Create Your Garden

Best Flowering Crabapples for Southern Gardens

Malus, Crabapples, Crab Apples, Spring Flowering Trees

Malus, Crabapples, Crab Apples, Spring Flowering Trees, Disease resistant Crabapples, spring flowers, pink flowers, White flowers, Fragrant Trees

Among the most prized ornamental trees, flowering crabapples have long been a staple of landscape gardening. They are best known for their spectacular display of magnificent blooms in spring and colorful fall fruit. Their summer foliage, small stature, and various tree shapes add to their charm and give them year-round interest.

In recent years, the number of splendid crabapple cultivars has increased dramatically, counting over 1,000 cultivars and hybrids, creating a profusion of varieties from which the gardener may select the perfect combination of size, form, color, fragrance, fruit, hardiness, and resistance to pests and diseases.

Crabapples are susceptible to four major diseases that can cause early defoliation, disfigurement, and tree weakening.

  • Apple scab is the most common and most serious of the diseases, especially in areas that receive plenty of springtime moisture. It disfigures the fruit and defoliates the trees. It appears on leaves as olive-green spots with a velvety, grayish surface. In midsummer, leaves often turn brown and drop from the tree.
  • Fireblight occurs less frequently but is more serious because it kills bark and can spread to the main trunk and kill the tree. Affected blossoms, shoots, and branches turn brown and have a scorched appearance, hence the name fireblight.
  • Cedar-apple rust is common where red cedar and crabapple are planted near each other. Orange spots or swellings appear on crabapple leaves, fruits, and twigs.
  • Powdery mildew appears in midsummer as patches of grayish-white powder on leaves and fruit.

Breeders have been busy improving the disease resistance of flowering crabapples. Here is a list of varieties and cultivars that consistently perform well in Southern Gardens (Upper South, Middle South, and Lower South)

Guide Information

Plant Type Trees
Genus Malus - Crab Apple
Exposure Full Sun
Season of Interest Spring (Mid, Late)
Summer (Early, Mid, Late)
Fall
Winter
Height
Spread
Maintenance Low
Water Needs Average
Soil Type Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand
Soil pH Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
Soil Drainage Moist but Well-Drained, Well-Drained
Characteristics Cut Flowers, Fragrant, Showy, Fruit & Berries
Tolerance Drought
Attracts Birds, Butterflies
Landscaping Ideas Beds And Borders
Garden Styles City and Courtyard, Informal and Cottage, Traditional Garden

Best Flowering Crabapples for Southern Gardens

You may want to review these useful guides too

Flowering Crabapples with Persistent Fruit
Great Companion Plants For Your Flowering Crabapples
How To Choose The Right Flowering Crabapple for Your Garden
Compare All Malus (Crab Apple)
Compare Now
Explore Great Plant Combination Ideas
Malus (Crab Apple)
Explore Great Plant Combination Ideas
Upper South Middle South Lower South
Guides with
Malus (Crab Apple)
While every effort has been made to describe these plants accurately, please keep in mind that height, bloom time, and color may differ in various climates. The description of these plants has been written based on numerous outside resources.

Guide Information

Plant Type Trees
Genus Malus - Crab Apple
Exposure Full Sun
Season of Interest Spring (Mid, Late)
Summer (Early, Mid, Late)
Fall
Winter
Height
Spread
Maintenance Low
Water Needs Average
Soil Type Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand
Soil pH Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
Soil Drainage Moist but Well-Drained, Well-Drained
Characteristics Cut Flowers, Fragrant, Showy, Fruit & Berries
Tolerance Drought
Attracts Birds, Butterflies
Landscaping Ideas Beds And Borders
Garden Styles City and Courtyard, Informal and Cottage, Traditional Garden
Compare All Malus (Crab Apple)
Compare Now
Explore Great Plant Combination Ideas
Malus (Crab Apple)
Explore Great Plant Combination Ideas
Upper South Middle South Lower South
Guides with
Malus (Crab Apple)

Related Items

Please Login to Proceed

You Have Reached The Free Limit, Please Subscribe to Proceed

Subscribe to Gardenia

To create additional collections, you must be a paid member of Gardenia
  • Add as many plants as you wish
  • Create and save up to 25 garden collections
Become a Member

Plant Added Successfully

You have Reached Your Limit

To add more plants, you must be a paid member of our site Become a Member

Update Your Credit
Card Information

Cancel

Create a New Collection

Sign Up to Our Newsletter

    You have been subscribed successfully

    Join Gardenia.net

    Create a membership account to save your garden designs and to view them on any device.

    Becoming a contributing member of Gardenia is easy and can be done in just a few minutes. If you provide us with your name, email address and the payment of a modest $25 annual membership fee, you will become a full member, enabling you to design and save up to 25 of your garden design ideas.

    Join now and start creating your dream garden!

    Join Gardenia.net

    Create a membership account to save your garden designs and to view them on any device.

    Becoming a contributing member of Gardenia is easy and can be done in just a few minutes. If you provide us with your name, email address and the payment of a modest $25 annual membership fee, you will become a full member, enabling you to design and save up to 25 of your garden design ideas.

    Join now and start creating your dream garden!

    Find your Hardiness Zone

    Find your Heat Zone

    Find your Climate Zone