These pale pink-white blossoms are adorning the newly-leaved branches of my favourite of the two varieties of crab apple we have in the garden. Flowering earlier than the 'John Downie' variety, and fruiting later, preferred by pollinators in spring and by blackbirds in autumn, the Evereste crab apple really is a lovely small tree. We are not allowed to plant trees in our gardens here, so we have two large pots for our crab apple trees, and both seem to be coping well so far. I use the remaining space around the trunk to plant up with small perennials like campanula, squeezing in as many plants as possible.
Not only are the flowers good for pollinators, if you're very lucky, bullfinches may also be enticed by the buds and the winter thrushes, redwings and fieldfares, may be attracted to the apples. The leaves also provide food for many moth caterpillars.
References:
Thomas, A. (2017) Gardening for Wildlife, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
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