Crab apple

Sun

Full sun to light partial shade; flowering and fruiting are best in full sun.

Water

Water regularly while establishing; established trees usually need extra water only during prolonged dry weather.

Soil

Well-drained but moisture-retentive loam or clay loam; tolerates a range of soil pH. Avoid permanently waterlogged ground.

Height

20-40 ft (6-12 m)

Spread

20-35 ft (6-10.5 m)

Flowers

Mid- to late spring; white flowers opening from pink buds.

Foliage

Green, oval, toothed leaves, usually almost hairless when mature; often yellow in autumn.

Growth

Moderate

Care needed

Medium

• Pollinators
• Cold hardy
• Wildlife
• Low allergen
• Fragrant
• Edible

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Moderate

Toughness

Fairly tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   7 ft (2 m)

2. After 1 year

   8 ft (2.3 m)

3. After 2 years

   9 ft (2.7 m)

4. After 3 years

   10 ft (3.1 m)

5. After 5 years

   12 ft (3.7 m)

About 20 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Toxic

Native to

the UK

Growth rate

Moderate

• Plant during the dormant season when the ground is workable, keeping the root flare at soil level.
• Water deeply during dry spells for the first two growing seasons.
• Keep grass away from the trunk and apply a 2-3 in (5-8 cm) organic mulch, leaving the bark clear.
• Stake only if the rootball moves in wind; check ties regularly and remove the stake once roots anchor the tree.
• Feed in spring only if growth is weak or soil is poor; avoid heavy nitrogen applications.
• For reliable fruit set, have another compatible apple or crab apple flowering nearby.

Pruning. Prune lightly in late winter on a dry day, removing dead, damaged and crossing branches and developing a balanced framework while the tree is young. Avoid topping or heavy annual pruning, which encourages crowded upright shoots.

Pick firm, fully coloured yellow-green apples, sometimes flushed red, in autumn when they detach with a gentle lift and twist; they remain very sour and are mainly used for jelly or preserves. A nursery-grown young tree may give a useful crop about 4-7 years after planting, while seed-grown trees can take longer.

Late winter

Prune lightly and check stakes, ties and trunk guards.

Early spring

Refresh mulch without covering the trunk; feed only if needed.

Spring

Watch blossom for pollinating insects and avoid insecticide sprays during flowering.

Summer

Water young trees deeply during dry weather and inspect leaves and shoots for disease.

Autumn

Harvest ripe fruit for cooking, leaving some for wildlife.

Late autumn

Plant bare-root trees where winters allow, and remove diseased fallen leaves and mummified fruit.

• Use as a small-to-medium lawn tree with room for its broad, irregular crown.
• Include in a mixed hedgerow with hawthorn and hazel for blossom, shelter and autumn fruit.
• Plant at a sunny woodland edge above spring bulbs and shade-tolerant groundcover.
• Add to a mixed orchard for cooking fruit, blossom and support for pollinating insects.

Garden styles it suits: English country, Cottage garden, Woodland, Wildlife garden, Native hedgerow and Backyard orchard.

Plant it with: Hawthorn, Hazel, Dog rose, Snowdrops, Wild daffodils and Hardy geraniums.

Wildlife: Flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees and other insects. Fruit feeds birds and mammals, while branches provide nesting cover; in its native European range, the foliage supports numerous insect larvae.

• Apple scab: dark leaf spots and marked fruit are worse in damp conditions; collect diseased fallen leaves and keep the crown open.
• Apple canker: sunken bark lesions can kill branches; cut affected wood back to healthy growth in dry weather and improve drainage.
• Fire blight: blackened blossom and hooked, dying shoots need prompt removal well below visible damage; disinfect tools between cuts and follow local plant-health advice.
• Aphids: curled young leaves may shelter colonies; tolerate light attacks, encourage predators and wash off small colonies with water.

Apple flesh is not known to be toxic to people, cats, dogs or horses, although large amounts can cause digestive upset. Seeds, leaves and stems contain cyanogenic compounds and can cause serious poisoning if enough is chewed and swallowed; a few accidentally swallowed intact seeds are unlikely to cause poisoning. Remove cores and seeds before offering fruit to pets, and keep horses away from piles of fruit or prunings.

• Domestic apple (Malus domestica)

  Usually has larger fruit and noticeably hairy leaf undersides and young shoots. Hybrids with crab apple can be intermediate and difficult to identify confidently.

• Siberian crab apple (Malus baccata)

  Typically has smaller, pea- to cherry-sized fruit on slender stalks; the dried sepal lobes usually fall away, unlike the persistent lobes on European crab apple fruit.

• Wild pear (Pyrus pyraster)

  Has rounder, often glossy leaves and white flowers with dark anthers; its fruit has gritty flesh rather than the smoother flesh of an apple.

Malus is the Latin name for apple, and sylvestris means 'of the woods'.

Propagation. Sow cleaned seed after a period of cold, moist stratification, or graft known material onto a compatible apple rootstock. Seedlings vary, and seed collected near cultivated apples may be hybrid rather than true Malus sylvestris.

Accepted botanical name

Malus sylvestris

In the US and Canada

Introduced in the lower 48 states.

Native range

Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Rus, Corse, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland and France.

Measured

Soil pH 5 to 7.5. Average height 700 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.