From my photo files... today's plant is the crab apple

Malus 'Spring Glory' (#1 on site map)

We have and enjoy a number of flowering crab apple trees here at Oak Lawn. At one time we had many more but one has to make choices as trees mature... every so often we find ourselves removing the odd crab. I've probably planted over thirty plus through the years but there are now only seventeen. At any rate, hard choices are often required of the gardener in the interest of the overall design of the gardens. Some flowering crabs went because of disease concerns, others suffer from apple scab and have been or will be removed... still others drove me nuts with all the suckering, a couple went because of an overabundance of large fruits, and so it goes. Actually there are three large specimens on the list for removal once their replacement ornamentals gain some stature. By the way, suckering on ornamental apples need not be the problem it has been in the past. New root stocks have been developed that virtually end the suckering situation. Look for Sproutfree® on the label the next time you purchase a flowering crab apple. So too for disease... there are plenty of resistant choices these days, my favorites being cultivars of 'sargentii'.

I'm including a site map with today's post so you can see where the various malus cultivars are in the gardens. It is at the bottom of this post and the view from the air is a couple years old so a number of things have changed in the gardens, including the addition of the barn. Again, the site map can be found at the bottom of this post.

Malus 'Spring Glory' (#2 on site map)

The Spring Snow cultivars pictured below make a very large tree. Unfortunately I get a lot of foliage dropping from the mid-summer on and I'm trying to decide whether to bid them adieu. Their presence in the gardens would be missed for sure...

Two malus 'Spring Snow' (#3 & #4 on site map)

Malus 'Spring Snow'

Malus 'Strawberry Parfait' is one of my more recent flowering crab acquisitions. I love its bi-toned blooms and its wonderful fragrance... I planted it in a rather odd place about two feet from the stone wall on the back of the garage... it's going to take some creative pruning down the road but I'm looking for a large billow of color suspended over the steel roof of that portion of our building.

Malus 'Strawberry Parfait'  (#5 on site plan)

Malus 'Strawberry Parfait'

The following photo was taken a few of years ago. The white crab is 'Flame'. To the left is 'Royalty' which has been removed some time ago and to the back is 'Vanguard' which was removed this past fall... it had more apple scab problems than I could bear, dropping leaves as early as mid-June.

Malus 'Flame' (#6 on site plan)

Removing 'Vanguard' this fall truly rates as one of those very difficult situations a gardener must face... it was beautiful in bloom as pictured below in 2008. Unfortunately, the flowers were barely gone, when the foliage would start to drop, so the decision was made for the tree to go.

Malus 'Vanguard' (#7 on site plan) removed this past fall

I have to admit that white flowering trees are among my favorites, especially in terms of flowering crab apples. Here's a reposting of one of my favorite pictures of the 'Sargent's' crab from this past spring...

Malus 'Sargentii' (#8 on site plan)

Malus 'Sargentii'

Malus 'Snowdrift' (#9 on site plan)

Snowdrift is outstanding for its fragrance... we sit in the gazebo on warm spring evenings and soak in the perfume coming from this tree...

Malus 'Snowdrift'

It took me many years to really appreciate that flowering crabs can be four season plants. To have them behave in that manner, pruning becomes significantly important. The only downside of pruning that I can think of, might be the possibility of diseases such as fire blight entering through the wounds. On the other hand, not pruning crabs means that for a week or two each spring there is a big mass of color and much of the rest of the year the tree looks like a big tangled mess which to my way of thinking, can be a 'blight' on the landscape. My 'Mary Potter' is an example of what pruning can do for a crab... for a long time it was simply a massive, indistinctive pile of branches on a trunk... with pruning, it now displays excellent winter interest and with its heavy fruit crops, is basically interesting throughout the year.

Malus 'Mary Potter' (#10 on the site plan)

Malus 'Mary Potter'

Malus 'Mary Potter' in fruit with Seven Sons tree form

Floribunda has yellow fruit that the birds love...

Malus 'Floribunda' (#11 on site plan)

Malus 'Floribunda'

Malus 'Floribunda'

Following (to the left) are two of three Malus 'Firebird' that I grow on high grafts... these are sargentii varieties along with Mary Potter and Tina. All sargentii bloom later, are very dependable, as well as disease resistant.

Malus 'Firebird' (#12,13,14 on site plan)

Louisa is a wonderful and unusual shade of pink for a crab apple. I have two of these weepers.

Malus 'Louisa' (#15,16 on site map)

Malus 'Tina' is pictured below. I really like the fact that this plant is low to the ground except for the fact that its root stock does send a lot of suckers... it's not an easy chore to remove them each year. This cultivar has particularly red buds followed by white blooms, giving three different phases to the bloom period. The combination of buds and blooms is my favorite phase. The large tulips are a late variety called Blushing Beauty and generally are in bloom at the same time as Tina.

Malus 'Tina' (#17 on site plan)

Malus 'Tina'

To close out this post, the final flowering crab at Oak Lawn is this 'Radiant' which is on my list for removal. This is another apple scab susceptible variety that has been offered for sale for years and should probably be passed over for newer cultivars with much improved disease resistance, at least in my experience... it does have wonderful color when in bloom however. I'm just waiting for its replacement fern leaf beech to gain enough size to allow for removal of this crab.

Malus 'Radiant' (#18 on site plan)

It took me a while to learn that trying to maintain trees that are disease prone is basically a thankless task. Spraying takes a lot of money, time, and possibly even a toll on one's health. The results never seem to measure up to the effort... at best, I would gain perhaps 3-4 weeks before the dreaded leaf drop would occur on susceptible crabs. I've decided to remove some of these mature trees while others will stay for the time being at least... acceptance of the situation along with removal of diseased foliage from the ground is about all I can do. Afterall, it's only four trees out of eighteen that have the problem... I guess I can handle that, at least for the time being...

That's it for today, Larry

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