(Apple, Dessert Apple)

There is nothing more satisfying than growing your own apple trees. The domestic apple is most commonly a medium-sized tree with a rounded to oval canopy. It originates from southeastern Europe, Siberia, and southwestern Asia and has been in cultivation for thousands of years. In spring, these trees offer sweet, fragrant flowers of light pink, white or rose, and in fall reward us with crisp, juicy apples.

These fruits have a wide variety of colors, textures and flavors and may be eaten out-of-hand,...

(Apple, Cooking Apple, York Apple)

The old cultivar, ‘York,’ is a medium-sized, mild-flavored apple that keeps extremely well, holding its crisp texture and growing sweeter in cold storage. It is often called ‘York Imperial,’ with "imperial" referring to its keeping quality rather than flavor. This apple has a distinctive lop-sided shape. Its skin is yellow overlaid with red, and the flesh is cream colored and coarse. Fruits mature in late fall, hang on the tree well into winter and are used most often for sauce, baking and pies....

(Japanese Flowering Crabapple)

The Japanese flowering crabapple (Malus floribunda) covers itself in mid-spring with a great profusion of red buds and light-pink flowers that eventually bleach to a pure white, turning the tree into a bright mass. A deciduous tree native to Japan, it has a broad, spreading, densely-branched habit. The slender oval leaves are dark green with teeth on the edges. The flowers are fragrant, attract bees, and give way to small fruits that turn yellow with blushes of red by late summer. Birds...

(Adirondack Crabapple, Hall's Crabapple)

Delicate and pretty with pink flowers and emerging reddish leaves in mid-spring, Hall crabapple is well-known for it use in traditional bonsai specimens. This small deciduous tree that will produce thickets is native to streambanks in southeastern China, although some authorities feel this ornamental was originally found only in Japan. The bark is smooth and gray and youngest branch twigs are violet-tinted.

In mid-spring the branches fill with newly emerging leaves that are briefly purple and...

(Iowa Crabapple, Klehm's Improved Bechtel Crabapple, Prairie Crabapple)

A wide-branching deciduous tree that blooms in spring, ‘Klehm's Improved Bechtel’ is a selection of prairie crabapple, native to the central United States. The leaves, shaped like a reversed tear drop, are green with fuzzy, whitened undersides and small jagged teeth. In spring, before the leaves emerge, pale pink buds appear on the twigs, opening to fragrant, double (extra petals), white flowers that attract bees. The fruits that follow are small, greasy-skinned, and mature to yellow-green. Their...

(Iowa Crabapple, Prairie Crabapple)

An upright-branching but broad deciduous tree with pink springtime flowers, prairie crabapple is native to the central United States. The leaves are green with fuzzy, whitened undersides and shaped like a reversed tear-drop with small jagged teeth. In spring, before leaves emerge, pale pink buds are found on the twigs, opening to fragrant, white, five-petaled flowers that will be pollinated by honeybees. The fruits that ensue are small and mature to a greasy-skinned, yellow-green. The flesh is sour...

(Iowa Crabapple, Prairie Crabapple)

An upright-branching but broad deciduous tree with pink springtime flowers, prairie crabapple is native to the central United States. The leaves are green with fuzzy, whitened undersides and shaped like a reversed tear-drop with small jagged teeth. In spring, before leaves emerge, pale pink buds are found on the twigs, opening to fragrant, white, five-petaled flowers that will be pollinated by honeybees. The fruits that ensue are small and mature to a greasy-skinned, yellow-green. The flesh is sour...

(Manchurian Crabapple)

Extremely cold hardy and floriferous, Manchurian crabapple also yields an abundance of bi-colored fruits that are great for jam. A large, upright deciduous tree native to eastern Russian and northern China, its green leaves are long ovals. In early spring, small clusters of pale pink flower buds appear with the new leaves. The flowers that follow have large white petals, are fragrant, and produce pollen copiously. The fruits mature yellow and pink-red at the size of ping-pong balls. Usually the fruits...

(Sargent's Crabapple)

Sargent's crabapple covers itself in spring with red buds that open to white flowers, followed by small dark red fruits that persist into early winter. A deciduous large shrub or small tree native to Japan, it has a spreading, mounded habit. The leaves are oval and dark green with teeth on their edges. In mid-to-late spring the bare branches fill with clusters of red buds that open to fragrant, pure white flowers that attract bees. The leaves emerge as the flowers open. The fruits mature to deep...

(Sargent's Crabapple)

The rose Sargent's crabapple's graceful branches are filled with thousands of red buds that open to very pale pink flowers in late spring and reveals small dark red fruits in the fall and early winter after the leaves drop. A deciduous large shrub or small tree native to Japan, it has a spreading and mounded habit. The oval to three-lobed leaves are dark green with teeth on the edges. In mid to late spring the lightly spined branches are filled with new clusters of dark red buds that open to fragrant,...