Hi everyone! 5 years later and soooooo much more experienced...well somewhat. My update: Have planted a 3-in-1 apple grouping; Dorsett Golden (mostly because it's a good pollinizer), Gold Rush, and William's Pride. In five seasons, these trees have grown very well and the Dorsett Golden has been most productive -- but also boring. Gold Rush on the other hand, is a most spectacular apple! It is so hard to wait until October to harvest it, but well worth the wait. It is dense and crispy with a unique flavor, the finest I have ever tasted. I suppose if I went to Whole Foods, I'd never find a Gold Rush apple for sale among their heirlooms; GR is small, tends to have that brownish scabbing on the shoulders, doesn't look impressive at all. They only sell perfect-looking produce at WF and other organic, premium type supermarkets. Their loss...but that's why we grow our own fruits, so we can experience what retailers don't know for sensational taste. The William's Pride produces great, early apples; in fact, I get 2 or 3 smallish harvests per year now. WP is like a much-improved Red Delicious, with that similar sweet, perfumey scent and deep purple/red color. Like the GR apple, however, WP is crisp, never mealy. Too bad it's not a very productive tree overall, but still it's worth the garden space. "They" said I needed low chill apple varieties in Orange County.. "they" were dead wrong. If I could have proven "them" wrong with more varieties in my small, humble yard, you bet I would have by now! But since I have had such unprecedented success with my two "HIGH CHILL" apple trees, I would encourage anyone in my zone (or even warmer) to try ANY apple variety you think you'd like... I have a strong gut feeling you will be eating some pretty amazing apples in a season or two. Oh, and as a West Coast gardener, you will enjoy the fact that those apple moth pests are absent. At least, I haven't yet seen any of the typical apple tree pests and diseases I'd been warned about. So far, I have not had to spray anything on my apple trees. I'm a lazy organic gardener, so all I do is spread compost and a little fertilizer at the base every spring. This county must be heaven on earth for apple growing. So thanks for all the advice, garden forum people.

Less potential for live over pests if you thoroughly clean up all fallen foliage, fruit and strip the tree of retained foliage as well. If you want to go further, removing old mulch and replacing with fresh will also help eliminate pests like Codling Moth.

Thanks, Willy. I'm pretty much hearing that about the Dorsetts - they really aren't that tart. I think this is what my sister has, and if so, my gosh. Her tree must have had over 100 apples on it every year, and it is a well established dwarf. More than you could possibly eat as a family of 5! And the leaves not dropped are kind of a trait with both Anna and Golden Dorsetts. Just strip off the leaves at the end of the season. That way, they don't hang around and harbor fungii or scab. And my Anna did the same very, very weird thing this year (several folks have said this has happened to them as well in S. Calif) - Flowered in November, and I had 3 apples mature about a month ago! I had late blooms and 3 little apples ended up being ripe in January. They were very small but very sweet. Very weird. Must be due to the odd weather we had last year, and not a very hot summer. So right now, think I'll pick up a Dorsett Golden, a Pink Lady, some cross pollinator for the Pink Lady, and maybe a 3,4 or 5-in-1 that Bonita Creek has just for fun. And my two cherry trees. I'll let everyone know how these Minnie Royal and Royal Lee do. I'm about 7 miles from the ocean, and we just don't get too many nights under 45 degrees (although this last week has been really cold). I have heard nothing but good about them, so I'm expecting great things! Now, if I can just keep the animals and birds away, I'll have some fruit for myself :-) Patty S.

The fence/physical barrier is going to be the best idea for a few years. Some apples get better (usually sweeter) in cold storage (not a windowsill) such as the Arkansas Black (which can be stored for 6 months or longer), or they may start to rot if not consumed in a few days like the cinnamon spice apple. Unfortunately i am not able to find much on Anna apples. Only that they come from Israel, and are a child of the Golden Delicious. Most summer apples do not store well (with thousands of varieties of apples there are always exceptions), so i would recommend letting them fully ripen on the tree.