Select These Ornamental Crabapples

For those gardeners tired of Bradford pear problems, go shopping for ornamental crabapples (Malus spp.). Selected cultivars mature into lovely small spring flowering trees. Most fit under utility lines. Be careful which cultivars you choose.

Worldwide, there are over 400 cultivars of crabapples in nursery commerce. Most are susceptibility to one or more serious foliar diseases that include fire blight, cedar apple rust, apple scab, powdery mildew and frog-eye.  All 19 listed below are rated with above average disease resistance.

Ornamental crabapple fruits add ornamental beauty in fall and winter seasons. Fruit size is small, less than 5/8 inches in diameter. An extra bonus is that small birds are attracted to the fruits from late fall thru winter.  There is no mess on lawns, walkways or cars.

Consult experts at your state's land grant university for an updated listing which may also additional cultivars. Varieties 'Prairifire', 'Sugartyme', Japanese flowering crabapple (M. floribunda) and M. x sargentii are popular at garden centers nationwide.

Here is your shopping list of 18 of the best.

Adams - 20 x 20ft. (magenta flowers & red fruit)                            

Adirondack - 18 x 10 ft. (white flowers & orange-red fruit)

Cardinal® - 16 x 22 ft. (pink-red flowers & red fruit)

Centurion® - 20 x 15 ft. (pink flowers & red fruit)

David - 12 x 12 ft. (white flowers & red fruit)

Donald Wyman - 20 x 20 ft. (white flowers & red fruit)

Doubloons - 18 x 16 ft. (double white flowers & yellow fruit

Firebird® - 8 x 10 ft. (magenta flowers & red fruit)

Japanese flowering crabapple (M. floribunda) - 20 x 20 ft. (light pink flowers & dark red fruit)

Louisa - weeping 10 x 12 ft. (pink flowers & yellow fruit)

Pink Princess™- 8 x 12 ft. (rose pink flowers & red fruit)

Prairifire - 20 x 20 ft. (red-purple flowers & dark red fruit)

Purple Prince® -   20 x 20 ft. (rose red flowers & maroon fruit)

Royal Raindrops® - 20 x 15 ft. (pink red flowers & red fruit)

sargentii - short spreader 8 x 14 ft. (white flowers & red fruit)

sargentii ‘Tina’ - dwarf 5 x 6 ft. (white flowers & red fruit)

Sugartyme® - 18 x 15 ft. (white flowers & red fruit)

White Cascade® - weeping 15 x 15 ft. (white flowers & lime-yellow fruit)

zumi ‘Calocarpa’ -  20 x 24 ft. (white flowers & red fruit)

* Thanks to J. Frank Schmidt & Sons Co., Boring, OR for their cultivar height and width data and foliar disease ratings. 

Eastern Tent Caterpillar (crabapple, cherry, peach)

photo credit: Dr. Frank Hale, Entomologist, University of Tennessee
The Eastern tent caterpillar is frequently the first insect that I receive calls about in the spring. Eggs overwinter on wild cherry trees and move on long silken treads to tasty landscape tree foliage nearby. Larvae and caterpillars consume lots of leafy matter over the next month.

Dirty white webs form in limb crotches beginning in late March when wild cherry leaves are developing. Larvae leave the web on warm sunny days to consume leaves of ornamental crabapple, peach and cherry. They remain in the web during cloudy or rainy weather.

Large landscape trees are damaged temporarily, and new foliage grows back rapidly. However, newly planted or young trees may lose most of their 1-2 year old foliage and have no reserves to grow new shoots.

In March and April, many different insecticides are labeled including horticultural oil, Sevin (Carbaryl), Bt (Dipel), Orthene, Malathion, and insecticidal soap. Always read the pesticide label for all precautions. For example, the label on Orthene states “may cause foliar injury to flowering crabapples”.