Plant Focus: Malus sylvestris
A species for breathtaking buds, striking blossoms, and showy autumn fruits
Malus is a genus of deciduous trees or shrubs in the Rosaceae family of plants. These plants include Malus sylvestris (crab apple and European crab apple), Malus domestica (orchard apple), and Malus baccata (Siberian crab apple). Native to the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, apple trees are usually around 4-12m in height, depending on the variety, and their crown is dense and twiggy.
Malus sylvestris is our native crab apple, and is an ancestor of cultivated apple trees, as well as a number of cultivated crab apple varieties. It’s prized for its year-round interest with autumn foliage and attractive fruits and flowers. Many varieties of crab apple are compact in size, making them a popular choice in gardens and landscapes. Crab apples have the added benefit of being able to flower from their second or third year.
Key Characteristics:
✓ Deciduous tree or large shrub
✓ Spring blossom (white or pale pink, April-May)
✓ Autumn fruits (small, yellow-green crab apples)
✓ Thornless
✓ Tolerant of various soils
✓ Supports biodiversity (nectar, pollen, and fruit for wildlife)
✓ Used in native hedgerows and woodlands
Malus sylvestris is a rounded deciduous tree with a spreading canopy. Growing to around 10m in height when mature, it has alternate, serrated foliage that emerge glossy green and transition to yellow during autumn. Its clusters of flowers are borne in corymbs, which have five petals in various colours, including pink, red, or white. These flowers often feature red stamens that produce plenty of pollen. Small fruits, in a range of colours, depending on the variety, follow in autumn. The RHS has awarded many crab apple varieties with its Award of Garden Merit (AGM), including Malus ‘Evereste’ and Malus ‘Rudolph’. The AGM helps gardeners to select plants that have been tried and tested, and likely to perform.
Did you know?
Malus sylvestris are often planted within commercial orchards, as they provide a long period of pollination for cultivated apple species.
The fruit on a Malus is a globose pome, which ranges in size. The fruit’s centre contains five carpels, each of which contain one or two seeds. Whilst the apples on orchard apple varieties tend to fall when ripe, crab apples have persistent fruit, where they hold on for a longer period of time, which extends its period of interest. Its tiny fruits aren’t edible in their raw form, but are useful for jellies and sauces. Some species, such as Malus domestica, need cross-pollination by insects to produce its fruit. However, crab apples are self-fertile, and do not require another tree in their vicinity to cross-pollinate.
Malus sylvestris provides a wealth of benefits to biodiversity. Its leaves are a food source for the caterpillars of a range of moth species, and its flowers are a useful source of pollen and nectar for insects. Its fruit is eaten by birds, such as blackbirds and thrushes, as well as many mammals, including badgers and mice. Interestingly, birds tend to leave crab apples until last, as they become softer and sweeter as they ripen, and also provide a more energy-dense food source in the colder months. This is an ornamental benefit as the fruits provide an extended period of interest in green spaces.
Malus ‘Evereste’
Species and varieties of Malus
Malus ‘Butterball’
A small, wide-spreading crab apple with drooping branches. Grows up to around 4m in height. Its light grey foliage turns green in spring, and small pink-white blossom flowers appear, followed by large, yellow-orange crab apples.
Malus ‘Evereste’
A compact deciduous tree with a conical shape and lobed, dark green foliage. Masses of white flowers open from red buds in spring, with yellow-orange fruits and yellow-bronze foliage in autumn. Grows up to 7m in height.
Malus × zumi ‘Golden Hornet’
A small tree with a wide spreading growth habit. Produces pink buds that turn to pink-flushed, white flowers in spring, followed by large crops of deep yellow fruits in autumn, which persist into winter. Its green leaves transition to butter-yellow before they fall.
Malus ‘Indian Magic’
A small, spreading crab apple that grows to around 4m in height. Dark pink buds open up to pink flowers in spring, followed by small, orange-red fruit in autumn, which persist into winter.
Malus × zumi ‘Golden Hornet’
Malus × moerlandsii ‘Profusion’
Malus ‘John Downie’
A vigorous, spreading tree that can grow to around 12m in height. Blooms white flowers from pink buds in spring, with clusters of red and yellow fruits appearing in autumn. Its leaves transition from dark green to wonderful shades of orange and yellow before falling.
Malus ‘Pink Glow’
A small crab apple that grows to around 5m in height. It has glossy dark green leaves that turn yellow during the autumn months, and a stunning display of single white blossom in spring. Its fruit is slightly larger than other varieties and is dark pink in colour. Ideal for a small garden.
Malus ‘Pink Perfection’
A small tree that produces fragrant pale pink blossoms from dark pink buds in mid-spring. Small red fruits appear from autumn. Grows to around 5m in height and is ideal for growing in a container.
Malus × moerlandsii ‘Profusion’
An extremely colourful, spreading deciduous tree with young purple leaves and red-purple flowers in spring, and deep purple fruits appearing in autumn. Perfect for providing a striking colour contrast to a planting scheme. Grows to around 8m in height.
