Malus sp.
apple and crabapple
Apples and crabapples come in a profusion of varieties, most
bearing lovely flowers and attractive, sometimes edible, fruit.
They have alternate, toothed leaves, bear flowers in early to
mid spring, and set fruit in late summer to early fall. The
varieties range in height from 8-40 feet, and come in a number
of growth habits. Due to their hardiness and ability to grow in
difficult soils, Malus varieties are becoming a common sight along
city streets.
Malus is a very popular traditional bonsai due to its flowers of
seemingly infinite variety and lovliness. Crabapple is much loved
for its attractive fruit and small leaves. Apples make
excellent, if rarely seen, bonsai, but are only suitable for
large sized trees.
Sources for information |
Species suitable for bonsai |
Related posts on species
Add your comments
Lighting:
|
Full sun or semi-shade; needs protection from full
summer sun.
|
Temperature:
|
Withstands cold well - hardy in zones 2-8,
depending on variety.
|
Watering:
|
Moderate - do not allow the soil to dry out completely.
Requires plenty of water when fruiting, or the apples will
shrivel and drop. Do not mist, as this encourages mildew.
|
Feeding:
|
Resnick says weekly in spring-early fall, using dilute
manure tea or general purpose fertilizer. Tomlinson recommends
discontinuing feeding from the beginning of flowering until the
fruits are set, to discourage leafy growth that will occur at the
expense of fruits and flowers. Most texts encourage heavy feeding
to provide nutrients for fruit and flower production. Simon and
Schuster's and Murata disagree with this practice, preferring to
feed sparingly to reduce the rapid growth of the tree. S&S recommends
feeding at 20-30 day intervals for M. halliana and every 15-20 days
for M. pumila. A good sprinkling of bonemeal in the fall
promotes fruiting.
|
Repotting:
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In early spring after flowering, or in early autumn.
Repot every 1-2 years; M. halliana may require yearly repotting.
Crabapples need root space, so a deep pot should be used. Likes
well-drained, slightly alkaline soil.
|
Styling:
|
Prune sub-branches by mid-August, if you wish to encourage
flower bud formation instead of leaf and stem growth. Tips can
be pruned as needed, reducing new shoots to two buds. In
general, wiring can be done from spring to autumn, protecting the
bark. Simon and Schuster's recommends wiring M. pumila from
spring to summer only. It is wise to wait a few months to wire
crabapples after repotting. Suitable for all sizes, but for
shohin, pick varieties with especially small fruit. Does not
work well styled as cascade or broom.
|
Propagation:
|
From seed (requires cold pre-treatment) or air-
layering. Crabapples are commonly propagated by grafting, but
for bonsai use, care must be taken that a specimen does not
exhibit an ugly graft scar. Crabapples can be grown from root
cuttings (see "Creating Crabaple Bonsai from Root Cutings," in
"International Bonsai" 1994/issue 1.) Many crabapples also sucker
up from the roots, and the suckers may be seperated from the roots
in the fall or in the following spring from their formation. Brent
provides extensive information on cuttings from young crabapple growth,
which I will quote directly:
>Most crabapples are very easy to propagate from cuttings given
>the right conditions. This depends very much on the cultivar and species.
>Juvenile plants are pretty much essential for vigorous cuttings. Older
>plants can be induced to sprout juvenile type growth through hard pruning
>the previous winter. Malus coronaria species and cultivars are quite
>difficult from cuttings. Other difficult cultivars are 'Royalty', 'Dolgo',
>and 'Cardinal'. The last two have intermediate sized fruit, about two
>inches, so it is unfortunate that they don't root easily.
>Most of the smaller fruited cultivars seem to root with little difficulty.
>Cuttings are taken at the semi-hardwood stage from May to August depending
>on your climate and the weather. Take six inch cuttings with three nodes or
>more, wounding is beneficial for most, and treat with a medium strength
>hormone. I use Hormex #8, 0.8% IBA. Reduce the leaf surface by cutting each
>leaf by one half to two thirds. I find that this works better than removing
>entire leaves.
