Apple tree as a garden decoration. Beautiful varieties of ornamental apple trees Are the apples of the umbrella apple tree edible?

When the apple trees bloom...Everyone generally likes it. Especially if these are ornamental apple trees. They also have bright fruits, red and pink leaves... Let's talk about the best varieties of ornamental apple trees.

Ornamental apple trees grow both in the south and in colder regions. These trees live for a long time, which is why some long-lived trees still delight the eye in ancient parks. The apple trees themselves are frost-resistant, drought-resistant and tolerant of dirty air and water.

Typically, ornamental apple trees have the appearance of a rather tall shrub, but in our time dwarf and weeping forms have appeared, which have expanded the possibilities of landscape design.

They usually bloom for a little more than two weeks, but are beautiful even before flowering. Then they are decorated with bright and pretty buds. And even after flowering they remain very attractive.

Typically, the flowers of such apple trees have a diameter of 4 centimeters. The colors are different: there are pink, yellow, white, and red. Fruits can also have different colors.

The most popular varieties

In total, about a hundred ornamental types of apples are known. Up to 190 different varieties are cultivated. The following are the most popular in our latitudes:

• Nedzvetsky. Her color scheme includes a lot of burgundy and purple. Its flowers are purple-pink, its leaves are burgundy and purple, and its fruits are purple, but the flesh is pink. It grows quickly, is unpretentious, grows up to 5-6 meters in height. Easily survives frosts, pest attacks, and diseases;
• Royalty. This tree is dwarf and has purple flowers. It has a spreading crown that does not need to be formed. During flowering it resembles sakura. The leaves turn pinkish and orange in autumn. The fruits are also purple, but they are not suitable for food;

• Chinese. An apple tree resembling an Asian graceful girl. May look like a shrub or like a tree. Can grow up to 10 meters. It has ovate leaves that take on a fiery hue in autumn. The flowers are white, the inflorescences are umbrella-shaped. The size of the flowers is about 3 cm. The color of the fruit is pale red. The Chinese woman is resistant to any diseases, especially mycoses, and easily survives any weather changes;

• Sargent. Quite a miniature shrub - rarely exceeds three meters. The branches are thin, but strong, located horizontally. Sometimes thorns appear on them. Sargenta blooms in May, the flowers are white and very miniature. It has ovate leaves, the color can be soft green, orange or bright yellow in the fall;
• Makamic. This is not a very tall tree - from three meters to six. The flowers are pink-purple, the fruits are miniature and slightly elongated, their color is bright red. Despite their small size, makamika fruits are the largest among ornamental apples. It is beautiful both when it blooms and when it bears fruit. The fruits are exceptionally tasty;
• Berry. Also called Siberian. It can be either a tree or a shrub. Can grow up to 5 meters. The crown is round and dense, branching begins at a fairly low level. It blooms with white flowers, but its buds are pink. Apples can stay on the tree all winter. They are also edible. They are characterized by rather slow growth;
• Tsumi. The tree is small in size (up to 6 meters). The crown is thick and spherical, there are many flowers. The size of the flowers is up to 3 centimeters. Their buds are pink, but the petals are white. Tsumi blooms in June and May, apples appear in September. Fruit color is red;

• Scheidecker. The height is up to three and a half meters, but it is a full-fledged tree. Blooms with semi-double and pale pink flowers. The fruits are bright yellow (in some species, bright red);
• Pallas, aka Siberian. Usually a bush or low tree. The crown is round and lush. Flowers up to three and a half centimeters, usually white, but can also be pinkish. The fruits are yellow or red. Blooms in June and May.

Growing and care

These beauties can be grown both from seeds and from layering, root suckers and cuttings. Sprouts are planted in the fall. Ornamental apples have no special soil requirements. But it is better if the soil is well-drained and fertile. They love light, but are also tolerant of slight darkening. Bury the seedlings carefully and so that the root collar remains close to the soil surface.

Ornamental apple trees are responsive to watering, but young seedlings must be kept in constantly moist soil. There is no need to fertilize ornamental apple trees in the first year, but then give them balanced fertilizers in the next years of their life.

