Backyard apple breeding

Apple: Malus x Purpurea

Shane Gadsby -

A family of red leaf crab apples, with deep pink blossoms and dark purple wood.

  • Vigour: Medium
  • Precociousness: Medium
  • Resistances: Shows resistance to powdery mildew (anecdotal)
  • Size of fruit: Crab
  • Flowering: Early (know to bloom multiple times per season)
  • Fruiting: Early
  • Cropping: Medium to heavy
  • Ploidy: Diploid (?)
  • Fruit colour: Purple
  • Flesh colour: Red to purple (?)
  • Leaf colour: Deep Red (maturing to dark green in late season)
  • Parentage: Unknown (wild)
  • Descendants: Eleyi Crabapple, Aldenhamensis Crabapple, 'Echtermeyer'
  • Biennialism: None observed
  • Growth habit: Upright (not columnar)
  • Self-fertile: Yes

First described in late 1800s Orleans, France, it's vibrant pink flowers and deep red leaves led to it being used as parentage to a wide family of ornamental crab apples.

NOTE: No details are documented of the flavour, specific fruit size, nor true confirmation of the fruit flesh colour. As such this entry will be updated when my own tree fruits