Have you ever come suddenly to miles of crab apples in full bloom?
If this unique experience has been hours, I can avoid trying to tell you what a thrilling spectacle they can be in spring. Nor need I remind you of that delicious perfume drenching the air, for it is sure to linger on in memory long after the blossoms have fallen.
Perhaps crab apples are growing in your garden, farm, or a sunny hillside not too far away—those delightful wild ones. Then I need only recall to you their year-round beauty.
Perhaps only recently, the last bright fruit—so attractive to birds— was eaten gratefully by some feathered visitor. Or you may have gathered the fruit in the fall for tart jelly, spicy preserves, pickles, or tangy crab apple butter.
And not too long ago, the gay leaves in vivid autumn hues fluttered down or, silhouetted against a dark sky, were driven before a cold wind.
Crab Apples For Spectacular Bloom In Summer
From spectacular bloom in spring all through summer, your crab apples were attractive. Perhaps you grow or admire those with dark red or red-purple foliage from spring to fall or those which change in fall.
Regardless of the varieties grown, the fruit began to color in late summer and fall; bright yellow, yellow-green, red and yellow, crimson and maroon, and soon you have a more brilliant display—with both fruit and foliage— than that of spring.
Late in fall, you rejoiced that the fruit hung on, perhaps through dreary weather, to lend a cheerful note. And even after the fruit was gone, the bare branches etched a fascinating pattern against a snowy winter landscape. What dividends you are reaping from crab apples!
This all-season return is much more generous than that from the majority of flowering trees and shrubs, which have only one season of beauty as a rule—perhaps all too fleeting.
After growing even one crabapple, you can appreciate its mounting popularity. More and more gardeners are recognizing their value and are planting them in ever-increasing numbers. As a result, horticulturists report steady yearly increases in sales.
Civic groups are discovering the value of crab apples for mass plantings along highways for decorative effect and ease of maintenance. In addition, they demand landscape use around public buildings and, on airport grounds, in city parks.
Well-Known Public Park Plantings
One of the most noted park plantings, and the mecca for travelers in spring, is in the Water Works Park in Des Moines, Iowa, where 1,100 trees, representing more than 300 varieties, have been assembled under the direction of the grounds superintendent, Arie F. den Boer, foremost authority on the subject of crab apples.
This is claimed to be the largest and most comprehensive single collection of crab apples in the world. In spring, these crabs provide a thrilling spectacle for weeks, beginning early in May, considered by many of the thousands who have enjoyed it one of the significant floral spectacles of the country.
Other well-known displays include the following:
- Lilacs in Rochester, New York
- Cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin, Washington, D. C.
- Dogwoods in the vicinity of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and the dazzling spectacle of Atlanta, Georgia, in spring
- Crape myrtles in and around Norfolk, Virginia
Crab apples are rivaling flowering cherries—and with much less publicity. The crabs are more rugged, hardy, and resistant to heat and cold. They will grow where the more tender cherries might perish.
Ornamental Crabs In Cities’ Beautification Projects
Several cities have featured ornamental crabs in beautification projects, including:
- Kankakee, Illinois
- Spencer, Iowa
- Pittsfield, Massachusetts
- Des Moines, Iowa
They are also featured in the following:
- Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
- Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois
- Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri
- Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California: public parks in Rochester, New York
- The campus of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Crab apples thrive in nearly all parts of the country. The native species are found from New York to Alaska. The ornamental crabs are hardy and will grow almost anywhere, even in cities, despite smoke and dust.
Ornamental Crabs’ Features
They are little troubled by disease or insects and need no formal pruning—such pruning would spoil the natural shape of the trees, which is part of their appeal. While they will grow in all types of soil, they do show some preference for acid soil.
Once established, the trees increase in not only size but also the quantity and size of blossoms and, naturally, their effectiveness. Crab apples live to be quite old yet still continue to flower.
