Varieties of Fruiting Crabapples

USDA Zones 4 and 5

• U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 2 and 3 are too cold for a fruiting crabapple tree to survive the winter. Zones 4 and 5 support numerous types, including Sutyzam, a cultivar that grows to 20 feet. Like many crabapples, it is a perfect size for a small yard, notes the Washington State University Clark County Extension. Sutyzam’s fruits are red, miniature apples, edible for people and animals. Amerspirzam is a flowering crabapple for zones 4 and 5, growing between 15 and 18 feet. Noted for rose-red flowers in April, this cultivar generates red fruits that hang from its limbs in clusters.

USDA Zone 6

• Prairiefire crabapple trees live up to their name with red-pink flowers, red fruit, greenish red foliage and reddish-brown bark. Mature Prairiefire trees are 20 feet high and 20 feet wide, growing best in full sun – a common characteristic of crabapple trees. Dark green leaves that become yellow-green in autumn are a solid ornamental feature of the tea crabapple, a Chinese tree suited for zone 6. Tea crabapple (Malus hupehensis) flowers by May and produces a green-yellow fruit with a reddish tint on one side, according to the University of Connecticut Plant database. These species make a good patio tree or specimen plant for the front yard.

USDA Zone 7

• You may plant Red Jewel crabapple trees in USDA zone 7 for their pure white blossoms and dark red fruits. Red Jewel, a potentially 18-foot tall tree, holds its clusters of fruits into the winter months, giving birds something to eat and giving the landscape of zone 7 some vibrant color. Branches that develop low on the trunk are a trait of this variety. The red fruits of Red Jade, a weeping variety of crabapple, are used to make jellies. Use this tree in an open part of the landscape; its branches droop downward and almost touch the ground. The white flowers that emerge in April are 1 ½ inches wide.

USDA Zone 8

• Planting zones warmer than USDA zone 8 are not favorable for landscaping with crabapple trees. In zone 8, a variety you can plant in small groups is Camzam, a type that is just 10 feet high. The white April flowers yield a one-half inch wide apple that ripens to a burgundy shade of red. The progression of colors for the Indian Summer crabapple cultivar goes from purple as they emerge to a medium green, finally changing to hues like red and orange in fall. The flowers of spring are a rich red shade, a foreshadowing of the bright red crabapples to follow in fall. Indian Summer grows between 15 and 20 feet tall.