Fiesta® apple

Fiesta apple identification images

All images copyright Orange Pippin unless otherwise stated.

USDA identification images for Fiesta

The identification paintings in the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection span the years 1886 to 1942.

Citation: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705.

Visitor reviews

• 04 Sep 2024 

  I planted a Fiesta tree in my garden 26 years ago, and it has rarely let me down. In all that time I can only recall one fallow year and one year when the fruit was unifomly small. Otherwise it is utterly reliable in giving me a plantiful crop of reasonable sized fruit, much of which I share with grateful neighbours. The big bonus with Fiesta is its storability: each year I pack away sufficient fruit to see me through almost to the next year's harvest, keeping it individually wrapped in newspaper in an old metal filing cabinet in the garage.
• 10 Aug 2022 

  I have a very small tree and it’s only four years old. I moved it from a pot to the ground last year resulting in a very small crop of apples. Despite the weather and very little rain I have well over 30 apples, of a good size. I see it is low growing resulting in heavy branches bending right over. My solution was an upside down obelisk which supports the branches well. A wonder tasting apple.
• 19 Jul 2022 

  I bought and planted a fiesta tree this year and so far the apples 🍏 look very green- when can I expect it to turn red?? Or is it a golden delicious I was sold instead?? Newbie gardener!
• 25 Oct 2020  SHROPSHIRE, United Kingdom

  Very good and Prolific apple, have 35 mature trees on 106. Crops every year of very nice apples.Got approximately 4 tonne this year...which is too many. Going to top work 10 to 15 with Charles Ross in March
• 29 Oct 2016  UNITED KINGDOM, United Kingdom

  I love my Fiesta. I never feed it or water it. It crops heavily. The apples are often HUGE. And I love the sweet-sharp taste and juiciness. Prone to canker and straggly growth. But none the worse for it. I eat as much fresh as I can and microwave the rest without water in a casserole dish. I mash them up a bit with a potato masher, then freeze in half inch thick slabs. I can then either heat up a whole slab as needed, in the microwave, or snap off a bit and do the same. I'm still eating some of last year's! This year's is nearly read for picking.
• 18 Aug 2016  CORNWALL, United Kingdom

  I really like the flavour of this apple and agree with the tasting notes. My tree has a ragged, willow like shape, but is a prolific fruit bearer. It is prone to scab.
• 13 Mar 2015  WASHINGTON, United States

  It's mid-march and I'm into a box of these that were put into the fridge in October. It has little scab, consistent size, it is crisp, juicy, balanced sweet tart, mild in flavor and scrumptious to gobble up right now. I have no apples in storage that have compared with this delightful blend. I pull these out to share and of course the somewhat shrunken/wrinkley appearance causes folks to look sideways but the first bite and everyone wants there own tree.
• 18 Oct 2014  BC, Canada

  Bought at the UBC Apple Festival Oct 18, 2014. Very good flavour, crisp, sweet with some complexity of flavours. I don't mind the toughness of skin mentioned by others. In previous years, I've found it goes a bit mushy if kept in the fridge for a couple of months. Eating them fresh this year.
• 12 May 2014  NORFOLK, United Kingdom

  I have one apple tree of this variety which we inherited when we moved and last year the crop was great and I was still eating them in March this year after storing them in our garage. I agree with everyone who say 's they are very tasty apples but agree that you have to peel them first. I don't know if the shape of the tree is the same as other people's tree as ours is like an umbrella shape?
• 19 Feb 2012  SURREY, United Kingdom

  Tesco sells these as 'Red Pippin' and I have to say I found them very disappointing. There is a vague coxyness to them but its very diluted and overall the flavour is poor. Its quite similar to Early Windsor, which are usually what Sainsburys sell as their basics apples and is similarly boring. I bought one bag and wont buy another. Many breeders have sought to attain the COP flavour without the COP's drawbacks by crossing COP with something else. I find it unsurprising that few of these are any good. We know that cox came from Ribston Pippin so its a mystery why this isnt used as a parent instead as its clearly the source of those lovely genetics.
• 20 Oct 2011  CAMBRIDGESHIRE, United Kingdom

