Apple Tree Bolero - Malus domestica

The Ballerina® ‘Bolero’ columnar apple tree is a variety with a naturally narrow habit, particularly useful when space is limited. Its compact growth makes it suitable for a small garden, an orchard, a fruit hedge, or even a large container on the patio. It offers decorative spring flowering, followed by September dessert apples of medium size, light green to yellow, with crisp, sweet and juicy flesh. For a good harvest, it is best to pair it with the Ballerina® ‘Maypole’ columnar apple tree.

The apple tree, Malus domestica, has been cultivated in Europe for a very long time. The Ballerina® series comprises varieties selected for their columnar habit, inherited from a natural mutation discovered on a ‘McIntosh’ type apple tree, known as ‘Wijcik’.
‘Bolero’ is one of these selections obtained at East Malling, England, with the aim of combining quality fruit with a very narrow habit. This variety forms a small deciduous tree, taller than it is wide, with few lateral branches.
The fruit forms close to the main axis, on short spurs. Growth is moderate to medium depending on the rootstock and growing conditions. At maturity, this apple tree has a width of less than one metre. Its foliage consists of ovate, dentate leaves of a bright green. The spring flowering is white to pinkish-white. It can be susceptible to late frosts depending on the region. The fruit reaches ripeness in September. They are medium-sized, rounded, with smooth skin, light green, washed with more or less golden yellow on the sun-exposed side. The flesh is crisp, juicy, sweet, with a slight acidic freshness depending on the degree of ripeness.

This variety is a good dessert apple, but it can also be used in desserts or compotes. The apples keep for a few weeks in a cool, dark, frost-free and well-ventilated location, at a steady temperature of around 4 to 7 °C. Only store healthy, unbruised fruit, picked with their stalks, arranged in a single layer without touching each other. 

This Ballerina® ‘Bolero’ apple tree can be used wherever space is limited. It allows you to introduce a fruit tree into a small garden, along a path, or on a sunny patio. Its columnar habit lends itself well to planting in a row or in a fruit hedge. It can be paired with other columnar fruit trees to create a small, space-saving orchard.