Lord Derby apple trees
- Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 4
Lord Derby is a traditional large English cooking apple, ripening in the mid to late season - from mid-September to early October.
Lord Derby fills a useful gap in the culinary apple calendar, arriving after the early cookers such as Keswick Codlin and Grenadier, and before the later cookers such as Bramley. This is not a variety for winter storage but the apples can be kept for a month or so in a cool place.
The Victorian author Hogg rated Lord Derby as an "excellent culinary apple". The flavour is nicely acidic if picked young, but milder if picked when fully ripe (at which point the skin develops a more yellow hue).
Although usually considered a cooking apple, many Lord Derby enthusiasts regard it as an excellent sharp eating apple too.
Lord Derby apple trees for sale
Pot-grown
All our pot-grown trees are grown for us to our specification by the Frank P Matthews nursery.
All pot-grown trees are suitable for planting out in the garden, some are suitable for growing in containers.
PG12-year bush-trained 12L pot-grown tree, M26 rootstock£57.50
Grown for us by Frank P Matthews nursery
Medium tree
(2m-3m after 10 years)
PG22-year bush-trained 12L pot-grown tree, MM106 rootstock£57.50
Grown for us by Frank P Matthews nursery
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
Bare-root
BR11-year bare-root tree,M26 rootstock£34.95
Medium tree
(2m-3m after 10 years)
BR21-year bare-root tree,M116 rootstock£35.75
Medium tree
(2m-3m after 10 years)
BR31-year bare-root tree,MM106 rootstock£34.95
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
BR41-year bare-root tree,M25 rootstock£35.75
Very large tree
(4m-7m after 10 years)
BR52-year (1.75m) bare-root tree,M25 rootstock£46.95
Very large tree
(4m-7m after 10 years)
Need help? Ask our fruit tree experts
Call us on 01759 392007 or fill in our contact form.
Tree specification
Photos of trees as supplied |
Tree sizes and forms
Pre-ordering
Pre-order now for delivery in September 2025
Delivery charges
Delivery for a single tree starts at £9.95, it is calculated based on your postcode.
Growing and Training
Lord Derby is a very easy apple tree for the garden, and like many Victorian culinary apples it has excellent natural disease resistance. It seems to be happy in both wetter and drier climates.
Recommended pollinators for Lord Derby apple trees
Lord Derby is not self-fertile, so you will need another different but compatible variety planted nearby in order to produce fruit.
The following varieties are good pollinators for Lord Derby.
If you are not sure about pollination requirements don't hesitate to ask us.
More pollinators >
BraeburnBraeburn is one of the best-flavoured supermarket apple varieties.
GalaGala is popular supermarket apple - but better when home-grown, with a sweet pleasant flavour.
Golden HornetMalus Golden Hornet is a traditional white blossom crab apple, with persistent yellow fruits.
Ellison's OrangeEllison's Orange is a well respected Cox-style apple which can achieve very good flavour.
Newton WonderA traditional English cooking apple, a good alternative to Bramley.
John DownieJohn Downie is a traditional crab apple for making crab apple jelly. White blossom and orange-red fruits.
Peasgood's NonsuchPeasgood Nonsuch is a highly-regarded old-fashioned English cooking apple.
Wedding BouquetMalus Wedding Bouquet features ivory-white blossom and tiny red berry-like fruitlets.
History
Cheshire, 19th century.
Lord Derby characteristics
- Gardening skillBeginner
- Self-fertilityNot self-fertile
- Flowering group4
- Pollinating othersAverage
- Fruit bearingSpur-bearer
- Climate suitabilityTemperate climatesMild damp climates
- Picking seasonLate
- CroppingGood
- Keeping (of fruit)1-2 months
- Food usesCulinaryJuiceTraditional cooker
- Disease resistanceGood
- Scab (Apple and Pear)Very resistant
- Country of originUnited Kingdom
- Period of origin1850 - 1899
British-grown trees 
Unlike many garden centres and online retailers, the vast majority of our fruit trees are grown in the UK.
Find out more.
In addition, all our trees are certified under the Plant Healthy scheme, supervised by the Plant Health Alliance.
Other stakeholders include Defra and the RHS. The scheme aims to improve UK biosecurity by setting standards
for all growers and retailers involved in selling plants in the UK.
Find out more.
Guaranteed fruit trees
When you buy your fruit tree from Orange Pippin Fruit Trees we guarantee it for the first season in your garden while it gets established. If it doesn't grow successfully, we'll either replace it the following season or offer a refund, subject to some conditions.
Find out more.
More about apple trees
There is no doubt that the famous Bramley's Seedling still rightly reigns supreme. Characterised by its copious rich juicy acidity it quickly renders to stiff puree in the kitchen, and is the benchmark for English apple cookery. However we have noticed a real resurgence in interest in the humble cooking apple in recent years, with cooks looking beyond Bramley for other qualities and textures.
Look out for cooking apples which ripen earlier than Bramley, such as Grenadier or Keswick Codlin.
Scotland also has a strong tradition of cooking apples - Galloway Pippin, Scotch Bridget, Scotch Dumpling for example. This also illustrates another useful quality of cooking apples - they can be productive even in climates where grey skies and rain are more frequent than sun and blue skies.
Many cooking apples are also great for juicing, especially if you like your apple juice to have a bit of an acidic kick.
