Crab Apple ‘Plena’

Crab Apple 'Plena' (Malus ioensis 'Plena') is the tree to plant if you want a spring display you can smell from the other end of the garden. It grows to about 5m tall and 4m wide, and in mid spring it covers itself in double pink blossom, each flower layered like a small rose and carrying a genuine violet scent. The leaves colour before dropping in autumn, and the bare branch structure earns its keep through winter.

Why you'll love it

• Double blossom, not single. Each flower carries multiple layers of pink petals, so the display is fuller and lasts longer than the single flowered crab apples.
• It is properly fragrant. The scent is one reason this variety has stayed in gardens for a century. Plant it where people walk past in spring.
• Three seasons of interest. Blossom in spring, clean green foliage through summer, then autumn colour before the branches go bare.
• Tough where it counts. Frost hardy, wind tolerant and happy in poor soil, with non-invasive roots that let it sit near a driveway or path.

Where it works best

Feature planting in a small garden. A single tree in lawn or at the corner of a house is the classic use. At around 5m by 4m it is a real tree without dominating a suburban block.

Driveways and avenues. Repeated down a drive it makes a memorable spring approach. Allow about 4m between trees so each canopy can reach full width.

Light shade. The summer canopy casts useful dappled shade over a seat or lawn, then lets the winter sun back through once the leaves drop.

Growing Crab Apple 'Plena' in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, both for flowering and for autumn colour. This is a cool temperate, warm temperate and Mediterranean tree, and it is properly frost hardy. It needs a real winter to perform, which rules out the subtropics and tropics, where the blossom is thin and unreliable.

Soil. Adaptable, and more forgiving of poor and rocky ground than most flowering trees. What it will not accept is waterlogging, so mound the position on heavy clay. Mulch 75mm deep, clear of the trunk.

Water and feed. Deep soak twice a week through the first two summers, then reduce to a soak in extended dry spells. Feed a complete slow release fertiliser in early spring as the buds swell. Avoid feeding late in the season.

Pruning. Prune in winter while the tree is bare and the structure is visible. Take out crossing and inward growing branches, and remove any suckers from below the graft union. Flowers form on older wood, so heavy shearing costs you next spring's display.

What to expect when it arrives

We grow it in six sizes: 200mm in packs of six, single 300mm and 400mm plants, and advanced 45L, 75L and 100L trees. The smaller sizes are young whips with limited branching, the economical route if you can wait a few years. The advanced trees arrive with established trunks and flower far sooner. All sizes are currently on backorder.

This is a deciduous tree, so depending on the season it may arrive bare or barely in leaf. That is normal and not a fault. Packed to travel upright and delivered Australia wide, delivery from $29.95, minimum order of $300 before delivery. Advanced and large stock is freighted at cost. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Choosing between evergreen and deciduous trees
• Browse the full flowering tree range
• Plants that colour up in autumn
• Crab Apple Royal Raindrops, for deep purple foliage

Common questions

Does it produce edible fruit?

It sets only small, sparse fruit, and this variety is grown for blossom rather than a crop. If you want fruit worth picking, choose an eating apple instead.

Will it grow in Brisbane or the subtropics?

Not reliably. It needs a genuine cold winter to flower properly, so it belongs in cool temperate, warm temperate and Mediterranean gardens.

How long until it flowers well?

Advanced trees in 45L and above often flower in their first or second spring. Younger stock takes three to four years before a display worth the wait.