Wealthy is one of those American apples with a great story. After having blown thousands of dollars and nearly 10 years trying to grow apples in Minnesota, Peter Gideon and his family had only one surviving apple tree, a Siberian Crab Apple, and they were down to their last eight dollars. Determined to find an apple that would grow in Minnesota, Gideon sent the family's last dollars to an apple grower in Bangor, Maine, and got apple seeds and scions in return. Just one of the resulting trees, which Gideon had thought crossed with his Siberian crab apple, went on to produce an apple that Gideon later named the Wealthy, after his wife, Wealthy (Hull) Gideon. However, recent genetic fingerprinting has revealed that it’s actually a cross between ‘Duchess of Oldenburg’ and ‘Jonathan’, which makes sense given its resemblance to ‘Duchess’.

In terms of what to do with Wealthy, we’ve found that they’re best processed. Not many places list it online as good in pies, although Elizabeth made a super scrumptious pie that everyone lived (see photo). Lots of apple sauce and apple butter, which has a great flavor.

Wealthy is good all around in that it stores well, is super hardy, and bears reliably. It’s generally not a big apple but Fred Stewart of Green Bench Orchards managed to grow them out super large this year (2024). Definitely belongs in the Montana orchard. Hardy to -50F, likely because of its Duchess influence.

These trees are grafted onto Dolgo rootstock, a full size tree hardy to -60F that can get 2-30 ft. at maturity.