When looking for easy care trees, keep the disease resistant crab apples in mind. These plants require a minimum of attention.


Red Jewel Crab

This upright, pyramidal tree is 15 to 18 feet in height. It features white flowers that open mid to late season. The buds are pink. This has long lasting red fruits. Introduced in the 1970’s Red Jewel has disease resistant foliage.


Red Swan Crab

Red Jade is a parent of this cultivar. This has weeping branches. It reaches ten feet in height with a spread of 15 feet. Red Swan features deep pink buds and pale pink blossoms. The fruits are red.


Robinson Crab

Reaching 25 feet in height with an equal spread, this is a rounded, dense tree. It is hardy to zone four. Opening from red buds, the deep pink blossoms appear early in the season.

When the leaves first emerge, they’re red, but later change to greenish-bronze. The foliage turns orange in the fall. The fruits are deep red. Robinson shows excellent resistance to fire blight, mildew, and rust with good resistance to scab.


Royal Raindrops Crab

This is a relatively new introduction. Royal Raindrops has excellent disease resistance. It features purple cutleaf foliage and vivid pink blooms.


Sentinel Crab

Hardy to zone four, Sentinel reaches 15 to 20 feet in height with a spread of ten feet or so. It has an upright growth habit. This blooms early in the season. Opening from red buds, the pink flowers fade to white.

The leaves provide color during the fall. It has long lasting, red fruits. Introduced during the 1970’s, Sentinel has excellent resistance to mildew and rust and good resistance to fire blight and scab.


Sugar Tyme Crab

Hardy to zone four, this is an upright, oval tree that is 18 to 20 feet in height with a spread of around 15 feet. It features scented, white blossoms that open early to mid season. The buds are pale pink.

The red fruits are long lasting. The leaves bring yellow fall color. Sugar Tyme has excellent resistance to mildew and rust and fair to good resistance to scab and fire blight.


Weeping Candied Apple Crab

This tree has a spreading growth habit with weeping branches. It is 15 feet in height with an equal spread. Weeping Candied Apple crab blooms mid to late season. Opening from red buds, the blossoms can be pink to red. The red fruits are persistent. This is resistant to scab.