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Discovered in a High Town back garden, Luton has a new apple variety. Vote for your favourite name from a list of suggestions.
Discovered in a High Town back garden, Luton has a new apple variety. Vote for your favourite name from a list of suggestions.
Sensation! A new Luton apple variety Discovered
Sensation! A new Luton apple variety Discovered
A previously unidentified apple variety has been discovered in a back garden on Clarendon Road, High Town.
In December 2025, Laboratory DNA testing confirmed it as a new cultivar, with the 19th century apples Newton Wonder and James Grieve being its probable parents.
Most likely a chance seedling from an amateur gardening enthusiast, it is an early dual-purpose apple, suitable for eating and cooking. The fruits are lemon-yellow, with a red and orange flush in some years. The photos show this year’s fruit - all from the same tree.
The apple can now be registered as a new variety, but first, we need a name for it!
A local mystery
A local mystery
The tree is thought to be 70–90 years old, but we do not know who planted it or why. Research by a family historian and conversations with previous residents have not yet provided an answer. Fruit trees were once common in Luton gardens and the area around the tree shows fruit trees on historic OS maps.
Help us name it
Help us name it
We've had input from a few friends and sought advice from Peter Laws at FruitID.com. Peter is involved in the DNA scheme and registering new local apple varieties. We’re proposing five names based on where the apple is from, what it looks like and its parents.
Click on the button to rank the names in order of preference:
The choices you'll see are:
Clarendon Blush
Clarendon Seedling
Clarendon Wonder
High Town Beauty
Luton Wonder
You can also enter your own name suggestion.
The new Luton apple from Clarendon Road - all these apples from the same tree - slightly under-ripe
Closeup showing the striped blush and distinctive lenticels (dots) on the skin of the apple. They're tiny pores through which the apple can 'breathe'.
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