>Keep the leaves moist with automatic mist or with a poly tent or put them in
>an area that stays cool and moist. The greatest danger is drying out. Some
>will root in a few weeks, but it is more likely the majority will root over
>the winter. Your can tell when they are rooted when they throw a vigorous
>new shoot. You may have to remove the rooted cuttings from the flat as they
>root or they roots will completely colonize the flat or pot and restrict the
>root growth of the laggards.
|
Pests etc.:
|
Very vulnerable to insects and fungal diseases,
especially wooly aphids (die die die die die!!!) and powdery mildew.
Red spider mites, winter moth, caterpilars, greenfly, scale,
scab, apple canker, brown rot, crown-gall and bacterial
fireblight are all problems which can beset the crabapple.
Disease ressitant vareities are available, and since almost all
crabs bear lovely flowers, it is wise to select a cultivar which
resists the pests found in your area.
Geoline has a special warning about growing crabapples (and
other species such as ginkgos, hawthornes, quince etc.) near
junipers:
>Apples and junipers carry rust fungi (Gymnosporangium) which need these two
>types of plants to complete their life cycles. Crab apples are susceptible
>to Cedar-Apple Rust (G. juniperi-virgi), Quince Rust (G. clavipes) and
>Hawthorn Rust (G. globosum). Malus sylvestris is susceptible to rusts, but
>is able to survive infections if treated immediately. Best bet is to keep
>apples and junipers far away from each other so that the rusts do not
>complete their destructive life cycles. You might need to make a choice
>between Apples or Junipers if you have a small growing area. There are
>funcides like Zyban, Bayleton, Mancozeb and Banner which can be used in the
>treatment of rust diseases.
|
Additional notes
|
Fruiting puts stress on crabapple bonsai.
Fruit should be thinned out considerably, and Owen recommends
allowing the bonsai to rest one year in three, removing all
the fruit.
|
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Some species suitable for bonsai:
- Malus x atrosanguinea: carmine crabapple
- Malus baccata: Siberian crabapple - Hardy to zone 2, bears white
flowers and bright red fruit.
- Malus baccata mandshurica (also called M. cerasifera): Manchurian
crabapple, Siberian crabapple - Like the species, bears
white flowers and is hardy to zone 2. It has red or yellow
cherry-sized fruit, and needs full sun more than most crabs.
- Malus coronaria: prarie crabapple, sweet crabapple - With red-brown
fissured bark and yellow fruit, M. coronaria grows wild
from NY west to Illinois and south to Georgia.
- Malus 'Dorothea': yellow crabapple
- Malus floribunda: Japanese crabapple, showy crabapple, Japanese
flowering crabapple, purple chokeberry - a magnificent
garden tree with flowers of white or pink, the flowering
crabapple is used profusely in landscaping on the east
coast of the US and in California. Hardy to zone 5.
Its 1/3 inch red fruit makes it a good small bonsai.
- Malus 'Golden Hornet': Golden Hornet crabapple - bears a
generous crop of fruits which stay on the tree after leaf
fall.
- Malus halliana: Hall's crabapple, Suishi-kaido - pinkish-white
or bright rose flowers and purple fruits. It is hardy
to zone 6 and grows to 16 feet. The fruit is edible and
only 1/3 inch, making this a good choice for small
bonsai.
- Malus himekokoh - this Japanese native is reputed to have
delicious fruit.
- Malus x 'Hime Ringo': Nagasaki crabapple - double light pink
flowers, 1/2 inch or smaller fruit. "Hime" means
delicate or feminine, and many different cvs. of
crabapple are sold under this name. Iris Cohen believes,
in fact, that the name is sometimes used
interchangeably with M. halliana.
- Malus hupehensis: tea crabapple - Hardy in zones 4-7, it has
pink flowers which fade to white. Its yellow tinged red
fruit is only about 1/3 inch, making it ideal for shohin.
It grows to 27 feet.
- Malus 'Lizet' - Purple buds opening to red-pink flowers, purple-
red fruit.
- Malus 'Louisa' - Weeps profusely - a large bonsai may not even
need the branches to be wired down.
- Malus 'Mary Potter': Mary crabbaple - Excellent bonsai potential
due to its twiggy branch ramification, and profuse number of
pink flowers.
