Discovery Apple Trees

• Variety: Discovery, the early Apple with a touch of strawberry
• Latin name: Malus domestica 'Discovery'
• Use: Eating
• Sold as: Bareroot maiden, bush and half-standard
• Rootstock: MM106
• Mature size: A bush is kept at about 3m. 4.5m by 4.5m if left unpruned
• Pollination: Group C. Needs a partner from group B, C or D
• Bearing habit: Partial tip-bearer
• Picking: August
• Keeps: Two to three weeks
• Blossom: Some resistance to frost
• Wildlife: RHS Plants for Pollinators
• Hardiness: H6, hardy through the British winter
• RHS Award of Garden Merit: Yes (1993)
• Delivered: Bareroot, November to April. Collection from Castle Cary also available

Discovery is an early eating Apple, picked in August and eaten within a few weeks: crisp, juicy and sweet, with a touch of strawberry. It holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit, its blossom has some resistance to frost, and it needs a pollination partner.

Discovery Apple Trees

The Discovery apple tree produces an early season eating apple. It holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit (1993).

Along with Beauty of Bath, this special apple is one of our favourite early cropping varieties. It has excellent texture and flavour: crisp, juicy and sweet. The taste is light, with a dash of fruity, strawberry like aromas and it's lovely when it's eaten from the fridge on a hot day. It's a pale yellow-green colour, ripening to red where the sun hits it.
Like most early season apples, Discovery doesn't store well, so we suggest that you estimate how many of them you'll eat in about 2 weeks and press the rest into juice to refrigerate or freeze.
The tree's compact size makes it ideal for smaller gardens. It's often slow to start its cropping life, but mature trees produce reliable yields.

Browse our range of apple trees, or all our fruit trees.
Read our guide to buying apples.

Delivery season: Bareroot plants are delivered from late autumn to spring, November to April. Pot grown plants, year round.

Growing Discovery Apples

Apples like rich, well drained soil, and will thrive on clay in locations that do not get waterlogged in winter.
A full day of sun and shelter from the wind is ideal.

Rootstocks:
We use MM106 for Discovery, the UK standard for medium-sized trees, ideal for gardeners. It gives a half-standard about 4m tall, and a bush about 3m.
MM106 maidens are suitable for cordons, fans and espaliers. We don't sell ready-trained cordons, fans or espaliers but you can just buy maidens and train them yourself: we can pre-prune them to whichever form(s) you choose and we send you instructions at pruning time in subsequent years.

This tree is potentially suitable for organic growing in the more humid West and South of Britain, where scab and canker are more common. It's recommended for the North & Scotland because of its frost resistant flowers.

Disease notes:
Disease resistance: Scab
Prone to spider mite.

Pollination Partners for Discovery

Your trees are self sterile and their flowers must be pollinated to make fruit.
Discovery is in Pollination Group C, which cross-pollinates with other apple trees in Groups B, C and D.

Use our Fruit Pollination Checker to quickly find pollination partners, or Apple Tree Pollination Guide to learn more.

Planting Companions

Discovery flowers in group C and needs a partner from group B, C or D. Katy, Greensleeves and Red Falstaff are all in group C, and Rosette, in group B, is a sport of Discovery itself. Pear trees give a shared orchard a different season. Dust bareroot roots with Rootgrow as you plant.

Why Buy Your Apple Tree from Ashridge?

Ashridge has sold trees since 1949 and is a Which? Best Plant Supplier 2025. Your Discovery is grafted onto MM106 rootstock, and maidens are pre-pruned before despatch for the form you choose. Bareroot trees are lifted to order while dormant and guaranteed for 12 months.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Discovery need a pollination partner?

Yes. It will not set fruit on its own pollen. Plant it with another Apple that flowers in group B, C or D, such as Katy, Greensleeves or Red Falstaff.

How long do Discovery Apples keep?

Two to three weeks. Like most early Apples it does not store, so eat what you can from the tree and press the rest into juice to chill or freeze.

How big does the tree grow?

On MM106, a pruned bush is kept at about 3 metres and a half-standard at about 4 metres. Left unpruned, the rootstock gives a tree about 4.5 metres tall and wide.

How do you prune a partial tip-bearer?

Go lightly on the shoot tips. Discovery carries some of its fruit at the tips of last year's shoots, so if you shorten every shoot you cut off part of next year's crop.

Do you sell Discovery as a cordon or espalier?

You buy a maiden and make the shape yourself, which is how a cordon is made. Tell us the form you want and we pre-prune the maiden before despatch. MM106 suits cordons, fans and espaliers.

Where does Discovery come from?

Essex. It was raised about 1949 by a workman on a fruit farm there and first called Thurston August, then renamed Discovery in 1962.

When are the trees delivered?

Bareroot only, from November to April, while the trees are dormant. You can order at any time of year and your tree is lifted and sent once the season opens.