Pink buds, opening to pure white flowers and a lovely shrub-like form make Sargent crabapple a good tree for many different landscapes. Sargent crabapples are resistant to most crabapple diseases and flourish with a minimum of care.

Description:

A favorite of many growers and arborists, Sargent crabapple has a unique size and form, growing as a dense, mounded shrub rather than a tree. Its flowers are fragrant, light pink in bud, opening to pure white. The fruits are small, shiny, bright red and a favored food for birds. Although it flowers heavily only in alternate years, the many attributes of the Sargent crabapple offset this potential drawback. The tree grows 6 to 10 feet tall and almost twice as wide.

There are an extensive number of species and cultivars of crabapples with tremendous differences in leaf and flower color, leaf shape and vigor. A carefully chosen crabapple can be a delight to the landscape, but a poor choice could yield an extremely pest and disease prone plant with more headaches than delights. M. sargentii is highly resistant to the most serious crabapple diseases

Site Requirements:

Prefers full sun and moist, well-drained, slightly acidic loams but is quite adaptable to varying soil conditions. Hardy in zones 4-8.

Landscape Use:

Suitable in a wide variety of habitats, including very urban situations. From backyards to sidewalks, the Sargent crabapple is valued for its shrub-like form, outstanding flowers and colorful fruits which are much favored by birds.

Sustainable Features:

Shows excellent resistance to apple scab, cedar apple rust and powdery mildew. It shows slight susceptibility to fire blight but it is not a significant problem in the Northeast. Sargent crabapples require little maintenance; pruning is seldom necessary except to remove dead, damaged or rubbing branches.

Cultivars:

M. sargentii 'Rosea' grows taller than species and is more susceptible to fire blight and scab. 'Jewelberry' looks much like M. sargentii but flowers and fruits annually and retains its fruits longer.

Propagation Information for the Grower:

Almost all flowering crabapples are self-sterile. Most common propagation is by grafting or budding onto rootstocks chosen for vigor, hardiness or reduced suckering. Sargent crabapple can also be propagated by softwood cuttings taken in June/July or by seed. Seed propagation is frequently used with Sargent, but considerable variation in size of the progeny can result.