- Malus x micromalus: Kaido crabapple, dwarf crabapple - Hardy to
zone 5, this crabapple has deep pink flowers and especially
tiny yellow fruit.
- Malus 'Oekonomiera': pink crabapple
- Malus 'Profusion': purple crabapple - deep red fruit, wine-red
flowers, purple leaves.
- Malus pumila: crabapple - hardy to zone 4. It has five-petalled
flowers of pink or white, and the fruit vareis in color: red,
green or yellow.
- Malus x purpurea: Lemoine crabapple, purple crab - a French
hybrid with purple color in all parts - leaves, flowers,
fruit. Does well in cold areas.
- Malus 'Radient': red crabapple
- Malus 'Red Jade': weeping crabapple, Red Jade crabapple - a
weeping form with white flowers. Hardy in zones 5-7, it
has 1/2 inch red, egg-shaped flowers and grows to 12
feet.
- Malus 'Royalty' - Flowers, fruit and leaves are intensely purple.
I have one of these, and it is lovely.
- Malus sargentii: Sargent's crabapple, dwarf crabapple White
flowers and 1/2 inch red fruit, it is hardy to zone 2.
Brent says that this is the crabapple with the smallest
leaves.
- Malus sargentii 'Tina' - a superior cv. with lovely dark pink
buds.
- Malus scheideckeri - This tree bears tasty fruits which are two
inch replicas of tiny red delicious apples.
- Malus 'Snowdrift': Snowdrift crabapple - small deep pink buds
opening to pure white flowers, many persistent orange-red fruits.
- Malus 'Sugar Tyme' - pinkish white flowers, and profuse
quantities of small, intensely red fruit.
- Malus sylvestris: common crabapple - toothed leaves, sometimes
bears thorns in the wild. It has yellow-green fruit
with traces of red.
- Malus toringo (also called Malus sieboldii): Toringo crabapple, Zumi -
Red, pale oragne or yellowish brown-fruit, and bright pink
flowers which fade to white. This crabapple is hardy to zone
2. It is a relitively tall crabapple, growing from 23-33 feet
in the wild.
- Malus toringoides - Green lobed foliage, creamy white flowers,
red and yellow fruit.
- Malus transitoria: cut-leaf crabapple - White flowers and red
fruit. One of the most delicate crabapples.
- Malus 'Weeping Candied Apple' - reddish leaves, red fruit, red
new growth, purple-pink flowers. Its weeping characteristic
will not be self-evident in bonsai.
- Malus 'White Angel': white crabapple - Bright red fruit, white
flowers. Grows to 20 feet, and is hardy in zones 4-7.
- Malus zumi 'Calocarpa': red crabapple, redbud crabapple - This
variety gets its name from its bright red buds which go on
to produce red flowers. It grows to 25 feet, has red fruit,
and is hardy in zones 4-7.
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Related posts on Malus:
Add your comment
=================================================================
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 10:57:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Maxwell Harris
I have a dwarf crabapple. It is in a potting-mix type soil. I give it a
form of liquid fertilizer during the start of the growing season and
toward the end of the growing season. It is being trained in a slanted
form. When, I pruned it I placed a number of the shoots in moist
soil--most of these failed as one might expect. However, one has
developed small leafs and it might actually survive. The best method to
reproduce this tree is probably by seed, but the tree I have is still
quite small and has yet to develop flowers (and thus fruit).
I usually give it water when the soil begins to dry out. To prevent it
from getting too dry, the soil is covered with a layer of moss. I keep it
in full sun and since it is fairly warm here (zone 8a) cold is not really
an issue for this plant. I have had no problems with pests (unless you
count mockingbirds and squirrels removing the moss) or other problems.
=================================================================
From: jklewis@ix.netcom.com
Date: Tue, 5 Nov 1996 08:53:45 -0800
You should see Jerald P. Stowell's "The Beginners Guide to American Bonsai,"
Kodansha, 1978 for extensive discussion of using apple trees from old orchards
and converting to bonsai.
Jim Lewis - jklewis@ix.netcom.com (Tallahassee, FL.)