  This year's Fiesta apples were ripe much earlier than usual due to the hot spring weather giving way to a very cool summer, with the result that many of my fruit trees panicked, shut down their growth and dropped about half of their leaves in early August! My Fiesta apples began to drop in early September (about two weeks early) and I had harvested them all by mid-September. Fruit quality and flavour was average (not too sharp, not too sweet, slight hint of Cox flavour) but fruit which has recently been coming out of cool storage is now only just about palatable; with very strong flavours of aniseed and/or brandy (rather sweet, spicy and alcoholic). In my climate, the tree and its fruit remain almost pest and disease-free without need for sprays (albeit with a little bitter pit on some fruits). Despite claims that it only has average resistance to powdery mildew, in my very-mildew-prone location it appears to be almost immune, while other trees have been killed or crippled due to being very prone to this fungal menace of spray-free growers. Remarkably, Fiesta also seems to not be particularly attractive to woolly aphids, with no colonies established so far despite some very heavy infestations on some of its neighbouring trees. However, in the last few years my Fiesta has been developing some burr-knotting on the undersides of lower branches which might cause a variety of problems in later years such as partial girdling, canker, or it may allow tunnelling/wood-eating pests to get into the heart of the tree, resulting in a shortened lifespan. On the other hand, the development of burrs as the tree ages could make this variety reasonably easy to proagate from any cuttings which bear these burrs (although the burrs didn't start to appear on my tree until the tree was several years old - and, having tried it; I can state for a fact that cuttings from this tree which don't have those burrs will not root themselves under normal conditions).
• 06 Oct 2010  United Kingdom

  I was surprised to read the word 'tastless' associated with this deliciously tangy apple. Recently available at my local farm shop I think it was one of the nicest English apples I have tasted. Aspects of strawberry and the tartness of Cox apples combine into a very juicy and delicious apple.
• 13 Sep 2010  CAMBRIDGESHIRE, United Kingdom

  With the first of my Fiesta apples being picked at the moment, I revisited this page. I find that in my area, Fiesta is a good performer of a tree - good regular crops of blemish-free, quality fruit. As often stated: a good garden tree. Disease and frost resistance is plenty adequate in my area (eastern UK). It also doesn't suffer much from pest/insect/maggot damage. It is slightly prone to bitter pit in its younger years, when carrying only a light crop and growing strongly at the same time - no doubt the bitter pit problem is inherited from its very-prone Cox parent. As the tree starts to mature, the bitter pit problem ceases. As mentioned by another poster: Fiesta will often form a spreading, twiggy, untidy or one-sided tree, which can require a bit of pruning effort to shape it. Unfortunately, despite many claims of good flavour, I find the apples to be merely juicy, with no definite flavour. None of my Fiesta's apples have attained a Cox-like flavour. In summary: a good, reliable, relatively trouble-free tree, but the fruit is only fair flavour and the tree has a tendency for one-sided growth.
• 24 Oct 2009  MELBOURN, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, United Kingdom

  My experience with growing Fiesta is that it is prone to canker.
• 11 Oct 2009  NORFOLK, ENGLAND, United Kingdom

  We have been told that the willow type apple tree iin my garden is a Fiesta Red Pippin. This year I did prune and we have much larger apples which I think taste like the Cox apple and is very juicy. The skin however is very tough and they are better pealed. I have also cooked these apples and they stay very firm. Does this sound like a Fiesta Red Pippin apple?
• 03 Jun 2008  SOMERSET, United Kingdom

  My Fiesta is a biennial bearer, but with excellent flavour. The tree itself is very untidy and actually fell over in a storm last year, however it has set a reasonable amount of fruit this year propped up by 2 stakes.
• 26 Jan 2008  PERTHSHIRE, United Kingdom

  We agree with your tasting notes - keeps well, tastes good. Just now eating last years crop for first time. Also juices well - like several others. Also very fond of Katy for an early one. We have 12 varieties in a small new domestic orchard, in what is typically a soft-fruit area. - Fiesta was amongst the first planted in Jan 1999 as a maiden form Butterworths.
• 12 Nov 2007  SURREY, United Kingdom

  I think Fiesta does not have much taste, and what it does have is unpleasant.
• 11 Oct 2007  Ireland

  I agree with the above description of this variety. A bit prone to scab, and needs to be well thinned to avoid lots of small apples, but an apple of the highest quality.

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Where to buy trees

The following tree nurseries offer Fiesta apple trees for sale:

• Orange Pippin Fruit Trees (UK) United Kingdom
  Fiesta apple trees
• Cummins Nursery
  United States  More >>

Where to buy fresh fruit

The following orchards grow Fiesta:

United States

• Washington

  • Skipley Farm, Snohomish        *** Feature Orchard ***

United Kingdom

• England - midlands

  • Meynell Langley Trials Gardens, Derby
  • The Vyne, Basingstoke
  • Cotteridge Community Orchard, Birmingham
  • Walsgrove Farm, Worcester

• England - south-east

  • Home Cottage Farm, Iver
  • Kimpton Manor Apple Press, Andover

• England - south-west

  • Charlton Orchards, Taunton

Canada

• British Columbia

  • Dragonfly Farm, Salt Spring Island
  • Riley Creek Farm, Lillooet
  • Salt Spring Apple Company, Salt Spring Island
  • Swallow Hill Farm and Orchard, Metchosin

References

• Fruit Expert
  Author: Hessayon