The early efforts of Minnesota’s apple pioneers resulted in many failures and a few successes. After the development of the Wealthy apple, more apple success followed. Fruit breeders created new apple varieties by crossing wild trees with the Wealthy apple, the Malinda apple from New England, and many others. By the 1920s, over 100 new cultivars were introduced via the Minnesota Fruit Breeding program — and they were not just apples. Early successes included the Latham raspberry, the Trumpeter strawberry, and the Haralson and Beacon apples.

The variety of apples available in Minnesota today would amaze those early fruit pioneers. With more than 30 varieties released by the University of Minnesota’s Fruit Breeding program, there is a range of apples available to both growers and eaters for cooking and eating, available early season and late.

The work of Minnesota’s apple pioneers lives on, as many of Minnesota’s contemporary breeds can trace their roots to both the Wealthy and the Malinda. Minnesota’s most famous apple — the Honeycrisp, a descendant of these early Minnesota apples — is grown, sold, and eaten all over the United States and the world.

Early experimentation with hardy apple trees led to the creation of several new Minnesota apple varieties. One prolific parent tree to many of these apples was the Malinda, a New England cultivar. It was valuable both as an apple to sell as well as a tree that could be crossed with others to make an entirely new branch on the apple family tree.

The University of Minnesota explains this process on the Minnesota Hardy webpage about apples:

Here are some well-known Minnesota apple varieties that have Malinda genes:

The following images and issues of The Minnesota Horticulturist include information on some of Minnesota’s earliest apple breeds, including the Malinda, the Jonathan, and the Nelson, Holt, and Lord's seedlings. Click on the images to access the full articles.

Explore more of this exhibit using the page links below.