Crab Apple
Malus sylvestris
Like the wild cherry, crab apple has been deliberately grown around old farmsteads (and the fruit used for crab apple jelly) but is also a truly native species found in old woodland. Unlike modern hybrid apples, crab apples grow true from the apple pips.
It is a small tree, very suitable for gardens. It bears attractive pink/white apple blossom in the spring, while the apples provide an autumn feature in the garden, as well as a useful crop.
Collection
Pick the apples as soon as they appear ripe, usually in October. The pips should be extracted from the apples and stratified straight away
Sowing
Pips should be sown in February in a sheltered site or even cold greenhouse or poly-tunnel, as the seedlings are vulnerable to frost. They should be sown in a shallow depression and just lightly covered with soil or sand.