Malus × robusta ‘Red Sentinel
Malus ‘Wedding Bouquet’
Malus × robusta ‘Red Sentinel
A small, upright tree that grows up to 7m in height. Its leaves are dark green when young, and transition to yellow before they fall. Produces pink-white flowers from spring, along with clusters of small, glossy, deep red fruits in autumn, which remain on the tree for longer than usual. Ideal for small gardens.
Malus ‘Rudolph’
A deciduous upright tree to around 7m, with ovate, toothed foliage that turns from red to green in summer, before it transitions to yellow in autumn. Rose coloured flowers bloom in late spring, with elongated, edible red fruits in autumn. A lovely variety that is highly resistant to pests and disease.
Malus toringo ‘Scarlett’
A small spreading tree that grows to around 2.5m in height, with arching branches that bear fragrant pink flowers from mid-spring, and small, glossy, purple fruits in autumn. Its purple foliage turns green in summer, and transitions to red and yellow in the autumn months before falling.
Malus ‘White Star’
A small, upright crab apple that grows to around 6m in height. Its star-shaped white blossom appears in spring, with red-tinted, golden yellow fruits appearing in autumn, which last until winter.
Malus brevipes ‘Wedding Bouquet’
An upright crab apple that is ideal for small gardens. Its foliage is toothed and dark green, and it produces masses of ivory-white flowers in spring, with small, dark red fruits that remain on the tree well into the winter months. Lovely for a large container.
Malus ‘Rudolph’
How to grow and care for Malus sylvestris
The best time of year for planting Malus sylvestris is spring or autumn, as the temperatures are cool and soil is moist. However, it can be planted at any point, as long as very high and freezing cold temperatures are avoided.
Crab apples are a robust species and can tolerate a range of soils. They grow best in moist, well-drained soil in a sunny or partially shaded position. Avoid any wet or waterlogged soil. Known as “jewels of the landscape”, Malus sylvestris has a good resistance to disease when it’s planted in a sunny position.
For the first few years after planting, Malus sylvestris should be well-watered during dry periods.
Malus sylvestris can be mulched in spring with a biodegradable mulch, such as compost or wood chippings. If pruning is required, it should take place in late winter to remove any branches that are crossing, dying, or diseased.
Pests and diseases that affect Malus sylvestris
Malus sylvestris can be affected by a range of pests and diseases, including woolly aphid, fruit tree red spider mite, apple canker, and fireblight.
Woolly aphid
Woolly aphids are a black aphid that affects Malus sylvestris; they suck sap from the woody stems of plants, which creates lumps. During warmer months of the year, colonies will appear in white fluff on trunks and branches. Populations of woolly aphid can be controlled by encouraging wildlife, such as lacewings, earwigs, and ladybirds, to your green space. They can also be controlled by removing them by hand.
Fruit tree red spider mite
Fruit tree red spider mites, or otherwise known as two-spotted spider mites, are sap-feeding mites that affect many garden and greenhouse plants. The main symptoms are early leaf fall and mottled foliage, and they are active from March to October. Predatory mites, such as Phytoseiulus persimilis and Amblyseius, can help to keep populations of fruit tree red spider mite under control.
Fireblight
Fireblight is a contagious disease of plants in the Rosaceae family. It is most active from late spring until autumn, and kills the shoots of ornamentals. It favours areas with high moisture, and the disease leads to wilted and dead flowers, shrivelled shoots that eventually die, and bark that develops a red-brown stain. If signs of fireblight are spotted, remove any infected parts of the plant, and reduce the spread of disease by thoroughly cleaning tools between cuts and before using on other plants.
Apple scab
Apple scab is a fungal disease that causes symptoms such as dark, scabby marks on foliage and fruits from mid-spring onwards. It spreads by airborne spores and lasts through the winter on leaves that have fallen. Keep apple scab under control by disposing of any fallen leaves and infected fruit, and pruning blistered twigs.
Apple canker
Apple canker is a fungal disease, caused by a fungus known as Neonectria ditissima. It presents as disfigured and sunken areas of dead bark on the branches of trees, such as apple trees. New cankers form in mid-spring, and usually begin at buds or wounds. If apple canker is present, cut out all affected smaller branches, as well as spurs. If branches are larger in size, cut out all infected material. It can then be painted with protective wound paints, to help prevent any reinfecting.
Honey fungus
Honey fungus comprises of many species of the fungus Armillaria; it attacks and kills plant roots by spreading underground with the help of rhizomorphs. At ground level, you will spot white fungus in between the wood and bark, and from late summer to autumn, honey-coloured mushrooms may appear on plant stumps. Upper parts of the plant may die, and foliage may appear pale and smaller than usual. Below ground, roots will be dead or decayed. If honey fungus is discovered, all infected parts of the plant should be destroyed.
If you would like more information on Malus varieties we grow and sell, contact the G Team today.