Though it is slow to bear, we have found this to be a good, solid performer in our U-pick orchard. The tree is vigorous, spreading, and very resistant, perhaps immune, to fireblight.

Ripening mid-October in upstate NY, Splendour is medium-large and blushed a dull pinkish-red. It bears some slight russeting. This is a pretty and uncomplicated apple; the flavor has a honeyed sweetness that is almost entirely without acid. Children will like its straightforward appeal, and although this apple bruises easily, it stores well for over three months.

The spelling of Splendour is a clue; this apple is from New Zealand, where the Queen has decreed that the letter -u- shall allowed to wander freely and inhabit any word it so pleases. Like the letter -u-, nobody knows exactly where it came from, but Splendour was discovered growing wild by Charles L. Roberts in Napier in 1948. It was introduced in 1967, and it has since been used to breed Pacific Rose and Golden Gala.