Among the diseases, the most common are powdery mildew and fire blight. Apple scab is less common. Pests include spider mites and aphids.

They can be used to create hedges for a variety of purposes. You can also create borders or walls from them. However, a single ornamental apple tree is beautiful.

They can be easily trimmed and trimmed, but it needs to be done rarely and with the utmost care.

It is better to trim them if the crown thickens or the apple tree needs to be rejuvenated. The haircut should be done before the growing season begins, that is, in the spring. It will be enough to remove branches that have frozen or dried out, as well as those that grow inside the crown itself. You also need to untangle the thickets of branches if they intersect.

Do not forget to periodically treat beauties with insecticides. You also need to mulch the ornamental apple tree. For this you need pine or spruce bark, sawdust or peat.

Answers Andrey Lysikov, Candidate of Biological Sciences:

Our answer to Sakura

The harmonious shape of the crown, elegant foliage and a huge number of bright flowers collected in umbrella inflorescences make decorative apple trees desirable in any garden. The color of the leaves of these trees can be very diverse: from light green to emerald and from pinkish to dark purple. As for flowers, their palette in different species and varieties covers a wide spectrum from boiling white to scarlet, crimson or beetroot. The fruits also vary in size, shape and color, although all of them, as a rule, are significantly smaller than those of the domestic apple tree, the ancestor of many fruit varieties.

In recent years, ornamental apple trees can be increasingly seen in summer cottages. In the garden they can play a variety of roles: serve as spectacular soloists, perform in groups or as part of tree and shrub compositions. One of the main advantages of these trees, perhaps, is that they can be considered as a replacement for cherry trees, which have little winter hardiness in temperate climates. The fruits also deserve special mention. In many varieties they are edible and are used for making preserves, jellies and compote, and in addition, they remain decorative for a long time and attract numerous birds to the garden in winter.

Attention

"Makamik." Photo: Andrey Lysikov

What to choose?

The ornamental group includes a number of species of apple trees, mainly of Far Eastern origin, as well as many hybrid varieties. Most of them are perfect for summer cottages: their height, as a rule, does not exceed 6-8 m, and the crowns, even of the most spreading specimens, do not take up very much space. In addition, they are quite durable and unpretentious in relation to soils.

Prominent representatives of decorative species are the Niedzwiecki apple tree, up to 8 m high, with a lush tent-shaped crown, purple flowers and fruits, i. Siebold with an umbrella crown, pink buds and whitening flowers and me. profusely blooming with a wide spreading crown, pink inflorescences and orangish apples.

Hybrid apple trees are also widely used in design. Among the most popular is me. plumifolium, often called "Chinese", and also me. purple, a miniature copy of my ancestor me. Nedzvetsky.

"Royalty". Photo: Andrey Lysikov

Recently, the dream of many gardeners has become 'Brandy Magic' - a spectacular varietal apple tree with a spreading crown, large double flowers and yellow round apples with a diameter of 4-5 cm. The 'Makovetskiana' variety is also remarkable, distinguished by large dark pink flowers and small burgundy fruits elongated shape.

However, the most widespread and recognized among gardeners are decorative hybrids, characterized by their compact size and the special attractiveness of their flowers and fruits.

Blooming columns

Particularly attractive are the columnar apple trees, reaching a height of 2 m. During flowering, the best of them are strewn from top to bottom with large flowers of different colors, then turning into small apples weighing 30-40 g. Among the most decorative and stable varieties of domestic selection can be called 'Pomegranate Bracelet' with light purple flowers, 'Pink Tale', 'Carmelita' with pink-violet and 'Crimson Necklace' with reddish-purple.

‘Chil’s Viping’ is a variety with a weeping crown, on the hanging shoots of which numerous fragrant deep pink flowers open in spring. Photo: Andrey Lysikov

Varieties of ornamental apple trees*

with white flowers:

‘Long’, ‘Everest’, ‘John ​​Downey’, ‘Adirondack’, ‘Tina’, ‘Street Parade’

with pink flowers:

‘Hopa’ ‘Lizet’, ‘Mokum’, ‘Ola’, ‘Red Obelisk’

with red, burgundy or purple:

‘Royalty’, ‘Rudolph’, ‘Eley’, ‘Makamik’, ‘Nikoline’.

