Orange Pippin Forum Board

I am an old guy. I grew up in La Porte County in northern Indiana. Although we lived in peach farming district, our place had about 30 apple trees. One of those was (at least locally) called "sheep's nose." It was shaped like an upside down pear--with the thick section near the stem, then stepping down. It was the best tasting apple in our orchard. Has anyone else run across it? Does it still exist?

lin wrote:Does it still exist?

It most certainly does.

A simple search turned up beautiful photos from nurseries all around the country, accompanied by copious amounts of information

From Big Horse Creek Farm:



Visit their website to see bountiful offerings.

Not sure where you are located now; perhaps Boyer Nurseries (in PA) or Miller Nurseries (in NY) might assist if you are in the northeast.

Another good description, with accompanying photograph, may be found at Vintage Virginia Apples nursery.

Prefer organic? Try Trees of Antiquity, located in California.

All kinds of growing tips, along with multi-page list of providers, may be found at The Backyard Gardener.

Finally, a brief note from an heirloom specialist in New England:

"Sheep’s Nose (also known as Black Gilliflower) – A New England variety from the early 1800s.
Traditionally it was used as a cooking apple due to its rich flavor and aromatic quality. 'Gilliflower' refers to a
cinnamon flavor and 'black' refers to the color the skin sometimes gets as it ripens. It is also known as “sheep’s nose” because of its unusual shape which tapers towards the base."

Welcome to our forum board, lin, and happy hunting

Sheepnose apple forms do come up here and there. I have a couple of kinds of them, one that I found in the wild, another that another fellow apple-explorer found.

They do not seem to taste any different, but the looks of them can throw you for a loop sometimes!

Here you can see the Swedish variety: http://www.naturproduktion-bh.se/plants ... rnos1.html

One of my books says: Unknown heritage. In Gotland called lamb-nose. At the 1982's exhibition in Visby the apple appered in many colours. Juicy flesh with a delicious aroma. Ripens in october-november. Storage is possible for some months. USDA zone about 6..... Here is called zone 1 - 2