Botanical Name: Malus 'Royal Gala'
Type: Fruit
Family: Rosaceae
Height: 20 feet
Spread: 20 feet
Sunlight: Full Sun
Hardiness Zone: 6a
Soil Type: Slightly acidic
Maintenance: High
Moisture: Average to Moist
Flower: White, fragrant
Fruit: Showy, Edible
Harvest Time: Mid Season
Tolerates: Urban Pollution
Attracts: Birds, Hummingbirds, Butterflies
Pollinator Friendly: Yes
Pollination: Needs a pollinator
The Gala Apple produces delicious, mid season snacking apples. It is a small tree mainly grown for its edible qualities. It produces large, crisp apples with rich flavor, a firm white flesh and a sweet snap. It is an all-purpose dessert apple, perfect for eating fresh, baking or for making sauces. One of the wonderful traits of the Gala apple is that they do not bruise easily and they store very well for up to six months.
In the spring your Gala will burst to life with pink buds opening to showcase a wonderful display of snow-white, fragrant flowers. Throughout the season, the apples mature to a scarlet red, with red stripes over a yellow background. The leaves of the tree remain dark green throughout the summer, turning yellow in the fall.
The Gala Apple will have a clearance of about 4 feet off the ground, and reach an overall height of approximately 20 feet when mature. It will grow in a somewhat rounded habit, growing at a medium rate. Pruning is best done in late winter/early spring when the risk of extreme cold is over. It requires full sunlight and will appreciate average to moist conditions. Once established it will tolerate dryer conditions. This variety, while partially self-fertile, requires another tree of a different variety that blooms at the same time growing nearby to ensure greater fruit production.