=================================================================
>
Date: Tue, 5 Nov 1996 18:39:50 -0800
From: Brent Walston
Well, you got to a species that is close to my heart. I hope you will use
the catalog to glean whatever info you can use.
Propagation: Most crabapples are very easy to propagate from cuttings given
the right conditions. This depends very much on the cultivar and species.
Juvenile plants are pretty much essential for vigorous cuttings. Older
plants can be induced to sprout juvenile type growth through hard pruning
the previous winter. Malus coronaria species and cultivars are quite
difficult from cuttings. Other difficult cultivars are 'Royalty', 'Dolgo',
and 'Cardinal'. The last two have intermediate sized fruit, about two
inches, so it is unfortunate that they don't root easily.
Most of the smaller fruited cultivars seem to root with little difficulty.
Cuttings are taken at the semi-hardwood stage from May to August depending
on your climate and the weather. Take six inch cuttings with three nodes or
more, wounding is beneficial for most, and treat with a medium strength
hormone. I use Hormex #8, 0.8% IBA. Reduce the leaf surface by cutting each
leaf by one half to two thirds. I find that this works better than removing
entire leaves.
Keep the leaves moist with automatic mist or with a poly tent or put them in
an area that stays cool and moist. The greatest danger is drying out. Some
will root in a few weeks, but it is more likely the majority will root over
the winter. Your can tell when they are rooted when they throw a vigorous
new shoot. You may have to remove the rooted cuttings from the flat as they
root or they roots will completely colonize the flat or pot and restrict the
root growth of the laggards.
Apples and crabs can also be propagated by grafting, but as I have written
here many times before it is not an acceptable form of propagation for bonsai.
Malus can also be propagated by tissue culture.
Cultivars: A cultivar new to us is 'Louisa', a true weeper, the branches
hang practically straight down. I think the flowers are white, but I don't
trust my memory on this, will have to wait til next spring to see. I don't
know if it will be possible to propagate it from cuttings, this will also
have to wait until next year. This one is quite exciting. The arc of the
weeping branches is naturally about six to eight inches so that in a larger
bonsai wiring the branches down would not even be necessary.
Another new cultivar for us this year is 'Weeping Candied Apple', it has
reddish leaves and good red new growth with dark pink-purple flowers. Red
fruit. It is an aggressive grower and very easy to propagate. It's weeping
character will not be evident in bonsai, although it's branches could be
wired down.
'Hime Ringo' has double light pink flowers but there is some trouble with
the name. Iris has not been able to trace the name or lineage to a species
and I am afraid that this is another example of Japanese naming by 'group'
or 'type' rather than species. I have my doubts as to whether all the plants
being sold in this country as 'Hime Ringo' are in fact the same cultivar.
Really good red forms are 'Lizet' and 'Royalty'. Unfortunately both of these
have been real buggers for me to propagate from cuttings. No 'Royalty' at
all rooted this year. I will probably have to get this one from tissue culture.
The smallest leaf form that I have been able to find is M. sargentii. These
have really small lobed leaves, almost like oak leaves. They reduce nicely
to about an inch. The species grows to about ten feet and is very wide
spreading rather than upright, it has tremendous bonsai potential. The buds
are pink, opening to almost pure white. The cultivar M. s. 'Tina' is a
superior selection that has very dark pink buds at the same time as other
buds have opened to pure white flowers for a thrilling display of color in
the spring. This should be one of the finest cultivars of all crabs for
bonsai, although it will be rather slow growing.
'Sugar Tyme' has the most fantastic small fruit. They are red and
persistant. Here they usually last until after the first of the new year. As
the fruit ages it takes on a reddish fluorescence that is an incredible
sight on a cloudy day with the backdrop of dark wet branches. Not only that,
but it set fruit in huge clusters of fifty to one hundred in a spur. I have
taken several hundred fruit from a single small tree. It has pinkish white
flowers in the spring, medium sized leaves and is not overly aggressive.
One of the finest medium sized fruiting crab is M. scheideckeri. This one
has two inch red fruit that are the spitting image of red delicious, only
miniature. They are also very tasty, not at all overly tart. Unfortunately
the fruit don't last and will be gone long before the tree loses its leaves.
