The first red apple most people picture, the Red Delicious, has a distinct, uniform, dark red color. It produces medium-sized apples with a notable conical shape. It is pleasantly sweet with some melon overtones in flavor and decent crispness. Grown at home and picked ripe, it has a much nicer flavor than most store-bought apples. Its skin can be quite thick though.

They ripen late September through mid-October and have an excellent storage life of 3 to 6 months. The tree is resistant to Cedar Apple Rust and moderately resistant to fireblight and powdery mildew.

Honeycrisp apples are not self-pollinating. They need another apple tree within 100 feet of them that blooms at the same time. In windy areas like Kansas, 20 feet apart will ensure much better pollination. Good varieties for pollinating Red Delicious include the Gala, Fuji, Yellow Delicious, Honeycrisp, and Granny Smith apples.