Christmas Pippin is a new Cox-style apple variety introduced in 2011. Unusually for a modern apple variety, it is a genuine "pippin" apple, raised from seed and of unknown parentage.
Christmas Pippin is a very "more-ish" apple, with a definite apple flavour, juicy melting flesh and a thin skin - and it tastes exactly like an apple should. It is bound to be popular with fans of Cox's Orange Pippin or similar varieties - and it is much easier to grow.
**All prices include delivery. We offer a discount on orders of multiple bare-root trees for delivery at the same time - this will be shown at the checkout.
Delivery period: Pot-grown trees can be delivered from September onwards. Bare-root trees can be delivered from mid-November onwards. Within those periods you can specify your preferred month of delivery during the checkout process. It is best to order as soon as you can to ensure items are reserved for you.
*Mature heights: Height shown is the approximate height of the tree when mature (after 5-10 years), not the height when supplied. See photos of trees as supplied. Actual mature heights may vary considerably dependent on your local conditions and training and pruning regime.
Stock availability: Items showing as 'sold out' will probably be available again next season. If you would like to reserve in advance use our enquiry form - this does not commit you to anything.
Christmas Pippin is self-sterile and needs to be pollinated by another tree of a different variety nearby. Since it flowers in the middle of the blossom season it can be pollinated by most other apple trees.
Our online pollination checker lists suitable pollination partners for this variety.
More advice about pollination.
Christmas Pippin is easy to grow, with better yields than Cox's Orange Pippin. It can be pollinated by most other apple varieties.
Planting instructions.
Pruning instructions.
Christmas Pippin is a modern variety, first introduced in 2011, so you might expect it to be the result of a major university-led apple breeding programme. In fact the original tree was discovered growing beside a road in Somerset, so it is a genuine seedling or "pippin" variety, probably from a motorist's discarded apple core. The parentage is unknown, but there is clearly an influence from Cox's Orange Pippin in its ancestry. The leaf shape has some resemblance to Gala (which itself is distantly related to Cox's Orange Pippin).