I am not sure if it will be possible to grow this from cuttings either. I
haven't tried it yet.
Large Fruited Apples: I recommend that any of the standard apples be
considered for bonsai, although most will have to be used for three to four
foot bonsai to make them work. I love the 'Moon through the branches' style
where one apple is left on the small bonsai. In fact the sight of such a
pear specimen many years ago was instrumental in my voyage toward bonsai
from landscape work.
There are many, many others worthy of mention but I must leave it here for now.
Pests: Powdery mildew, which can usually be controlled by keeping the
foliage dry at night and the plants in full sun, otherwise Funginex does the
job. Scab and other dormant diseases are fairly easily controlled with
dormant sprays. Woolly aphid is a very nasty persistant pest that only can
be controlled by repeated use of systemic insecticides until you eliminate
it from your growing area. Aphids are a problem in the spring but are easily
controlled by systemics or other common methods of aphid control. Mites can
also be a problem in hot summer areas and my require the heavy guns of Avid,
Pentac, or Mavrik, if the usual miticides fail to control them. But all in
all they are easy to grow and very rewarding.
Brent
Evergreen Gardenworks
bonsai@pacific.net
=================================================================
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 13:17:55 -0600
From: havener
Sheesh, so sorry that I've either been too busy or too LAZY to contribute
much to your Tree of the Week. So I'll try to add some stuff about Malus
in addition to Brent's always informative posts. I just grow the common
type of crab (Malus sylvestris).
PESTS:
In addition to the pests Brent mentioned, Malus sylvestris (as well as the
Ginkos, Hawthorns, Quinces and probably other Malus species) seem to have a
severe *allergy* to junipers. Being that junipers are a rather popular
bonsai specimen comes this reminder: JUNIPERS AND APPLES DO NOT MIX!
Silly me, in the middle of trying to shelter some Ginkos and a meticulously
raft coiled crab apple from a severe storm this past summer, I tucked them
under a large garden juniper. Any leaf or branch which came in contact
with the juniper, shriveled-up and died within a couple of days. I
mentally kicked and cursed my ownself for that careless act. I should know
better, but I do forget when rushed. I am lucky that I noticed the
infections right away and was able to save the Ginkos and the dragon crab.
Only one end coil of the dragon crab died, and I was able to start a new
coil to replace the one that died.
Apples and junipers carry rust fungi (Gymnosporangium) which need these two
types of plants to complete their life cycles. Crab apples are susceptible
to Cedar-Apple Rust (G. juniperi-virgi), Quince Rust (G. clavipes) and
Hawthorn Rust (G. globosum). Malus sylvestris is susceptible to rusts, but
is able to survive infections if treated immediately. Best bet is to keep
apples and junipers far away from each other so that the rusts do not
complete their destructive life cycles. You might need to make a choice
between Apples or Junipers if you have a small growing area. There are
funcides like Zyban, Bayleton, Mancozeb and Banner which can be used in the
treatment of rust diseases.
According to the University of Delaware's agricultural extention page at:
http://bluehen.ags.udel.edu/coopext/plantdis/cedrrust.html
the following crabs are more resistant to rust infections:
Adams (pink/red)
Beverly (pink/red)
Candied Apple (pink/red)
Donald Wyman (pink/red)
Dolgo (white/red)
Eleyi (pink/purple)
Indian Summer (red/red)
Inglis (white/red)
Mt Arbor Special(pink/red)
Naragansett (white/red)
Radiant (pink/red)
Red Jewel (white/red)
Robinson (pink/red)
Robusta (white/red)
Royalty (pink/red)
Sargent cv.Tina (white/red)
Snowdrift(white/orange-red)
Zumi (white/red)
while these crabs are highly susceptible to rust infections:
Almey
Prairie
Bechtel
Siberian
Centurian
Snowcloud
Hopa
Strathmore
Pink Perfection
Whitney
OLD CHINESE SUCKER PROPAGATION METHOD:
Crab apples and larger apples can also be propagated rapidly via ground
grown roots in the form of suckers. Seedling trunks (a year or more old)
pruned to the ground in late winter/early spring, will produce many
suckers. These suckers from established root systems grow vigorous and
fast when the roots lose its main trunk. Seperate suckers later in the
year or next year when conditions favor an early spring or early fall
enviroment.
