Malus toringo Brouwers Beauty - Crab Apple

Malus 'Brouwers Beauty' is a beautiful improvement of the Asian botanical species called Malus toringo or sieboldii. This ornamental apple tree shoots up a stem when young that will produce its crown, and then gracefully widens and gets larger with age. It also stands out from other flowering apple trees with its leaves, cut into narrow lobes and beautifully coloured in autumn. In spring, it is decorated with an abundance of fragrant flowers, pale pink when it blooms, becoming pure white. Small brightly coloured orange fruits with red highlights persist on the branches after the flowers. This uncommon variety, resistant to diseases and insects, is both charming and original!

Ornamental apple trees come from various botanical species of the genus Malus belonging to the Rosaceae family. Hardy, versatile, and easy to grow, flowering apples are content with ordinary soil but prefer deep, loose, and moist loam, as well as a sunny position. Once established, they can be forgotten about and will retain their generous character. Many cultivars have been developed in Europe and the United States, becoming increasingly attractive and disease-resistant. Browers Beauty, on the other hand, was obtained in the Netherlands in 1996. This resistant and gracefully original cultivar deserves to be discovered and planted more often in our gardens.

'Brouwers Beauty' descends from Malus sieboldii, native to China, Korea, and Japan. A tall bush or small tree, it has an elegant habit in its youth. Over time, the crown opens, the branches become slightly trailing, giving this apple tree a bushy and distinctly spreading silhouette. It sometimes develops as much in width as in height. Its average dimensions at maturity are around 6m (20ft) in height and 5m (16ft) in spread. It maintains a harmonious shape without the need for pruning, and develops relaxed wood covered with a smooth gray-brown bark.

Flowering occurs in late April or early May, with many buds of a muted violet pink shade. They open into single flowers, 3.5 to 4 cm (1 to 2in) in diameter, very pale pink becoming quickly pure white.  These flowers, grouped in small clusters, bloom at the same time as the young leaves appear. The flowers are followed by the formation of a multitude of small crab apples resembling cherries,  1 to 1.2 cm (1in) in diameter. When ripe in late summer, they are brightly orange with a touch of red. Highly appreciated by birds, these fruits remain on the bush for half of the winter, until December. The deciduous foliage is unusual: it consists of leaves divided into 3 narrow lobes, alternate and toothed, green with greyish hues until summer, turning yellow-orange before falling. It should be noted that this variety, slightly susceptible to scab, is quite resistant to other apple diseases.

Malus Brouwers Beauty, like many flowering apple trees, is a good pollinator for early-flowering fruit apple trees. This small tree has more presence than a flowering cherry tree. Its abundant flowers may be less long-lasting than that of the cherry, but this detail is compensated for by the beauty of the foliage from spring to autumn, the beauty of the fruits, and the elegance of its habit. It will find its place in a medium to large garden, in am informal hedge, accompanying, for example, large shrub or climbing roses trained as bushes, evergreen Viburnum, or lilacs. When space allows, ornamental apple trees can be planted as a tall hedge on a slope bordering a path and create a quite magical scene not only in spring but also in autumn, due to their often sumptuous colours at the end of the season.