AusBonsai

Just thought I'd add my crabapple pics to the list of those posted this spring. I had not relised that the branches appear to be on one level until I looked at these new pics. I'll have to let some new branches grow to fill the spaces.

Hi Shibui,

The flowers are beautiful. How long do the flowers last with this tree?

Best regards Shibui.

Hi Daviet,
In this area I get about a week of anticipation as the pink buds swell then a few more days as the buds open to these white flowers. The flowers are at their peak like this for about a week, although rain or other extreme weather can shorten the time, then for another week I watch the petals fall and the leaves unfurl so the tree changes from the pink and white in the photo to green.
After that the apples develop. This variety has tiny fruit about 4-5 mm diameter which fit in well with a bonsai and eventually ripen to a greenish yellow colour.

Beautiful, and what an almighty trunk! Did it start life as a garden tree?
Thanks, shibui. Looking forward to seeing you at the CBS show.
Lisa

Yes I love the look of abundant flowers too. Thanks for sharing

Nice display Neil and from the look of the background you are also getting good colour in your garden aswell!

Hi Shibui,

I hope it will give plenty of fruit this season

I have one, the roots are very bad, so I grounded it last year, no flowers this year. It also gives me 5 baby trees from roots.

Have you experienced root grows with your crabapples before?

Thank you and best regards.

Thanks Shibui, it is always great to see other trees of the same variety so each of us can compare. I agree with Lisa the trunk is most impressive.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.
Lisa, I'm looking forward to the show too but have to get through BSV show the week before. Oct is going to be a busy month!
Nell Saffin gave me the parent of this tree. It is now in the garden. I grafted this one about 18 or 20 years ago and grew it on in the ground for a few years. Good trunk as a result but the lowest branch is too thick but no one notices when its in flower. It spent another 5 or 6 years in various poly boxes to grow the branches and develop fruiting spurs then into a pot about 8 years ago. It flowers well like this every year.

Daviet,
Most apples grow suckers from the roots. This one does sometimes and I have to pull them off. This one is grafted so suckers will be the same as the rootstock, not the crabapple. Do you know if yours is grafted?
Breaking suckers off where they join the root is better than cutting. If you cut a sucker off it usually throws many more from the same spot and the problem gets worse.

Hi Jow, The garden is developing well due to extra soil moisture though we have lost some natives due to high humidity and damp soil - an opportunity to try something else! New potting shed?/ Studio? and display area is finished and looks good. Look forward to catching up at Box Hill.

Hi Shibui,

Thank you for the info. Mine is not grafted. I have the original tree for a good seven years before it has flowers, and consistently since. But last year I grounded it and cut off some big roots. I think it has weakened, so very few flowers this year. But the leaves appears to be strong and grows vigorously.

I hope the correct the roots in a few more years.

Best regards.

Apples grow very easily from root cuttings so you can grow more trees when you prune the roots of any ungrafted crabapple.

But the leaves appears to be strong and grows vigorously.

This might be why you don't have many flowers. All the energy is going into vegetative growth. Correct pruning will develop fruiting spurs and the tree will settle down to flowering more and growing less.