![]() ![]() Garden Seeker UK says ‘For instance, the pollen from one Laxton's Superb apple tree, will not pollinate a different Laxton's Superb Apple tree’. What fascinated me is that these trees self pollinate (self fertile) and if planted in an apple orchard they make excellent pollinators for any apple varieties - good to know because apple trees need to be pollinated from different apple varieties. Malus John Downie produces a mass of large, plum-like, red and yellow flushed apples that mature early but last well into the winter. They are a favourite for making crab apple jelly because the liquid extracted has a beautiful pale pink colour. In spring, these small trees have beautiful little pink buds that open into elegant white flowers around April, followed by these beautiful fruits shaped a bit like an upside down pear, in autumn. He named it after his Scottish friend and fellow nurseryman John Downie. The ‘John Downie’ crab apple tree was raised in the 1870s by Edward Holmes, a nurseryman from Lichfield, England. Perhaps the best fruiting crabapple, Malus John Downie is a vigorous, small deciduous tree, valued for year-round garden interest and the quality of its. Though they can succumb to something called ‘apple scab’ - a little dark marking on the skin - it isn’t harmful and doesn’t affect the cooking quality of the fruit. They are ornamental crab apple trees, so I decided to discover which variety and it turns out they are called ‘John Downie’ and are the easiest crab apple tree to grow and bear lots of fruit. There were plenty left for the birds and other little visitors and hundreds left on their branches. Windfalls - no one else wanted them and it’s seemed sad to leave them to go to waste, trampled underfoot or run over by cars. I assumed they were some kind of cherry blossom until last week dad brought me some tiny, miniature apples and told me he’d gathered them from the grass verge under these three pretty little trees on the corner. That way the tree will hopefully be able to reserve enough energy for setting next year’s fruit buds over the summer, rather than committing all its efforts to producing hundreds of crab apples this year.For years, I mean years, I have regularly passed three beautiful little trees planted together on the grass verge at the end of my parent’s street. I’m going to see if I can address the issue and stave off biennialism by thinning: taking off around half of the immature fruitlets once the blossom has fully faded and the petals have all dropped. Although this is perfectly normal for most Malus species, it does mean missing the spring blossom display one year in two, and spending a lot of time in the kitchen making crab apple jelly in the alternate years. I am slightly concerned though that the on-and-off blossoming over the past three seasons is an indication that the tree has slipped into a biennial bearing pattern. It also acts as an excellent cross-pollinator for the three trees in our air-pot mini-orchard (but more on that in another post). ‘John Downie’ isn’t just utterly gorgeous, of course. Crab Apple ‘John Downie’ is ready for its close-up… This vigorous crab apple flowers and fruits best in full sun and the foliage turns wonderful shades. ![]() I took a few more at the weekend, but the blossom had started to fade – battered by the recent wind and rain – and the sky was grey, so a short flashback seemed in order: ‘John Downie’ in full bloom, May 2021 A closer look at some of that gorgeous ‘John Downie’ blossom. Here are a few snaps, taken on May 9th when the tree was in full bloom. And then this year it came roaring back, with an incredibly lush, floriferous display of blossom that brought with it a deliciously light, fruit-sweet scent. 2019 was a very good year for blossom and fruit, but last year it was almost devoid of flower. Planted three or so years ago, it’s been growing steadily and putting out blossom when the season and the mood has taken it. For the past few weeks the focus and main feature of our small, suburban back garden has been our crab apple ‘John Downie’ tree. Crab Apple John Downie Malus Hardy Tree FROM £29.99 96 (6 Reviews) Garden Club Members Price: FROM £26. ![]()
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