Much ado is made over the early spring blooms of flowering cherries. Their ephemeral flowers are first, fabulous, and fleeting. As their blooms fade, they set the stage for a weeks-long parade of flowering crabapples. Waiting in the wings to put on their own show of bud and bloom, flowering crabs can be counted on for a colorful and long-lasting curtain call.
With dozens of colorful cultivars to choose from, you can enjoy a dazzling show over a period of several weeks. In our temperate Western Oregon climate, peak bloom is typically in mid-April. This year, we’ll likely see blooms a week or so earlier. In each of the following descriptions, we’ve indicated their relative bloom time, divided into six categories: Earliest / Early / Early midseason / Late midseason / Late / Latest.
We currently grow 32 outstanding cultivars, described in detail on our Crabapple Information Chart. You can find many of these in the nurseries of our customers across the continent, via our Retailer Locator tool.
The earliest bloomers will soon be brightening our fields and container yard, celebrating spring with cheerful color. Thanks to crabapples being favored by pollinators, you can count on them to be abuzz with honeybees, native bees, and the occasional speedy hummingbird. Some of our favorites are described below.
Spring Snow Crabapple
Malus ‘Spring Snow’
Large, pure white flowers bloom early in the season. This unusual cultivar does not set fruit, making it an excellent choice for locations such as courtyards and patios or along sidewalks where fruit may be objectionable. Disease resistance is mixed, with good to excellent resistance to cedar apple rust and mildew, and fire blight resistance that is fair. Although scab resistance is poor, it performs very well in areas where these diseases are not a problem. Its golden-tan bark is very attractive and stands out in the winter garden. (Early)
Purple Prince Crabapple
Malus ‘Purple Prince’
Leaves emerge in spring with a rich purple tint that warms to bronze-green in summer. Rose red blossoms mature to tiny maroon fruits that persist into winter. Easy to misidentify as Prairifire, it has proven over the decades to have better resistance to foliage diseases, more symmetrical form, and speedier growth in the nursery.
A crabapple that holds its own in the fall color parade, its autumn leaves turn red, orange and gold. An abundant crop of tiny maroon fruits delight gardeners in the fall and persist into winter. Among the most disease resistant of the purple-foliaged crabapples, it offers excellent resistance to scab and cedar-apple rust. (Early)
Sugar Tyme® Crabapple
Malus ‘Sutyzam’
A spectacular display of bright white flowers hides the branches of this upright, spreading tree in springtime. Like all crabapples, it’s a pollinator magnet that delights the eye while providing nectar for bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and others. Flowers are followed by bright green foliage which matures to rich green in summer. Fruits that appear in late summer turn bright red, providing a fine fall display and holding fast to the tree until spring in mild winter areas. Introduced by Lake County Nursery in 1984, it remains a popular and widely planted cultivar. (Early midseason)
Perfect Purple Crabapple
Malus ‘Perfect Purple’
Deep pink blooms appear rather early in spring and set the stage for the emergence of dark purple foliage that crowns the perfectly rounded canopy of this attractive tree. Unusually symmetrical form makes this tree a standout even in winter. An abundant crop of tiny maroon fruit persists into winter. Very cold hardy, this crab is a proven performer in Northern and Intermountain regions as well as in less severe climates. Among the most disease resistant of the purple-foliaged crabapples, it offers excellent resistance to scab and cedar-apple rust. (Early midseason)
Sparkling Sprite® Crabapple
Malus ‘JFS-KW207’ PP 27954
Pink buds open to fragrant, pink-tinged white flowers that smother its densely branched, rounded head. Genetically destined to be a topiary tree, Sparkling Sprite® Crabapple attains a perfectly symmetrical, rounded head with little to no pruning. Ideally suited for patio, terrace or container culture, the summer foliage of this petite top-grafted tree is especially clean, bright green and disease resistant.
The four-season show goes on well into winter, when an abundant crop of tiny persistent fruits turns from golden yellow to orange and attracts birds to the garden. (Late midseason)
Red Jewel™ Crabapple
Malus ‘Jewelcole’
Sparkling red fruits are among the brightest, most profuse and most persistent of any crab. They provide food for hungry birds well into winter. Fruits not eaten last until spring when these four-season beauties burst into bloom with masses of bright white flowers.
Blooms are followed by vivid green spring foliage which darkens in summer to rich green. This cultivar is upright growing and somewhat pyramidal in shape, earning it a place on our UtiliTrees™ list. (Late midseason)
Royal Raindrops® Crabapple
Malus ‘JFS-KW5’
Bright pinkish red blooms take center stage in spring and are soon followed by purple-tinted leaves that intensify to purple and become deeply lobed as they mature. In autumn, the unique cutleaf foliage turns to orange red, in bright contrast to its tiny, bright red, persistent fruits. Upright, spreading form and dense branching habit, plus good to excellent resistance to scab, cedar-apple rust and fireblight are among the many attributes of what has become our best-selling crabapple. (Late)
Golden Raindrops® Crabapple
Malus ‘Schmidtcutleaf’
Elegant and unique among the flowering crabapples, this late-season bloomer is a springtime showstopper. Masses of delicate, long-lasting, fragrant, star-like white flowers smother its strong and slender branches late in the crabapple bloom sequence timeline. Blooms are followed by deeply lobed, disease-resistant, deep green foliage that turns golden-yellow in autumn, often with red and orange highlights. Clusters of tiny golden yellow fruits attract birds and persist into winter, when they sparkle like golden raindrops along its bare branches. Zone 3 hardiness recommends it for cold climates. (Latest)
Gardeners! Please note that our nursery is strictly wholesale. To purchase these and other trees grown by our nursery, please use our Retailer Locator to find sources of JFS trees near you.
