A fruit-tree nursery in Palmer, Alaska, operating since 1998, that sells cold-hardy apple varieties as its primary business — with a fall u-pick component on the side, offering four named cold-climate varieties bred to survive Alaska's growing conditions.
Northern Fruits Nursery & U-Pick, in Palmer, in Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Valley, has operated since 1998, described as organically grown. Its primary business is selling fruit trees, berry bushes, and ornamental trees — the fall u-pick apple component is a secondary offering layered on top of that core nursery business, which is worth understanding before you visit expecting a dedicated orchard experience.
The record names four specific apple varieties: Parkland, Zesta, State Fair, and Norland. These are cold-climate cultivars, bred specifically to handle Alaska’s short growing season and cold winters — a genuinely useful, checkable detail distinct from anything else in this dataset’s Alaska entries. If you’re curious what apple varieties can even survive in this climate, this is a real, named answer.
Understanding the business model matters here. Northern Fruits sells fruit trees, berry bushes, and ornamental trees as its main line of business — this is a place people visit to buy stock for their own home orchards or gardens, not primarily a destination built around a visitor picking experience. The fall u-pick component exists, but it’s a side offering rather than the central identity of the business.
Northern Fruits sits in the same broader Matanuska-Susitna growing region as this dataset’s existing Wasilla entry, but it’s a different town and a genuinely different business model — nursery-and-u-pick rather than orchard-and-tasting-events. If you’re exploring Alaska apple options broadly, these two represent distinct approaches within the same general area.
Both the business’s Facebook and Yelp pages would not render usable content through automated fetch during this research pass. As a result, this record relies on a WebSearch summary of multiple aggregator listings — Yelp, Manta, Chamber of Commerce, and Nextdoor — rather than content the researcher could read directly. Treat variety names, the “since 1998, organically grown” description, and pricing as unverified pending a direct call or a successful Facebook fetch.
No pricing, hours, or explicit season dates were found in any accessible source. Given the nursery-first business model, it’s plausible that u-pick access is more informal or seasonal-window-dependent than a dedicated orchard’s posted hours would be.
The address is 16042 E Ptarmigan Rd, Palmer, AK 99645. Phone: 907-745-1070.
Northern Fruits Nursery & U-Pick offers a genuinely distinctive angle on Alaska apple-growing — four named cold-hardy varieties bred for the climate — but it’s fundamentally a nursery business with fall u-pick as a secondary offering. Call ahead to confirm current-season u-pick availability, since no hours, pricing, or dates are published anywhere accessible.
Not stated with confirmed dates. A general fall u-pick season is described, without specific 2026 dates, hours, or pricing.
You need confirmed hours, pricing, or season dates before visiting — none were found in any accessible source.
Four cold-hardy varieties are named: Parkland, Zesta, State Fair, and Norland — all bred to survive Alaska's short growing season and cold climate, distinct from anything in the existing Alaska entries in this dataset.
A nursery first — it sells fruit trees, berry bushes, and ornamental trees as its primary business, with a fall u-pick component as a secondary offering.
Since 1998, described as organically grown, per a WebSearch summary of aggregator listings (Yelp, Manta, Chamber of Commerce, Nextdoor).
It's in the same broader Matanuska-Susitna growing region but a different town (Palmer, not Wasilla) and a different business model — nursery-first rather than orchard-first.
No standalone website — only a Facebook page (facebook.com/northernfruits.nursery), which would not render usable content through automated fetch during this research pass.
2026 dates had not been published when we last checked. In past seasons it has run: Fall u-pick season. Check with the orchard before driving out.
Pricing was not published when we last checked.
Yes — it's a pick-your-own orchard.
Parkland, Zesta, State Fair, Norland — note that what's actually ready to pick changes week to week through the season.
16042 E Ptarmigan Rd, Palmer, AK 99645, in Matanuska-Susitna Borough. It is one of 3 orchards we track in Matanuska-Susitna Valley.
We track 3 orchards in Matanuska-Susitna Valley, 3 of which let you pick your own apples. The orchard has not published a starting price, so it cannot be compared on cost — call before you budget.
One caveat worth repeating: this orchard had not published its 2026 dates when we last checked, while 0 of the 3 orchards we track in Matanuska-Susitna Valley had. Treat any date you see elsewhere as last year's until the orchard confirms it.
There are 2 other orchards we track in Matanuska-Susitna Borough. All Matanuska-Susitna Valley orchards →
facebook.com
Checked September 2026.