Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Perspective

 Flowering Crabapple. 


This flowering Crabapple gets small apples...I know this because this is the tree where I park every Thursday when I pick up my online grocery order.  The birds eat the fruit.  They are not large enough to do anything with.

My parents yard. 


I commented to my Dad that his Crabapple trees were beautiful.  He replied "Those are worthless they don't get any fruit." I told him perhaps they were just to look at...he muttered something under his breath...

Dad wants productive trees...most people stay away from the Crabapples with fruit...they are messy and attract bees.   In town they litter the sidewalks and get stuck to your shoes....there are some boulevard trees that have nice sized fruit if someone were inclined to make jelly. 

Far Side

28 comments:

Val Ewing said...

Where I used to work there was a crab apple tree that had fruit and I would pick about three 5 gallon buckets of the fruit to turn into jelly. The jelly would last me a long time.
I do get what your dad is saying, my husband often says the same thing about my garden of flowers. Can't eat them!
My son lives in a little orchard. Last year he had a bumper crop of pears and had to wait for a frost before he could clean up the fruit. He liked the fruit ... disliked the bees. But made all sort of jellies and jams and gave them away as gifts.
:)

Pauline Persing said...

Some things are just meant to be beautiful.

linda m said...

The Flowering Crabapple tree is very pretty but yes, it is messy. My neighbor has one and I find the dried up flowers and then the fruit all over my driveway. And yes, it attracts bees, just ask my hubby about that one.

Martha said...

They sure are pretty!

Ed said...

When I bought my current house, there were four old crabapple trees on the border of our property and our neighbor. They were getting long in the tooth and I didn't know if they were hers or our responsibility since they are exactly on the border so I asked the neighbor if she minded if I took care of them when they died. She said she would appreciate it. I have waited patiently and they have died back to about half of what they were eight years ago when I asked my neighbor but they still leaf and flower out every spring and so I give them another reprieve until next year.

Sara said...

But they are definitely pretty! There were several crabapple trees along the cart path between hole #8 and #9 at the golf course closest to us. They did have fruit and always looked really pretty in the spring. But they were all cut down this spring. I was told they were diseased and getting rotten inside. What a shame! One of our neighbors has some type of tree with little orange berries that always drop onto the sidewalk and get into our shoes. But the tree is pretty.

Betsy said...

We had two flowering pears at our Spokane house and they were gorgeous in the spring but never any pears. I don't think they were supposed to have pears when I asked about them so I always wondered why they were named that?
Blessings,
Betsy

Terry and Linda said...

Lovely! I used to can with crabapples. They are messy and tiny but ever so yummy

Tired Teacher 2 said...

I love flowering trees! In Riverton, I’d go to the college parking lot to pick crabapples from the trees on the perimeter to make jelly.

Leah said...

I like the crabapple trees (we had two that we planted when the kids were born) - they didn't survive very long. Shortly after high school the last one came down. Now when I think about it the comments are "they are so messy". But pretty for sure!

Maebeme said...

We have flowering crabapples here too - in the neighbour's yards. The birds eat most of the fruit but I noticed a few apples still hanging from last year.

We did pick them when I was a kid and mom made crabapple jelly and canned crabapples for eating in the winter.

Gemma's person said...

In our town the Walmutt had crabapple trees in the parking lot where the sparse soil had little spaces. I had a friend make crab apple jelly from them. :)

L. D. said...

Down on the farm when I was a kid my mom made a lot of jelly from them. The tree sat by the water pump that I had to use to keep the house in drinking water. It was very pretty with all the blooms.

Rita said...

Our neighbors growing up had a crabapple tree in their yard and the dad complained about it all the time. That and the willow tree.

Miss Merry said...

I purchased two flowering pear trees many decades ago. Someone told me that you had to have a pair to get fruit. Every year we would be blessed with blossoms, but no fruit. Finally one year FRUIT - but my magical pear trees both bore apples. When we built the addition, each tree was framed in a window, just serendipity not planned. The trees got bigger and taller and taller and bore lots and lots of apples. When I had five children I canned applesauce, apple slices and apple pie filling. I would beg anyone I saw to come pick apples or shovel the ground falls for deer bait. Eventually we ran out of children, but never apples. It was difficult to even try to mow on that side of the house because of all the bees. And there was a school bus stop on the corner. Finally I relented to the pressure and let my husband cut them down. But I still miss the blossoms in the spring.

I do have a dwarf heirloom apple in my play yard that has just enough apples for two. Tart to eat, but great for cooking.

Bonnie said...

Those Crabapples are beautiful! Some trees are just meant to be ornamental and give people joy in their beauty. But I do understand your Dad, he sounds like he has a farmer's heart like my grandfather!

Galla Creek said...

I’m with your Dad…example, Bradford pear, and their blooms stink.

Linda Reeder said...

Be sure you check in with Kay in Hawaii. Your posts have something in common.

Granny Marigold said...

For years we put up with a big cherry tree in the back yard that bore small cherries that were all pit. Every year the fruit fell and every wasp for miles around came to feast on them. No one could go anywhere near that tree for weeks. Finally we got it cut down. I'm sure the wasps still come looking for it every summer.

Red said...

Crabapples have great flavor...jelly juice or fruit. Some of the newer varieties arr a little larger.

DJan said...

Most of the flowering trees around here don't seem to produce fruit, which sounds like it might be a good thing. We could sure use more bees, they seem to be lacking this year, maybe because it's been so cool.

Karen said...

I miss my crab apple tree. We Used to make pickled crabs. The bears loved the tree too. They would climb into it and break branches so it got rather scabby looking. Then a disease came in - end of crab apple tree.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

Not a tree a am farmiliar with but I also prefer productive trees

diane in northern wis said...

Wouldn't it be nice if they would keep their beautiful flowers all year long!

Jacqi Stevens said...

Looks like your dad gets his fair share of crabapple "snow" each year! I remember my parents' generation having the same complaint about crabapple trees, too. At least now, our city seems to think they are worth planting alongside streets. Even when they fall, the blossoms look pretty, and the wind usually blows them away before they get to looking messy.

aurora said...

They sure look pretty, and it's a bonus to provide a benefit to nature.

Cynthia said...

Just being beautiful IS useful in my book. Maybe you could sell him with how good they are for the bees.

www.self-sufficientsam.blogspot.com said...

I just had the decorative flowering crab apple trees and I wanted fruiting ones but now I'm glad I didn't have them! LOL!