tree.
- Discovery. Small, no apples as of 2023. Adopted by Drazen Neskovic for Sandra.
- ?? Yellow apples
- Spartan. Planted 2019. Adopted by Sarah Taylor
- Discovery. Pink & white blossom.
- Seed Surprise. Lilly, Jazmin & Poppy’s tree planted from seed.
- ?? Green mottled, sour apples
- Katy apple Planted 2020. No apples in 2023. Adopted in memory of Trevor Both. White blossom with tinge of pink. Red apples
- ?? Sweetish, nice, small green apples
- Crab apple. Small green / yellow, sour
- ?? No apples in 24 /
- Laxton** Loads of apples. Red / khaki, sour / tart. Mid / Late
- Sops in Wine or Pendragon. Small, deep red apples with white / pink flesh, sweetish / mild flavour. Was convinced it was a Pendragon but Sally from Kehelland identified it as Sops in Wine.
- ?? Small tree. Sweet, red / khaki / green apples
- Cornish Pine Apple. No apples 2023
- Crab Apple? Little red / orange apple
- Small tree, no apples 2023
- Venus Pippen. Planted 2020
- Beauty of Bath. Planted 2020
- ?? Delicious, red apples
- ?? Deep red, not sour, not sweet
- Discovery. Adopted by Angela
- ?? Sweet, orange / red apples. Planted in 2017. Couldn’t read label
- Scrumptious. Adopted memory tree
- Rosemary Russet – planted in 2020. Adopted by Lynn Archard
- ?? Sweet, red
- ?? Not a happy tree, looks like it’s dying. Close to 2 Mulberry trees that died.
- ?? Very low apple tree, dark green apples
- ?? sweet red, lots of apples, tiny tree
- Slack ma girdle, red, not sweet not sour delicious. Adopted by Senara Wilson
- ?? deep red beautiful apples but tastes horrible
- ?? no apples
- Tom Putt Planted 2015, falling over, no apples 2023
- ?? skinny young tree, could be Greensleeves no apples
- Adams Pearmain. Loaded with small apples, conical shaped, not that sweet but delicious.
23rd Oct 2025 – loaded with apples starting to fall, Skin: red & green, small light spots/dappling. Smooth, no detectable wax. Texture: quite soft, “almost buttery”. Taste: sweet and mellow, “apple crumble flavour” - ?? no apples. Plum?
- ?? small newish tree no apples
- Belle de Boscoop Khaki / green / red, large, a bit sour, crunchy. 2025 lots of large misshapen apples, cooker / eater, late season, stores well. No seeds to be seen when cut open.
- **Cox Orange Pippen. Red, large, very sweet apples, crisp & juicy. Close to wooden compost bin. Certain it’s an orange pippen as it rattles!!
- ?? Dying tree. Pear or Apple
- ?? little tree, small, red, sweet, mottled apples
- ?? Kims tree. No apples this year. Loaded last year with red apples
- ?? Large green apples, not to sour but not sweet. Tree on bank
- Small, red/yellow, spotty, sweetish apples
- ?? Small, red/yellow, spotty, sweetish apples
- probably NOT Hoary Morning based on tasting notes. mostly stripy red (flame wild fire colour) apples, with yellow base, very sweet. GPS and photos made us think it was definitely Hoary morning but on tasting notes, we now think it’s possibly the tree just behind.
- Cornish Mother
- ?? Large, red, floury apples. Planted 2013
- Ellisons Orange apple
- Jupiter** Big red, floury apples
- ?? Small tree, late, loaded with pink / yellow apples. Tart flavour
- ?? Sparse tree, little misshapen apples, motley apples. Late dropper
- Ribston Pippen * Khaki / red, med size, sweet, lots of apples
- ?? Dark red apples, medium size, lots, Delicious **
- ?? Med, red, large, sweet, juicy, skin a little thick
- ?? Narrow tree, orange/red apples, sweet
- ?? Lots of yellow/red apples, med, sweet **
- ?? Pink white blossom, red yellow, tastes horrible
- ?? Red, yellow, mottled, white flesh, juicy, unusual flavour, sweetish
- ?? Large, bushy, no apples
- ??
- ??
- Bramley
- Fallen over tree
- Apple or pear?
- Catshead
- Primrose or Buttercup – Fallen over tree
- Fiesta 2020
- Red Devil
- Rossette
- ?? Big tree, little red/green apples. Sweet
Tree on bank loaded with apples, not labelled yet. Tydemman’s Late Orange**. Very late picker, sweetens in the winter, picking in Nov – jan recommended.
This is aprox 3 quarters of the apple trees in the orchard then there are more in the wild orchard above the skatepark and around the playgrounds.