*The most winter-hardy in central Russia

There are about 50 species and more than 190 cultivated varieties of ornamental apple trees.

Ornamental apple trees are unpretentious to their growing conditions. Planting a decorative apple tree with red leaves is considered especially chic. This plant allows you to create bright accents and decorate even shady corners of the garden.

In cultivation it is a low tree, which rarely reaches 10 meters at the top of its crown. Ornamental apple trees can also be shrubby forms of the crop. In the absence of pruning, the crown is formed in the form of an irregular oval or ball.

Some varieties can bear fruit successfully, but the fruits do not have pleasant organoleptic properties.

The color of the bark of the stem part can vary from pastel gray to rich brown. When choosing a variety of ornamental apple tree, the shape and color of the leaf blade deserves special attention. Some species are presented with a red color and a long period of not falling leaves in the autumn. This allows you to create magnificent landscapes even with a poor soil mixture and unfavorable weather conditions.

Most varieties of ornamental apple trees have dense foliage of a rich green color, which transforms into a yellow and red riot of colors only in late August - early September. The average length of an ellipsoid or plum-shaped leaf is 100 mm.

During the flowering period, the entire crown is densely covered with fragrant flowers, which can reach a diameter of 40 mm. The main color is white, which can have various shades of pink, peach, ivory, etc. Single flowers are collected into bouquets of inflorescences using stems.

Fruit formation begins immediately after flowering. In the center of each flower there is a receptacle, which gradually grows and fills with pulp. The outer color of the fruit is first green, then, as it ripens, it changes to yellow and red.

These trees have fantastic resistance to adverse environmental factors. This is a frost-resistant crop that grows successfully even in the northern regions of our country.

Planting ornamental apple trees

It is best to plant such apple trees in the spring, before the first buds appear, or in the fall, in September and the first half of October. Young seedlings up to 4 years old can be planted in both spring and autumn, but older ones, which do not adapt well to a new place, can only be planted in autumn.

Particular attention should be paid to the distance to neighboring plants. For ornamental apple trees, it is necessary to provide a lot of free space; they should not grow in close proximity to large plants. For each plant, you need to leave as much space as its crown will spread in adulthood: the diameter of a tree of a particular variety should be the main guideline. The classic option is an area of ​​about 5-6 m (respectively, a distance of 2-3 m to neighboring crops).

For ornamental apple trees, you need to dig large planting holes in advance, preferably in the fall of the previous year or at least 1 month before planting. The diameter of the planting hole is about 80 cm and the depth is about 1 m - ideal. The soil removed from the holes must be replaced with a special substrate. A two-fold portion of sand and a three-fold portion of humus are mixed with the leaf soil. If possible, 250-300 g of complete mineral fertilizer is mixed into the soil. Without pre-planting improvement, apple trees will take a long time to take root and will take a lot of time to achieve the desired size. The planting depth is similar to all apple trees: the root collar should be 5-10 cm above the ground level.

Caring for ornamental apple trees and pest control

Apple trees need fertile, well-drained soil. The planting site should be located in the sun; heavily shaded areas are not suitable for these trees. Moderate watering is required; water stagnation should not be allowed. It is recommended to mulch decorative apple trees. Peat, sawdust, conifer bark, and nut shells are suitable for this.

In the spring, it is necessary to carry out disease prevention and spray the trees with insecticides.

If you do not plan to eat the fruits of ornamental apple trees, you can destroy pests during flowering and fruiting. However, it is still not recommended to do this if there may be children on the site, who are often attracted by delicious small apples. The fruits also serve as food for birds, which may be harmed by the toxins. Therefore, in order to avoid poisoning by toxic substances, pest control of ornamental apple trees with chemicals is carried out before the beginning of the growing season.

