Blossoming ideas

There's crab-apple jelly, of course, but ornamental apple trees offer so much more: they're easy to grow, have beautiful flowers that last longer than those on Japanese cherries and there's one to suit every garden, says Charles Quest-Ritson

- Quest-Ritson

WHEN people talk about 'crab apples', they usually mean those ornamental trees glistening with little fruit from which they make delicious jams and jellies in autumn. But all those apples start off as flowers and many of the trees that bear them are equally as attractive when they bloom in springand often even more so.

Botanists have a name for our native crab apple-Malus sylvestris-but it is seldom grown by gardeners. Most of the ornamental garden varieties are species, forms or hybrids from Asia and North America. There are some 40 wild species and hundreds of horticultural selections, all from the northern hemisphere, and immensely variable in their size, shape and beauty. Nurserymen tell us that there is 'a crab apple for every garden'.

All apples belong to the genus Malus and are easy to grow. They are not fussy about soil they fare well in chalk-and they do better in full sun than shade. Good drainage is important because, like most trees, they do not grow well in boggy conditions. A couple of American species-M. coronaria and M. ioensis prefer acid soil, but, in general, ornamental apples are easy-going, reliable small trees for gardens of all sizes.