Tree of the Month - May 2009
Tagged as:
Wild Sweet Crabapple
(Malus coronaria)
Find this highly fragrant crabapple in late May in the Crabapple Collection on the East Side.
Few flowering trees can approach the beauty of a crabapple in full bloom. This tree's surprisingly fragrant, pale pink blossoms approach white as flowers mature. Its fruits ripen in October, remaining yellowish-green and about an inch long. Despite their delightful fragrance, the fruits remain sour and inedible for anything but the tartest jelly. Henry David Thoreau perhaps gave the best description of how crabapples taste in his essay "Wild Apples": "sour enough to set a squirrel's teeth on edge and make a jay scream."
Early American colonists often planted this tree by their doorways to better enjoy its heady spring fragrance and cascade of eye-level flowers.
Mature height: 10 to 30 feet tall and 6 to 30 feet wide
Rate of growth: Moderate
Visit this shrub in all seasons to see its changing features!
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Wild Sweet Crabapple flower |