General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Tree
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Water Preferences: Wet
Wet Mesic
Mesic
Soil pH Preferences: Slightly acid (6.1 – 6.5)
Neutral (6.6 – 7.3)
Slightly alkaline (7.4 – 7.8)
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 4a -34.4 °C (-30 °F) to -31.7 °C (-25 °F)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 7b
Plant Height: 15 to 30 feet
Plant Spread: 15 to 25 feet
Leaves: Deciduous
Fruit: Showy
Edible to birds
Fruiting Time: Late summer or early fall
Flowers: Showy
Fragrant
Flower Color: Pink
Other: light pink flowers fade to white
Bloom Size: 1"-2"
Flower Time: Spring
Late spring or early summer
Uses: Flowering Tree
Edible Parts: Fruit
Dynamic Accumulator: K (Potassium)
Wildlife Attractant: Bees
Pollinators: Bees
Various insects
Miscellaneous: With thorns/spines/prickles/teeth
Monoecious
Conservation status: Endangered (EN)

Conservation status:
Conservation status: Endangered
Image
Common names
  • Sweet Crabapple
  • Garland Crab
  • Garland Crab Apple
  • Apple
  • American Crab
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Malus coronaria
  • Synonym: Malus glabrata
  • Synonym: Pyrus coronaria
  • Synonym: Malus glaucescens

Photo Gallery
Location: Arnold Arboretum, Harvard College, Boston, Massachusetts
Date: 05/10/2018
photo by William Friedman via Trees and Shrubs Online: https://tr
Location: East Lyme, Connecticut
Date: 05/07/2022
photo by hugsatree via iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/o
Location: Fairfax, Virginia
Date: 2022-04-12
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2022-05-09
first flowers on sapling in big pot
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2023-10-24
foliage in fall color
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2023-10-24
a mature specimen in the Midwest Collection in fall color
Location: Fairfax, Virginia
Date: 2022-04-12
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2023-10-24
fallen yellowish-green crabapple fruit
Location: Botanical Graden Meise - Nationale Plantentuin Meise - Brussel
Date: 2017-09-27
Location: Botanical Graden Meise - Nationale Plantentuin Meise - Brussel
Location: Botanical Graden Meise - Nationale Plantentuin Meise - Brussel
Location: Botanical Graden Meise - Nationale Plantentuin Meise - Brussel
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2022-05-09
first flowers on another sapling in a big pot
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2015-06-19
mature tree from behind

Date: c. 1865
illustration by Bessa from Michaux's 'The North American Sylva',
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-10-29
leaves of saplings in pots in red fall color

Date: May
credit: John Cameron
Uploaded by Anderwood
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-08-17
sapling in second season from little potted plant
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-08-17
Apple Cedar Rust spots on leaves
Location: Hollis, New Hampshire
Date: August 11, 2013
Location: Hollis, New Hampshire
Date: August 11, 2013
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL
Date: 2015-06-19
mature tree in summer
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2015-06-19
the trunk
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2015-06-19
the leaves
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2015-06-19
foliage and some immature fruit
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2015-06-19
crabapples in process of maturing
Comments:
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Nov 28, 2017 9:41 PM concerning plant:
    There are four extremely similar American Crabapple species that differ only in slight shapes of leaves and state of some hairiness on leaves and twigs: this Sweet Crabapple, the Prairie Crabapple, the Southern Crabapple, and the Biltmore Crabapple in a section of the Appalachian Mountains. Sweet Crabapple is found in the wild from New York to north Georgia to northeast Illinois. The leaves are 2 to 4 inches long and more or less lobed and some are sort of triangular, the base is usually rounded, and leaves only have some hair under leaves when young. The twigs are wooly only when young. The flowers are about 1.5 inches across and are white and pink and bloom in late May to early June. The fruit is crabapples about 1.5 inches in diameter and are yellowish-green when mature. It is a small tree with wide-spreading rigid branches with some thorns and a broad, bushy crown. I've never seen it in landscapes, and only native plant or specialty nurseries grow some. It grows about 1.5 feet/year and lives about 50 to 100 years. (The Crabapples grown in landscapes are east Asian species that have smaller red or yellow fruit and smaller but more profuse flowers.) I ordered three little potted plants by mail from Reeseville Ridge Nursery in central Wisconsin in spring 2018 and put them in larger pots, and in 2021 I planted them in a meadow site next to a landscape in Downingtown, PA, dedicated to remembering the nut & fruit tree nursery of John Hershey of the 1920's into the 1960's. One small, young tree was destroyed by the deer.
    Apple Cedar Rust Disease that is a fungus with an alternate life cycle between some American Junipers (especially Eastern Redcedar) and Apples & Crabapples is often hard on this species, along with other American Crabapple species. The disease probably came from China and/or Japan because crabapple species from there are usually resistant or at least somewhat resistant. It was the native Crabapples that were renown for bearing fruit for making jams and jellies.
Discussion Threads about this plant
Thread Title Last Reply Replies
Garland Crab Apple by Geetrek Feb 2, 2018 12:54 PM 1

« Add a new plant to the database

» Search the Apples Database: by characteristics or by cultivar name

« See the general plant entry for Apples (Malus)

« The Apples Database Front Page

« The Plants Database Front Page

Today's site banner is by Lucius93 and is called "Bigleaf hydrangea"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.