Duchess originates in the Tula area of Russia, from where it spread to many countries under different names, like: Duchess, Duchesse, Duchesse d'Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Borowitsky, Brunswick, New Brunswick, Charlamowsky, Early Joe and Queen Mary. It was once so popular, that it was used as reference in evaluation of other apple cultivars. As of today it is still widely cultivated in Europe and in USA and have many popular descending cultivars, such as alkmene, Northern Spy and Pinova.

Duchess has a generally good resistance to major apple diseases, good vigour, flowers early-mid season, blossoms are self-sterile, gives an early harvest and good crop of variable size of apples, which use for fresh eating as well as for cooking. Fruit melts by cooking, resulting in a good puree which has an orange tint.

Zone 3-6. This red selection is very cold hardy and produces an abundant annual crop of medium to large apples in late August. Fruit is tart and juicy, good for eating but best for pies and sauce. Short storage life. It is truly an old time favorite.