Ornamental apple trees, like fruit trees, are most susceptible to scab, powdery mildew, and bacteria that cause a disease known as blight. If a burn occurs, the tree must be destroyed, as this dangerous disease quickly and actively spreads throughout the garden.

Propagation of ornamental apple trees

Ornamental types of apple trees can be propagated by seeds. They are sown immediately after harvest in early autumn or after stratification for 1.5-2 months at the end of autumn.

Only rare species and varietal apple trees with improved characteristics that are not transmitted by seed are propagated exclusively by grafting.

Cuttings are not the most productive, but acceptable method. For most apple trees, the survival rate does not exceed 5-15%, even when treated with growth stimulants.

Varieties of ornamental apple trees

Ornamental floribunda apple tree (Malus floribunda)

Luxurious Japanese apple tree - apple tree (Malus floribunda). Suitable for small cottages, because... it is up to 4 m high. It is often a shrub with outstretched, sometimes prickly branches and ovoid dark green leaves, 4-8 cm long. The flowers are very abundant, carmine-red in buds, pale pink after blooming, 2.5- in diameter 3.0 cm, in bunches of 4-7 on purple pedicels; bloom in May. The fruits are spherical, small, 1-2 cm in diameter, reddish-yellow; ripen in September. One of the most decorative apple trees.

Ornamental Pallas apple tree (Malus pallasiana)

The snow-white beauty is the Pallas apple tree, or Siberian apple tree (Malus pallasiana) - a tree up to 3-5 m high or a shrub with a rounded crown. The leaves are ovate, 2.5-8 cm long. The flowers are white on long pedicels, 2-3.5 cm in diameter, 4-8 in umbellate inflorescences; bloom in May-June. The fruits are spherical, yellow with a red tint, up to 1 cm in diameter; ripen in September. Homeland: Eastern Siberia, Far East, Northern China, Mongolia.

Sargent's decorative apple tree(Malus sargentii)

A modest Japanese beauty, the Sargent apple tree (Malus sargentii) is a shrub 1 to 3 m high with horizontally spread branches, often with thorns. The leaves are ovate, often three-lobed, 5-8 cm long, dark green, orange and yellow in autumn. The flowers are white, on bare stalks, 5-6 in bunches; bloom in May. The fruits are almost spherical, about 1 cm in diameter, dark red with a waxy coating; ripen in September. Decorative during flowering and fruiting.

Decorative plum-leaved or Chinese apple tree (Malus prunifolia)

This is a tree or shrub up to 10 m high with pubescent young shoots. The leaves are ovate, 5-10 cm long, dark green, slightly shiny, yellow or bronze in autumn. The flowers are large, 3 cm in diameter, white, 5-10 in umbellate inflorescences; bloom in May. The fruits are spherical, up to 2-3 cm in diameter on long stalks, yellow or red, sour, edible apples (paradise); They ripen in September and do not fall off for a long time. Decorative during flowering and fruiting. Resistant to fungal diseases. Homeland: Northeast China.

Decorative apple tree Tsumi (Malus x zumi)

Apple tree Tsumi ( Malus X zumi) - possibly a hybrid of the Manchurian variety of berry apple and Siebold. A small tree with a dense, spherical crown up to 6 (12) m high. The leaves are oblong-ovate on long shoots, noticeably lobed, 4-9 cm long. The flowers are numerous, 2.5-3 cm in diameter, pink in buds, open white ; bloom in May-June. The fruits are spherical, red, about 1 cm in diameter; ripen in September. Decorative during flowering and fruiting.

Ornamental Scheidecker apple tree (Malus Scheideckeri)

Scheidecker apple tree (Malus Scheideckeri) is a low tree up to 3.5 m high, with a dark brown trunk and fissured bark. The branches are light brown with an orange tint and light lentils. The leaves are oval, sharp-toothed, dark green. The flowers are pale pink, semi-double, up to 3.5 cm in diameter, dark pink in buds. The fruits are round or elongated-ovoid, bright yellow. Its decorative form "Red Jade" (red fruits) is interesting.

