Add small stature to the list of attributes and you have a fitting choice for almost any landscape.
This hardy deciduous tree typically grows 10 to 20 feet tall and wide.
Some of these cultivars mature at less than 10 feet tall.
Credit: Mike Jensen
Create aliving fenceby planting crabapple trees along with other flowering shrubs and evergreens along a property line.
Crabapple trees also make excellent specimen plants.
Anchor the corner of a foundation bed with a low-branching, spreading cultivar.
Credit: Janet Mesic Mackie
Or, add a crabapple to a perennial border for vertical interest year-round.
Position the tree in the planting hole so the top the rootball is level with the surrounding grade.
Backfill with the excavated soil and build a shallow, 3-foot-wide basin around the base of the tree.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Water the newly planted tree regularly during the first year after plantingabout 1 inch per week.
Depending on the variety, space several trees 10 to 20 feet apart to allow for mature growth.
Crabapple Care Tips
Light
Crabapple trees grow best infull sun.
Credit: Denny Schrock
While they will tolerate partial shade, flower quantity is often diminished as a result.
The ideal pH is slightly acidic, between 5.5 to 6.5.
Humidity, especially in combination with warm weather, can foster the spread of fungal diseases.
Credit: Mike Jensen
For the amount to use, follow product label instructions.
This can be done any time of the year.
Remove any broken, dead or diseased branches, and prune out any crowded branches to increase air circulation.
Credit:Judith Watts
Fill the bottom with gravel or rocks to improve drainage.
Repot the tree to a larger container when its roots reach the sides of the pot.
Remember that container plants need more frequent watering and fertilizer than plants in the landscape.
Bill Stites.
Pests and Problems
Like many trees, crabapple is susceptible to some problems and diseases.
Additionally, fireblight, a frustrating bacterial disease, causes branches to turn brown or black and wilt.
Solutions to these problems may include fungicides and/or pruning to improve air circulation.
Bob Stefko.
If you are concerned, search for disease-resistant cultivars when considering various crabapple varieties.
It grows 18 feet tall and wide.
It grows 15 feet tall and wide.
Credit: Illustration by Mavis Augustine Torke
It has unique cut-leaf foliage.
This plant reaches 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide.
It grows 20 feet tall and wide.
A mix of small woody species is more valuable to local wildlife than a crabapple monoculture.
The fragrant, flowering trees prefer full sun and rich, neutral to slightly acidicwell-drained soil.
They thrive in zones 4-10.
Viburnum shrubs offer colorful fall foliage, spring blooms, and winter interest inzones 2-9.
They prefer full sun and slightly acidic, well-drained soil.
These flowering trees are hardy in zones 3-8.
They thrive in cool, moist air and dappled sun or partial shade.
Create an eye-catching vignette with these woody plants in your garden.
Most crabapples are ornamental and while the fruit is edible, it is not always palatable.
Crabapple trees are prone to sucker growth, which drains energy and resources from the parent plant.
Some gardeners also consider crabapple trees messy.
If you fall into this camp, seek out varieties that do not produce fruit.
That depends on what you consider messy.
The tree sheds its blossoms after the bloom and its leaves in the fall.
