Centurion® Crabapple

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Watering can be reduced after establishment. Prune for shape and structure after flowering. Pruning time: spring after flowering.

This trees small stature make it perfect for the home landscape. Use it as a specimen or plant several as a backdrop to the formal garden in low lying, moist areas. Add color to mixed beds with this tree, but plant clear of structures and walkways. This tree will spread somewhat at maturity and drop fruit. Can be easily trained as a fruit bearing espalier.

For a burst of color, combine with big blooming, flowering shrubs like Lilac, Spiraea, Butterfly Bush, and Weigela. Cotoneaster and Bunchberry provide you with fall berries, and the colored foliage and bark of Barberry and Dogwood help you achieve year round interest in the garden. Don't forget colorful perennials like Daylily and Carpet Bugle for contrasting color.

Malus is native to the temperate zones in the Northern Hemisphere including North America, Europe and Asia. Crabapples, while used for their flowers, where highly susceptible to a variety of diseases. Bob Simpson of Simpson Nursery Company in Indiana began a breeding program to create disease resistant varieties. Centurion came from this venture and was introduced in 1978. While Crabapples are not typically a food crop, the juice is used in jellies and added to other Apple varieties in cider. Crabapples are great pollenizers for apple orchards due to their abundance of blooms. The wood is popular for smoking and they are quite frequently used in bonsai.