Just 2 generations ago apple trees were rarely seen in local gardens. Everyone assumed that they just wouldn't succeed in our mild winter climate. Besides they are native to Russia. Between 1970 and 1985 we were selling a couple of local cultivars, Beverly Hills apple and Gordon apple. Both of these make fruit of decent quality, though I wouldn't pay to eat one. In the 1980's mild climate apples from other countries were introduced. It was soon found that many popular commercial varieties normally grown in cooler winter climates of the United States produced fruit locally as well.
Our winters are apparently too mild to successfully grow Honeycrisp apples. If you haven't tried them, Honeycrisp is the current taste test winner. I tried for many years but generally harvested fruit the size of ping pong balls.
Anna This cultivar from Israel is a precocious and prolific producer of large, cylindrical reddish green fruit with tender, crispy flesh with excellent flavor. Anna ripens in July. Unfortunately it has a poor shelf life and must be placed in a refrigerator enclosed in a ziploc bag to increase storage to about 2 months.
Dorsett Golden This cultivar from The Bahamas, like Anna, blooms extremely early (right about now). It is a seedling of Golden Delicious and is similarly yellow with slight pink blush and flesh with a slightly tart, sweet flavor. Golden Dorsett ripens in June, better quality when grown inland. It is often used to pollinate Anna, but both will produce a good crop by themselves.
Fuji Fuji is a daughter of Red Delicious and was bred in Japan. It is a medium size apple, quite variable in color and has crispy sweet flesh. Harvest in early fall. It is known for its long shelf life (greater than 2 months). Although I believe Fuji performs better in cooler winter locations (like our Central Valley) most of our customers have reported good results. (We are out of stock this week)
Gala Gala is a daughter of Golden Delicious that was bred in New Zealand. The fruit is like a small Golden Delicious with a dark red blush or stripes. The flavor is excellent if the weather is warm. Harvest in late August-September. Although the minimum chill requirement is listed as 500 hours we get good production locally.
Granny Smith This cultivar was selected in a suburb near Sidney, Australia nearly 150 years ago, a chance seedling from French Crab. It is well adapted to local gardens producing large crops of large apples. Granny Smith is green and tart if harvested before Thanksgiving. By late November it is quite sweet and is yellow-skinned and quite aromatic by the New Year. It seems little bothered by pests.
Jonagold Jonagold's mom was Golden Delicious and its dad was Jonathan. The large fruit resembles a Golden Delicious with a heavy rose blush or stripes. The crispy flesh is sweet with just a hint of tartness and has scored very high on taste tests. Harvest in September. Although the minimum chill requirement is listed at 700 hours and a pollinator is recommended we have seen isolated specimens produce good crops locally.
Pink Lady This cultivar was developed south of Perth, Australia a few miles from the ocean (very similar climate to Orange County). This cylindrical apple has a rose blushed, yellow green skin and crisp, fine-grained flesh that is both sweet and tart. It is harvested in November and December. Few pests.