Bobscaping
Landscaping, gardening and the environment
photos of Flowering Crabapples
Photographs of Flowering Crabs
Nothing brings Spring alive like flowering crabapples!
Story of a local crabapple tree
Shutterbugs have been known to stop and ask permission to take pictures of some of the larger flowering crabapples in people’s yards. One particularly large crabapple tree, that we trimmed several times over the years, was located in Upper St. Clair Township. It stood twice as wide as it did tall.
When that flowering crab burst forth with bumper to bumper spring blossoms, on a tree measuring 30-feet wide by 20-feet tall, it made quite the photo opportunity, enough so that passing motorists would stop to capture a photo.
While we don’t have a photo of that magnificent crabapple to share on this page, we do have photos of other Crabs which will stimulate your desire to plant a flowering crabapple in your yard!
‘Harvest Gold’ crabapple blossoms
Crabapple Fruits
Even though there are sterile forms of flowering crabapple, most varieties are also recognized for their bright colored fruits, which are considered a tasty treat by our small feathered friends during the winter months. In locations close to sidewalks it may still be desirable to plant a fruitless variety, in order to keep the sidewalks clean.
All shapes & sizes of Crabapples
Crabs come in all shapes and sizes, from larger standard varieties to newly introduced cultivars recognized for their growth habit, flower or fruit. Crabapples are extremely hardy trees, but you still need to seek out varieties that are disease resistant and aren’t prone to common diseases such as apple scab.
‘Indian Summer’ flowering crabapple
‘Royal Raindrops’ flowering crabapple
‘Spring Snow’ flowering crabapple
Is that crabapple tree pink or white?
The line between pink and white in crabapples can be blurred, since some varieties are red in the bud and open to a white flower.
Dark pink to red flowers on this crab are accented by bronze colored foliage.
This bright colored flowering crabapple is accented nicely against an evergreen tree in the background.
Crabapples are an all-time favorite accent tree for use in front yards. Slower growing dwarf varieties can be used in small yards with limited space available.
Most crabapples need periodic trimming to remove water sprouts and root suckers. Many trees will also benefit from some light shaping, best done within the first month after they bloom, to avoid removing next year’s flowers.
Don’t let this happen!Root graft tookover top graft
Trees sometimes contain 2-parts in order to have the most desirable characteristics of each. In this case, a root stock was selected that does well in the ground, with a desirable flowering cultivar ‘grafted’ on top, for the above ground portion. Unfortunately, this homeowner allowed the less desirable rootstock growth overtake the top graft.
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