The second house my parents bought for the family had a small orchard, including apples, a pear, a cherry, and an Italian plum tree. I’m not naively nostaligic about that orchard. I saw all the work that went into it. But having fresh fruit was always such a treat and the trees had all-season beauty.
For my mini orchard at home, I wanted apple trees that would take up less space. I ended up adding two columnar apples at first in the orchard bed, then adding two more columnar apples along the driveway. The first two trees have grown well and they produce large crops every other year that I fight to keep from the squirrels. They varieties are Scarlet Sentinel and North Pole. The North Pole is really tall now–probably fifteen feet, and is only blooming at the top this year. The Scarlet Sentinel lost its original leader, so it is less columnar and more compact.
The second set of trees, planted about three years ago, haven’t produced apples yet–but it looks like this might be the year.
2020 Apple blossoms. 
Apple tree next to the driveway. 
Scarlet Sentinel in the middle, North Pole to the right. 
April 2020
My 2020 plans for these trees are to feed them and to put nylon bags on the fruit early on. I may also create a net structure at the base of the trees so the squirrels might stay away.