Ornamental apple tree Weeping or riverside

It was introduced into selection in an almost unchanged, wild form. In nature, it is found almost everywhere on the North American continent. With proper care, it grows up to 12 meters in height and has long flexible branches, which bend towards the ground during the growth of leaf mass and ripening of fruits. That is why this decorative apple tree received the name “Weeping”. It will grow well in all regions of our country, since it is not afraid of even severe frosts due to the dense layer of bark.

Ornamental apple tree Ola (Malus hybridus Ola)

The low ornamental apple tree of the Ola variety was bred in Poland. It prefers moist to moderately moist soils. Blooms profusely in sunny places, tolerates partial shade. Due to the fact that the plant does not grow higher than 5 meters, it is used for decorative landscaping in gardens and residential areas. The unusually elegant, openwork crown of the tree in spring is covered with a cap of large pink flowers and exudes a wonderful aroma.

Decorative apple tree of Makovetsky district

A tree or bush with a smooth, spherical crown up to 2 m in diameter and burgundy-colored branches. The leaves are red when blooming and gradually acquire a dark green color with a burgundy tint. Blooms in July with large bright red flowers. The fruits are bright red and edible. Light-loving. Prefers moist and fertile soils. Resistant to diseases. Highly winter-hardy.

In order to grow an exotic plant in your greenhouse, you should use the secrets of its contents. Gardeners want to see beautiful plants. The subtleties of caring for large classes of plants are not similar. An exotic flowering creature requires painstaking care. In this article, we tried to outline several secrets to avoid death when breeding a rare plant. To determine the correct measures, it is important to determine which family your plant belongs to.

An apple tree is like an ornamental tree...

Why do you need a cherry tree without cherries, an oak tree with weeping branches, or an apple tree with inedible apples? We plant maples and lindens, spruce and pine trees in our garden and do not expect a harvest from them. It just so happens that each tree has its own reputation. If it’s a maple, then it’s curly, if it’s an oak, then it’s mighty, if it’s an apple tree, then it’s certainly covered in apples. But modern gardening turns nature and our ideas about it on its head.

Ornamental apple trees can outshine many beautiful flowering trees and shrubs. Apple trees are considered the best trees in the middle zone. The benefits are undeniable, but the beauty cannot be taken away either. Tall, slender, with a proportional, well-developed crown if pruned correctly. The snow-white flowers, foreshadowing a rich harvest, are simply magnificent. And these May white and pink petals set poets in a lyrical mood.

Decorative apple trees

An apple tree is a wonderful garden decoration in itself. How many people know that special decorative forms are also used for these purposes: especially beautiful wild species and varieties purposefully created for these purposes, of which, by the way, there are more and more of them. For decoration, they try to select species that would be spectacular in both flowering and fruiting; they look closely at the decorativeness of the leaves, the shape of the tree and, of course, its winter hardiness. For these purposes, the berry forms of the apple tree are especially good, in which the fruits are the size of a pea, and if they are also brightly colored, then the beauty of the flowering tree is replaced by an equally spectacular decoration of its small fruits.

Such wild-growing types of apple trees include Siebold apple, Manchurian, abundantly flowering, brown, tsumi, Siberian (aka Sibirka) and others.

The flowers of ornamental apple trees are very fragrant. During mass flowering, pleasant odors spread over a considerable distance and attract many insects. But it is known that

Ornamental apple trees with small leaves and fruits can be excellent material for bonsai. Trees can be made not only miniature for rooms, but also quite large, or even dwarf-shaped, for winter gardens and cold greenhouses. Many, such as apple berry, can even be used for trimmed hedges.

Siberian (M. baccata (L.) Borkh.)

Its value lies in its extraordinary winter hardiness and vitality in general. It blooms with large flowers on long stalks, and then is decorated with small bright red fruits that remain on the branches even after the leaves have fallen. It is also beautiful in autumn with leaves painted in yellow-orange tones. It has many decorative forms.

The Manchurian apple tree (M. manshurica Maxim) is already beautiful with its rounded crown with drooping branches. It is characterized by very decorative fruits - elongated-conical, yellow-orange in color with a blush, which also do not fall off for a long time.

