Are you hunting for a gorgeous crabapple tree to help round out your landscaping and gardening efforts? The Centennial Crabapple Tree is a well-rounded favorite among crabapple consumers and landscaping enthusiasts alike.
Read on to learn about this wonderful crabapple variety, including how to grow it, use its fruit, and more.
Looking to buy a Centennial Crabapple tree? Check availability.
Characteristics of Centennial Crabapple Trees
The Centennial Crabapple Tree is one of the top picks for ornamental edible apple trees you will ever find! The tree is characterized by gorgeous little reddish-pink buds that will blossom into an arresting, faintly scented display of white blooms in the springtime.
The foliage on these trees is a rush, vivid emerald green, which is part of what makes them so coveted as an ornamental trees in addition to their delicious fruit. Throughout the growing season, they are standouts for landscaping purposes.
Centennial Crabapple Trees tend to be a naturally dwarf variety. They typically will top out at about eight feet tall when fully mature, though some standard varieties can grow from between 12 to closer to 20 feet in height.
Another attribute that makes these crabapple trees a popular landscaping ornamental element is their attraction to pollinators.
Planting Centennial Crabapple Trees will help coax in pollinators for your entire garden and overall landscape! These trees are also quite resistant to many diseases, including blight, rust, and mildew, which can often plague apple trees.
You will also find your Centennial Crabapple Trees to be cold hardy ornamentals and vigorous producers, putting forth bushels of fruit each season. The fruit of the Centennial Crabapple Tree is a sweeter type of crabapple, crisp in texture and ovular in shape, with decadent white flesh.
The skin of this crabapple variety tends to be rich orange-red or simply rosy when fully ripened, which occurs around the middle of August. This makes it an early harvester and spot of ornamental beauty throughout much of the year.
Fast Facts About Centennial Crabapple Trees
Eating The Fruit
Because of their naturally sweet, crisp taste profile, Centennial Crabapples make for an ideal snacking crabapple! Unlike wide other crabapple varieties, which can tend to be on the tart side–even overwhelmingly so–instead, the fruit of the Centennial Crabapple Tree is sweet and luscious.
This makes it a perfect crabapple variety for consuming raw! Kids, in particular, will find this to be a great snack. Best of all, the Centennial Crabapple’s slightly smaller size than a standard apple can make it the perfect portion for a no-waste snack for little eaters.
In addition to raw consumption, the flavor profile of this sweet crabapple also makes it ideal for canning or making it into a jam. You can also consider using it in dishes where you usually use a standard apple–even paired with a savory component, such as pork.
These little apples will go fantastically with just about any apple-centric dish, and their diminutive size also makes them ideal for single-serve desserts. Looking to make a super fancy dessert with your Centennial Crabapple harvest? Try some Hybrid Caramel Creme Brulee Apples!
Health Benefits
Like its other crabapple contemporaries, the Centennial Crabapple offers a bevy of health benefits that make eating it a joy that works in favor of your good health!
In addition to many standards, positive health qualities you would expect to find in fruit and crabapples also have a fantastic effect on digestion.
A ripe crabapple can help with regular bowel movements and even soften the stool, while unripened ones can be consumed to address diarrhea. The pulp from crabapples can be a natural counteractive to nausea as well.
Some vitamin content in a single Centennial Crabapple includes vitamins B, A, and C. This help boosts your immune system, strengthen your bones, reduce inflammation, and more.
Other nutrients in your Centennial Crabapple harvest include antioxidants, calcium, magnesium, manganese, amino acids, and omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Folks who don’t consume these nutrients from animal sources such as eggs and fish should consider adding crabapples to their regular diet!
Growing Centennial Crabapple Trees At Home
Preparing and Planting
Learning how to plant your Centennial Crabapple Trees requires a bit of forethought and preparation. To maximize this tree’s flowering and fruiting capabilities, select a spot in your landscaping that allows it to receive full sunlight.
In addition, it will need space for excellent circulation and root spread, so be sure not to cluster it too close to other trees or landscaping items.
Regarding soil, the spot where you plan to plant your Centennial Crabapple Tree should be fertile and well-draining to avoid pooling water after rain. The good news, however, is that this crabapple variety is not picky in its soil type. As long as it drains well, you should be good to go!
It is also essential to remember that crabapple trees will drop their fruit rather frequently if it becomes overripe. This can be messy at times, so consider the presence of footpaths, walkways, driveways, etc., when choosing the spot to plant your crabapple tree.
This can help you avoid a lot of necessary cleanup in the future.
To prepare your designated spot, remove any rocks or weeds interfering with the tree’s root spread. Then, turn the soil to make sure it can drain well, and add compost if need be to achieve that desired fertility in the soil.
To plant your Centennial Crabapple Tree, dig a hole as deep as the tree’s root ball and twice as wide. Then, place the tree inside and fill the planting hole halfway with the soil. Water the soil, give the water time to drain fully, then add back in the rest of the soil.
Caring and Maintaining
You should ensure your crabapple tree receives at least an inch of water weekly. Rain will usually take care of this, but during any dry spells, be prepared to supplement with watering until the drought resolves.
In the springtime, continue to mulch and compost around your Centennial Crabapple Tree, and focus on pruning your crabapple tree in the winter months when the tree lies dormant. Keep an eye out for any pests or signs of crabapple tree disease, but take heart–this crabapple variety is notably resistant to blight, rust, and mildew!
Your mature Centennial Crabapple Tree should put out a robust harvest of these snackable, sweet fruits early in the harvest season each year. Be prepared for lots of canning, jam-making, baking, and cooking to use the vigorous crops from your remarkable Centennial Crabapple Trees!
Where To Buy Centennial Crabapple Trees
This popular variety of crabapple trees can often be found at local nurseries and lawn and garden centers. If you are looking to source your Centennial Crabapple Trees online, we recommend sourcing from the reliable Nature Hills website.
Wrapping up Centennial Crabapple Trees
Feeling prepared to grow some gorgeous and tasty Centennial Crabapple Trees in your landscaping? The learning doesn’t stop here! To fully prepare to grow the perfect, happiest crabapple trees, be sure to check out our Crabapple Trees Page!
- About the Author
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Renee Dugan is a lifelong writer, professional editor, and lover of all things nature, gardening and the big outdoors.
A Midwest girl who’s been in the garden since she could first hold a hand trowel, Renee’s love of growing things has bloomed into a passion for healthy living, holistic lifestyle, and knowing where our food comes from.
Now a mother and maturing gardener herself, Renee is passionate about channeling everything she knows and continues to learn about gardening into lessons for her son and others. Her excitement for sharing this knowledge is only superseded by her excitement about being able to finally grow her own citrus plants in pots.
Renee can be reached at renee.s.dugan@gmail.com