I wanted to do just a quick post on the ‘Donald Wyman’ crab blooming now in our Front Garden. For me, the flowering of this tree is one of the most joyous moments defining spring in our garden. For the last two years in a row the bloom has been unusually prolific.
I love Crabapple trees. We picked ‘Donald Wyman’ because it was on the Chicago Botanic Garden’s list of recommended varieties for this area. And truly, it has performed extremely well. Lots of flowers (even in lighter blooming years), lots of ornamental and persistent red fruits, and for 17 years no disease problems – and we have never sprayed this tree with anything.
Only thing is, the birds will not eat the fruit of ‘Donald Wyman’ – one reason why the fruit is so persistent. On the other hand, in terms of wildlife, Crabapples in general are considered highly beneficial to pollinators. And even if they don’t eat the fruit, some birds eat the buds. Others are drawn to the insects that are attracted by the flowers. ‘Donald Wyman’ is not a native tree, but if you want a Crabapple native to the Midwest you can try Iowa Crabapple (Malus ioensis). It may not be easy to find, though, and is less resistant to some diseases than a number of cultivars.
Speaking of Crabapples, Judy and I are looking forward to the Crabapple display at the Chicago Botanic Garden. It’s spectacular, and we haven’t seen it for years. When we visited a couple weeks ago many of the Crabapple buds looked like they just needed a coupe of warm days for them to burst.
gardeninacity 
This is a gorgeous tree. It was a good choice no doubt.
What a gorgeous sight!
What a beautiful tree! We are living in a small city but our front yard is tiny, and overseen by a giant sycamore. We planted two river birches and a willow in our backyard garden because they don’t mind the regular flooding.
Willlows do love moisture. I love river birches and wish we had some.
Really beautiful. Wonder why the birds don’t go for it!
May be partly that they are larger than average, the birds prefer little bite-sized fruit.
What a beauty it is! Do you have any other spring flowering trees? What is the tall shrub at the corner by the garage door? I have two eastern classics – a white dogwood and a redbud. And a Japanese snowbell, which is a charming small tree. I liked seeing the wide view of your front yard too.
Yes – we have the Serviceberries and Chokecherries. That shrub is a Burning Bush. I’d like to take it down but Judy objects.
That’s a beautiful tree, for sure. Your crabapples are ahead of ours I’d guess by about a week from what I’ve seen.
We enjoyed our beautiful Donald Wyman for about 25 years in our intensely humid Eastern Shore of Maryland location. I did not replace it due to total lack of pollinator/general insect/bird appeal. There has got to be an early season ornamental tree out there that also provides those benefits, other than cercis and amelanchier Have heard there are crabapples that birds do relish and would like to know, from experience, which ones. (The nursery industry is famously self-laudatory about their products’ positive attributes.)
Have you considered Chokecherry or American Plum?
I have one of my original -from 1973- Snowdrift crabapples. It is lovely right now but it struggles and I am not sure how many years it has left.
I still can’t get my mind around these small-fruited crabapples. Our trees had fruit that was golf-ball sized, or a little larger. They were so tart they were inedible for humans, and as I recall nothing ate those, either. They certainly didn’t bloom like this one. It’s gorgeous. (And I see the clematis back there, climbing up its trellis.)
My mother had a crabapple with golf ball sized fruit, and she made crabapple jelly. Which was fine, but not spectacular. As I recall, she had to rake up the apples as they dropped or she got bees in the grass – a menace because I just won’t wear shoes in the yard.
The birds prefer smaller fruits – bite-size for birds, I guess.
What a beauty! No wonder you love it. Have fun at the festival. Hope you take pictures to share.
What a beautiful tree and I bet the neighbours love it too!
Go, tree, go! Gorgeous, Jason.
The big picture looks so white. (!) The close up seems more blushed like so many fruiting apples. (One of my fruiting apples, which grew from seed next to a sidewalk, happens to be very white!) Malus ioensis was one that intrigued me when you mentioned it earlier, but not enough to pursue it. As much as I would like a North American species, I am pleased with our common fruiting crabapple, even if I do not know the name. I do not know if I will ever get to grow one just as a flowering crabapple again.
Beautiful and healthy too. You are lucky to be able to get help on your plant choices from local associations. Amelia
Hello Jason, your crabapple tree is gorgeous. Also the fruit look wonderful.
With many health issues in our family, I often think of you, but manage to visit too seldom.
Happy May to you and yours!
Same to you, Sara!
What a beauty! Yes, I can certainly see how this would bring a sense of joy every year.
It’s spectacular!
Delightful! As amazing as the blooms are, I find the berries to be the best feature of a crabapple, just in the time of year when anything in the garden is a gift. The PNW has many flowering cherries, but comes fall, they are outshined by the crabapple.
It does give a wonderful display. I love the almond blossom here. Can’t grow it myself because it is is too windy. Do you make any jellies or chutneys from the crab apples?
I also garden in an urban area and the challenges are different to those with lots of land.
My mother made crabapple jelly, but we never have.
Crabapples are such spring beauties, and fragrant. We have what I think is a Sargent’s crabapple here.
It’s a well chosen tree. I got my first crab this spring, Malus Evereste. It’s a lovely thing to see the bees buzzing around it. I wonder why the birds don’t eat the fruit on your variety? Not tasty enough for them?
Maybe, but I didn’t think they had a sense of taste. They do like smaller fruits, but I think they eat bigger fruits than DW’s 0.3″ crabs.
Wonderful! I bet there is a lot of buzzing in your front garden right now. The drive looks really good in the last photo by the way. 😃
That is one delightful crab apple! I do hope you post re the crab apple display at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I’m a sucker for blossom.xxx