The trees range from six to eight-foot dwarfs to those of 15′ to 20′ feet. Their forms may be short and broad with a spread of 15′ to 20′ feet or tall, slim, and pyramidal.
There are other forms with neat, globe-shaped crowns. Then there are weeping varieties.
Present-Day New Crab Apples
A new crab apple, first announced last spring, is of a semi-weeping type and is to be called Malus’ Red Jade.’
This novelty, available for spring planting, originated in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The small trees are loaded with blush-white blooms in spring and bright fruit in fall.
One of the seedlings developed at the University of Minnesota by the late Dr. L. E. Longley is also announced for introduction and will be available through the nursery trade. This variety has been named ‘Radiant.’
Among the best present-day crabs, highly recommended by experts, are ‘Katherine’ and ‘Dorothea.’ ‘Katherine,’ developed in Rochester, N. Y., forms a many-branched, shrub-like tree.
Profuse blossoms, blush to white, are forerunners of tiny yellow and red fruits. ‘Dorothea,’ similar to ‘Katherine’ but a deeper shade, originated in the Arnold Arboretum. Its fruits are yellow.
Not only an authority on crab apples but also a breeder of note, Mr. den Boer has several fine hybrids to his credit.
Well-known is his ‘Crimson Brilliant’ with red, partly semi-double small blossoms. It is a hardy, vigorous grower and, at least where it originated, flowers the first year after planting.
Two popular hybrids have purple foliage; ‘Irene,’ light purple leaves and single red or red-purple flowers; ‘Purple Wave,’ noted for ex-small yellow fruit and exceptionally dark purple leaves. It has ‘Jay Darling,’ single flowers of bright red.
Then, too, there are imported varieties of worth; ‘Hillier,’ an English introduction, has large clusters of semi-double flowers, red in bud and bright pink in flower.
It is medium height and flowers late. This variety, with large, showy yellow fruits, is claimed to be one of the heaviest fruits.
Other Crab Apple Varieties
Varieties’ Kinsmere’ and ‘Maka- Certain varieties, mik,’ novelties from Canada, are well recommended. The former is a small tree, broad and round-headed, with light purple-pink or lavender-pink flowers and fairly sizeable purple fruit, ‘Makamik,’ upright in growth, has purple-red blooms and bright red fruits.
Like the famous Bechtel crab, “Charlotte,’ originated near Waukegan, 111. Its large flowers are semi-double, a delicate pink, and with prominent brown anthers. It is deliciously fragrant as well as beautiful.
The ‘Hopa’ crab, one of the most popular, grows to 15 or 20 feet and blooms generously. The large flowers are light purple-pink and dark red-orange.
‘Sargent’ and ‘Pink-bud Sargent’, both dwarfs, have snowy flowers and burg, Mich, tiny purple-red fruits.
The ‘Midget’ crab, the earliest pure pink, has large yellow fruits.
‘Bechtel’s’ crab, a universal favorite, has deliciously fragrant double flowers of pink.
‘Arnold’ is noted for profuse flowers, rose red buds, then pale pink to white, heavily scented. Yellow fruits are small.
The Japanese flowering crab, also a choice, has red buds, pale pink to white flowers, and small yellow fruits.
‘Jay Darling’, one of the best-loved, was named for Des Moines’ beloved cartoonist. Flowers, leaves, and fruits are all purple and red. This fruit hangs on nearly all winter to entice the birds.
The ‘Pink Weeper’ crab forms a good specimen tree with drooping, fountain-like branches covered with deep red buds followed by pink blossoms.
Because of neat growth and good habits, certain varieties are especially recommended for small gardens: ‘Early Flowering Midget’; late ‘Sargent.’
A group of three suggested as suitable for the medium size place: ‘Arnold,’ ‘Double Chinese’ and ‘Hopa’. Or the choice might be ‘Bechtel,’ ‘Carmine,’ or ‘Jay Darling.’
44659 by Mrs. J. R. Seckman