Scarlet Brandywine®

Scarlet Brandywine is a new crab-apple which features a mass of dark pink flowers, and in spring is possibly the most attractive of all crab-apples.

The reason for the superb blossom is that, unusually in a crab-apple, these are "double" flowers, with many more petals than the simple "single" flowers of most crab-apples. As a result the blossom looks more like that of a flowering cherry than a crab-apple, and close up the flowers resemble miniature roses.

To add to the spring interest, the blossom also has a rose-like scent.

The large leaves are an attractive dull green with bronze shades. 

Scarlet Brandywine bears very small fruitlets but the main autumn interest is the leaves, which turn to orange-red.

Growing and Training

Scarlet Brandywine belongs to the Prairie Crab species of crab apples and is therefore cold-hardy and easy to grow.

It grows with a strongly spreading habit.

As with many double-flowered or dark-blossomed crab-apples, the pollen is sterile and will not pollinate other apple varieties.

Although it flowers quite late in the crab-apple flowering season, Scarlet Brandywine blossom has very poor frost-resistance and a bad overnight frost will create ugly brown patches on the flowers. If a cold snap is forecast try to cover the tree with horticultural fleece.

History

Scarlet Brandywine is closely related to Malus Brandywine. Although Scarlet Brandywine has arguably the more impressive blossom, the flowers of Brandywine are not far behind, and it has larger fruitlets in the autumn. It is hard to choose between them.

Scarlet Brandywine characteristics

• Gardening skillBeginner
• Fruit persistenceFruit drops when ripe
• Self-fertile?Self-fertile
• Pollinating othersPoor
• Pick seasonLate
• Picking monthSeptember
• KeepingDoes not keep
• PruningLight prune
• Country of originUnited States
• Fruit colourOrange

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