By Bev Johnson

Special to the Dispatch

Bunkey wants a tree that will attract birds and is not so big that it overwhelms the yard. One tree that fits all those criteria is an ornamental crabapple. Crabs come in many shapes and many of them are resistant to apple scab, hold their apples, or don’t fruit at all. Here are a few to consider if you are looking to spruce up your estate.

If you want a very small decorative tree, Sargent Tina (Malus sargentil Tina) fits that bill. She matures at a tiny 5 feet tall and 6 wide. Profuse white blooms are followed by red fruit in the fall. She should fit almost any yard and is small enough to live in the flowerbed.

Firebird, (M. sargenti select A) was selected for its gorgeous white flowers and red fruit. It holds its fruit all winter, feeding the robins and Cedar Waxwings in the spring. It starts out growing upright then spreads out to about 12 feet wide and only 8 feet wide. It has excellent resistance to both apple scab and fire blight.

Maybe you want a more formal looking tree. Lollipop (M, x Lollizam) is the girl for you. It grows to 19 feet tall and wide with a globe shaped canopy.  The main highlight of this girl is her tidy branches, white blooms and round shape.  She does have fruit and is quite disease resistant.

If you prefer an umbrella shape, Look for Louisa, (M, Lousia). She’s a weeper with dark pink blooms on branches that touch the ground. In the winter, when frosty, she looks like a fairy’s umbrella. If you like weepers, she’s the gal for you. She tops off at 10 feet and 12 feet wide.

If you want a flowering hedge, or an exclamation point of a tree, Green Wall Spire (M, x adstringens Jefwall) is just the thing. From First Editions she has a columnar habit, 18 to 20 feet tall and only 5 to 6 feet wide. She blooms white and holds on to her fruit all winter. What a nice replacement for the   overgrown, skinny Junipers in every other yard in town.

Another columnar shaped crab is Raspberry Spear (M,JFS KW213MX). In the spring she is covered with bright magenta blooms, followed by dark purple leaves. In the winter the foliage starts out bronze turning  orange. She has deep red fruit that hangs on all winter. She can get to 20 feet tall and 8 feet wide and is attractive in all four seasons.

Adirondack (M, Adirondack) is an elegant vase shaped tree. 18 feet tall and only 10 feet wide. She has white blooms and orange/red fruit. This is an introduction from the US National Arboretum. Her elegant shape is perfect for a creative underplanting.  Since the description doesn’t mention if she holds her fruit, she probably doesn’t.

Golden Raindrops (M, Schmidtcutleaf ) doesn’t look like a crabapple. Her leaves look more like an oak. They are long, slender and deeply lobed. She is about 20 feet tall with 15-foot-wide horizontal branches that in the fall are covered with golden/yellow fruit. She has abundant white blooms in the spring. She is prone to fireblight but has excellent resistance to other crabapple diseases.   

All these crabs are hardy here. Most are resistant to disease, but removing all the fallen leaves and fruit will decrease the chance of most of them.  If they discover it, Robins and Cedar Waxwings will strip a tree of fruit in less than a week. Spring fruit can be fermented, leading to drunken birds, a very entertaining sight.