Silken. Ivory to pale yellow skin color and medium to small fruit size characterize this extremely attractive apple recently named by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Center in Summerland, British Columbia. It ripens during the second week in September, but because of its very light skin color it appears to be ready to harvest earlier. It is firm, extremely crisp and juicy and has a very mild favor. In taste tests it has rated very high in flavor, appearance, and overall. Silken is precocious but not very biennial. It has moderate growth, a spreading habit, and is a very grower-friendly tree. It is quite susceptible to apple scab.

Topaz is a recently released disease-resistant variety from the Czech Republic. It may be the most widely planted scab-resistant apple in Europe. It is an extremely attractive, red, medium-to-large apple. Fruit are firm and juicy and the taste can be most accurately described as very tart with little perceptible sweetness. Topaz ripens in mid to late October. It is precocious, has moderate vigor, and an upright then spreading growth habit.

Zestar!™ is a medium-sized, somewhat attractive apple that was released from the University of Minnesota breeding program. It has pinkish red color on up to 50% of the surface. Zestar!™ ripens with Ginger Gold or perhaps slightly earlier. It has a very unique flavor with an excellent sugar-to-acid ratio. It is one of the few apples where both the sugar and acids are quite evident and yet extremely pleasant. It has a very distinctive and grower-friendly growth habit. The tree is very upright but the branches emanate from the central leader at almost a 90 angle. It lends itself very well to high-density (super-spindle) planting. The tree is precocious and annual, but susceptible to apple scab.