CRAB APPLES WITH YELLOW FRUIT

A WHIMSICAL VETERANS TRIBUTE...

IN A HOLLOW IN AN OLD PEAR TREE IN FOUNTAIN GARDEN PARK...

 

 

 

 

 

FLOWERING CRAB APPLE WITH YELLOW FRUIT

 

Friday, Veterans Day, 8:30 AM.  40 degrees F at the ferry dock, 37 on the back porch,  Wind NNE, gusty at times.  The sky is clear, the humidity 71%. The barometer is rising, now at 30.46". The forecast calls for several clear days, then clouding up,  with a chance of showers
by next Thursday.  Temperatures are cooling off but still no killing frost IS predicted.

   Flowering crab apples are small trees of about fifty  species  in the genus Malus in the Rose Family that are closely related to the edible, or orchard apple, M. domestica.  The major difference between apples and crab apples is size of fruit, apples haviNg fruit that is greater in size than 2" in diameter.  Apples are sweet enough to be palatable, crab apples (except for a few) being too sour to eat.  These are unusual parameters in botanical nomenclature,  which is usually based on flower characteristics, but that is the long and short of it (or the big and small of it).

   The apple genus Malus originated in the mountains of Khazahkstan in central Asia and most species of the genus are Eurasian, only three being native to North America. Crab apples are mostly grown for their decorative qualities as smaller ornamental trees with with decorative flowers and fruit, although they are valuable as orchard pollinaters for edible apples, and for pectin for jams and jellies.  Most crab apple species and varieties have red or purple fruit, but a few have yellow fruit, which provides a very unusual appearanvce to the fall landscape.  

   I suspect the tree in the phot to be 'Golden Hornet', but i don't know for sure.  Some other crab apples with yellow fruit are 'Holiday Gold', 'Bob White', 'Lolipop' and 'Louisa' (red gold).  Crab apples are considered hardy from Zone 4 to Zone 7, so the selection gets sparser the further north or south one wishes to plant them.