Other Fruit Trees:
- Sunburst Cherry x 2
- Stella Cherry
- Cherry Plum
- Fig Rouge de Bordeux
- Gage – Oullins Golden
- Grapes – Boskoop Glory x 3
- Kiwi (Oriental Delight)
- Kiwi (Delisiosa) x 2
- Medlar x 3
- Asian Nashi Pear x 3
- Pear – Conference x 3
- Pear – Louise Bonne de Jersey
- Kea Plum
- Victoria Plum
- Damson Merryweather Plum
- Cherry Plum x 5
- Opal Plum
- Quince
Fruit bushes & vines
- Aronia / Choke berries x 4
- Autumn Olive (Eleagnus Umbellata) x 2
- Blackberries (Thornless / Wild)
- Blueberries x 5
- Chillian Guavas x4
- Chocolate vine
- Red & White Currants
- Gooseberries
- Grapes x 4
- Honey Berries x 2
- Japanese Wineberries x 2
- June Berries
- Logan berries
- Raspberries
- Passion Flower (Edulis)
Tree Labelling System – learn from our mistakes
Printed or permanent marker labels provided with trees only last a few years before rubbing off so it’s important to have a good labelling system. We’ve tried a few different methods but have realised that the best method would be a map showing numbered trees correlating with metal numbered disks hanging from the trees.
The orchard was planted Feb 2013 with over 100 different varieties of fruit and nut trees. These trees had been moved from another site in Penzance. Some of the labels were lost in the move and a year later a hand drawn map was made with the trees that still had labels. Since then many more trees have been planted and most of these were recorded using GPS. This method isn’t very accurate and user friendly but at least gives us some record. Using What 3 words would have been more accurate. Many trees were labelled using wood burning tool on stakes, but this method is labour intensive and doesn’t last well either. In 2023 we started this new labelling method using metal disks and recording information on the list above. Once we have most of the tree names we intend to get the names printed directly onto metal to hang from the trees alongside the number. A map will be drawn up with the numbers so that they can be more easily found. We wish we had done this from the very start but it’s also been quite exciting discovering and learning how to identify our apples.
Where did our trees come from?
Most of our first trees came via PEN (Penwith Environment Network) from Adam Apples
See history & list below.
Since then most of our trees and fruit bushes have been sourced from local places – Kehelland Trust, Dobbies in Lelant, Falmouth Forest Garden , Hayle Plants
We got some very interesting Cornish varieties (ie Sops in Wine & Hoary Morning) from Cornish Garden Nurseries situated on the A39 in Perran-ar-worthal between Falmouth and Truro. The website no longer seems available so not sure if it’s still open. Contact Kevin – kwoodmanltd@gmail.com
Many of our fruiting bushes were from E-forests (we also get virtually all our woodland trees from them too) – they provided most of the trees, stakes and guards from //www.perriehale.co.uk/
We have also ordered online from //3fatpigs.co.uk/ and //www.ashridgetrees.co.
//jurassicplants.co.uk/ has a wonderful stock of unusual fruit and nut trees.
History:
The fruit trees planted in St Ives Community Orchard were originally part of a community project of PEN’s (Penwith Environmental Network) that Stephanie Hirtenstein and Dylan Keating created called Penwith Edible Forest and the money was raised from a local food grant. Half of the trees were planted in Penzance on a community site they managed at the time called Love Lane Wildlife Garden and are still there. The rest of the trees were planted at Castle gate but when Dylan moved to the States, the new owner didn’t want the trees and a new location was needed.
Members of the Steeple Woodland group suggested the land alongside the Palemon Best Recreational park & they were transplanted here in St Ives Community Orchard.
The trees listed below were bought in 2010 for the project mentioned above, half of this list of trees were planted at Castle gate then moved here in Feb 2013
- 3 x Arther Turner
- 5 x Black Dabinett
- 3 x Bramley
- Cheddar Cross
- Cherokee Cherry [Prunus] 2 year
- 5 x Cornish Aromatic
- 5 x Court of Wick
- Dennistons Superb Gage 1 year
- 2 x Dunkerton Late Sweet
- 5 x Ellison’s Orange
- 3 x English Codling
- 3 x Fair Maid of Devon
- 2 x Howgate Wonder
- Jubilee
- 3 x John Downie Crab Apple
- 5 x Kingston Black
- 2 x Lanes Prince Albert
- 3 x Lord Derby
- 3 x Lord Lambourne
- Maidens Apple M25
- Majorie seedling
- Merryweather Damson [Prunus] 2 year
- 2 x Monarch
- Morello (Prunus| 2 year
- Opal Plum [Prunus] St.julien A 2 year
- 5 x 0rleans Rienette
- 5 x Pitmaston Pineapple
- Plum [Prunus One year old
- Plum [Prunus| One year old
- Quince Vranja ‘Cydonia’ 2 year ol
- 3 x Red Sentinel
- Rheine Claude de Bavay [Prunus] 2 year
- 5 x Ribston Pippin
- 2 x Slack ma Girdle
- 5 x Somerset Redstreak
- Saturn Sunset
- Stella cherry [Prunus] tree 2 year
- 2 x Sweet Coppin
- 2 x Tale Sweet
- 5 x Tydemans Late Orange
- Victoria Plum [Prunus| Tree 2year
- 2 x Yarlington Mill
- 5 x Winter Peach
- Sunburst Cherry [Prunus] tree 2 year