Gala Apple Tree

The crisp, honey-sweet apple that turned millions of people into apple lovers — now growing in your own backyard.

Gala is a New Zealand-bred cross of Kidd's Orange Red and Golden Delicious, and it's become one of the most popular apples in the world for good reason. Small-to-medium fruit with thin yellow skin striped and blushed in red-orange. Inside: pale cream, fine-grained flesh with a mild, sweet, low-acid flavor that needs no sugar. The quintessential snacking apple, equally at home sliced into salads, baked whole, or pressed for a sweet, fragrant cider.

What I love about it

Gala is the apple that converts people. The sweetness is natural and clean — no tartness to get past, no acquired taste required. Kids love it. Adults love it. It bears abundantly and consistently once established, and the spring bloom is genuinely beautiful: clouds of pink-white blossoms that give way to glowing red-and-gold fruit by fall. It stores well in the refrigerator for several weeks to months, so a single tree feeds you long past harvest. Plant a second compatible apple nearby for cross-pollination and you'll have more apples than you know what to do with. That's the goal.

Plant Care Tips

• ☀️ Light: Full sun — 6–8 hours daily for best fruit production
• 💧 Water: Deep watering weekly; increase during fruit development
• 🌡️ Temperature: Hardy to -20°F (Zone 5); requires 500–800 chill hours
• 🪴 Difficulty: Easy to moderate — annual pruning keeps it productive
• 🐾 Pet Safety: Apple seeds toxic to dogs; fruit flesh is safe
• ✂️ Pruning: Prune to open-center or central-leader form in late winter

Plant Specs

• Mature Size: 10–20 ft tall, 8–10 ft wide
• Growth Rate: Moderate
• Bloom Time: Spring
• Harvest Time: October–November
• Pollinator: Requires a second apple variety for best yields
• Growing Zone: 5–8

Bloom bold. Be cheeky.