Siebold apple tree (M. sieboldii (Rgl.) Rehb.)

stands out for its beautiful pyramidal crown shape, which is unusual for an apple tree. In addition, it is especially attractive both during the flowering period, and colored with small red fruits at the time of fruiting, and under the cover of large leaves painted orange-yellow in autumn. And by the way, it has long been used as an ornamental plant in East Asia and Europe.

Apple tree (M. floribunda Sieb.)

considered one of the most decorative forms. In cultivation since 1862. It is especially widely used in Japan, and there they know a lot about ornamental plants. It is spectacular in a dress of carmine-colored buds, and under a veil of white-pink flowers, and colored with dark red small fruits or golden-red foliage in the fall.

Brown or riverine apple tree (M. fusca Raf.)

came to us from North America. Very winter hardy. In cultivation since 1836. The flowers are white or light pink, large, 6-12 in inflorescences. The fruits are very impressive - yellow, with a red side or red, spherical-oval.

Tsumi apple tree (M. zumi Rehb.)

has long been used as an ornamental plant. It is a compact small tree with a round, dense crown. Blooms annually and profusely. The buds are carmine, the flowers are light pink. The fruits are small, yellow-red in color. In autumn, the leaves turn an intense yellow with a hint of red. Can be damaged by frost, but recovers well.

Among the decorative species with larger fruits are the Niedzvetsky, Pratt, Hall, wonderful, forest, and plum-leaved (Chinese) apple trees.

The Niedzwetzkyana apple tree (M. niedzwetzkyana Dieck) is most widespread in our country, as are the numerous forms and varieties obtained with its use. If you see an apple tree whose bark, leaves, skin and even the flesh of the fruit are dark red, you know that this is a Niedzwiecki apple tree or its derivatives. It received its name in honor of the botanist V.E. Nedzvetsky, who collected the fruits of this apple tree in the vicinity of Kashkar and sent them to Dr. G. Dick, who introduced it into cultivation in Germany and gave it a name. The French gardener L. Tillier believed that this apple tree, from a decorative point of view, has no equal in European gardening.

Hall's apple tree (M. halliana Koehne) is characterized by a wide, spreading crown. The flowers are white, large, on thin drooping stalks, fragrant. The fruits are small, yellow-red. The leaves turn light green before falling.

The wonderful apple tree (M. spectabilis (Ait.) Borkh.) is one of the most beautiful ornamental plants that have long been cultivated in Japan and China. Her homeland is China. It has been in cultivation since 1780. It is a tall tree (up to 8-9 m) with striking red-brown branches, large flowers (up to 5 cm in diameter), pale pink or light red, the inflorescence contains up to 5-8 . The fruits are spherical, up to 2.5 cm in diameter, red or yellow. It has a number of forms with double and semi-double flowers.

The forest or wild apple tree (M. silvestris (L.) Mill.) is widely used to decorate gardens and parks in our country. It also has a number of decorative forms with different types of growth, coloring of leaves and flowers: weeping - profusely flowering, with drooping branches and edible seedless fruits; terry - with numerous double flowers: golden - with yellow-variegated leaves; red-fruited - with spectacular dark red fruits.

Plum-leaved apple tree (M. prunifolia (Willd.) Borkh.). which includes Chinese and many of the Siberian small-fruited varieties such as Ranetki and even semi-cultivars, for example Ranetka purpurovaya, Dolgo, Pepinka Altai.

I would especially like to draw attention to the importance of ornamental apple trees for decorating cities. After all, the apple tree is one of the few trees that can tolerate gas pollution and dust in city air. It also stands out for another ability: asphalt, concrete, and houses in cities absorb all the solar radiation falling on them, and the apple tree reflects more than half of it into space and “works” in this direction twice as efficiently as a birch tree, and three times more successfully than a bird cherry tree. . Therefore, on streets lined with apple trees, the air in summer is not only cleaner, but also cooler.

I.S. ISAEVA, doctor s. -X. Sci.