Apple seasons

The fall equinox is counted as the start of autumn. By that yardstick McIntosh, that icon of fall, is actually a summer apple.

 ¶ 

And lots of other autumn-ish apples too. ¶ 

My discomfort with that idea brought me around to thoughts of a special pomological fall. (Some of you pointed out it is not very different from meteorological fall.) ¶ 

Now this blog reflects that.

I classify apples by season and month, as best as I can anyway. You can see all the September apples, all Summer apples, and so forth.

I've corrected my original classifications to conform to the pomological calendar. The Mac and many others are no longer counted as part of the summer harvest.

Nothing's perfect

Apples reach their peak perfection at different times in different climates and different years. Even if I knew all of them very well there would be some varieties right on the arbitrarily determined cusp of fall.

Consequently these new classifications are merely less imperfect than before, and that will have to do.

As for the pomological calendar: It feels right. Astronomical winter only began a few days ago, but we have been in pomological winter since Thanksgiving.

Now do spring

I am still thinking through when pomological winter should end.

Perhaps it should be the earliest date that apple buds are likely to show a green tip, as their vulnerability to cold begins to grow.

In these parts, I think that is pretty close to the vernal (spring) equinox. That would make winter the longest pomological season.

Or perhaps winter should end with silvertip, a few weeks earlier, as that is when many seem to cut budwood for grafting.

Is that the start of pomological spring, or should it be counted the final act of winter?

What do the orchardists who read this blog think?