RAFTED, COILED DRAGON CASCADE:
The rafted, coiled crab dragon I have been styling started out as one of
those common National Arbor Day year old seedlings I planted spring-1994,
then propagated via the old Chinese sucker method (no pun intended) the
next year (1995), then wired into above ground early fall (1995), and
finally in early-spring this year (1996), the coils were half buried as if
the trunk were a water dragon curling out of its pool. Branch shaping was
done by tying down vigorous shoots to the pot and allowing the plant's own
phototropic attraction to sunlight dictate curve movement. As shoots
developed upward, they were pinched back to encourage branching shoots, and
then those shoots were tied-down, etc. Branching, ramification, and trunk
thickening come very quickly at this stage of the design process as the
rafted, coiled crab is also developing more roots along the buried portions
of its coils. Early spring, this crab apple was just a pencil thin trunk
of coils about six inches tall. Now it has many clouds of foilage from its
cascading head to one of its tails. (It's still in styling, and I have to
decide which clouds to keep and develop further and which clouds to
subtract.) Right now, there are about 11 main branches (or multiple
trunks) and about 19 cloud formations. Base trunk caliper from its first
root pad grew from 1/4 inches to about 3/4 inches. From the head of the
cascade to its top most branch is about 11 inches tall while 4 inches
extend below the soil line. Over all width is about 15 inches. (My
apologies, non-Murricans, I'm not good at metric conversions...) From
straight pencil stick to coiled and rafted baby dragon cascade in three
years with another two years to complete it's basic design journey. What
to do about them fruit is something I'm just going to have to deal with in
the tree's design much further into the future. Do I think of them apples
as pearls or eyes? Right now, the foilage looks good with the design.
CULTURAL TRIVIA:
While the Chinese consider the peach as the fruit of longevity, the apple
is the Celtic equivalent to the peach. King Arthur, the fabled once and
future king of the Britain, is said to have been spirited away to the
immortal fairy island, Avalon, which translates to Apple Land.
Geoline,
Memphis Musubi Hard Rock Bonsai Cafe
Sale on Copper Weyr Annealing
=================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1996 18:04:53 -0800
From: Brent Walston
At 03:57 PM 11/7/96 -0600, you wrote:
>A few English-Japanese translations;
>
>apple = ringo
>
>wild apple (could be crabapple) = yasei ringo
>
>small apple (usually crabaple) = hime ringo
>
>Source: Kenkyusha's Furiganawaeijiten and Raitohausuwaeijiten.
>
>Cheers
>
>Peter Aradi
>Tulsa, OK
>
Peter, Sandy, Deb, et al
Thank you for the translations, but you misunderstand me. I am not referring
to the English translation, I am perfectly happy to call it 'Hime Ringo'. In
fact I find all the Japanese names for cultivars very beautiful and prefer
to use them over translations whenever possible. I use them in my catalog
whenever I can find them.
The problem, and I ask all of Japanese descent to forgive me, is that until
recently it appears that Japanese nurseries and plant enthusiasts were not
overly concerned with the western system of nomenclature. The names of the
black pines appear to be an utter mess, there are probably a dozen Acer
palmatum 'Sango Kaku' around, all genetically different. Being in the
business, I take this problem very seriously, because I am guaranteeing that
my plants are true to name.
I would appreciate input on this problem from more informed taxonomic
sources, but it will probably take a Japanese taxonomist to clarify the
situation. Is there one out there listening?
My feeling, and this is speculation, is that terms like Sango Kaku and
Yatsubusa are names for groups or types of plants rather than cultivars, or
at least they were. So my problem is that there may be several cultivars
floating around with the are named Malus 'Hime Ringo'. As a nurseryman I
find this distressing.
Brent
Evergreen Gardenworks
bonsai@pacific.net
PS Maybe I am being overly sensitive, but let me say I am not Japanese
bashing here. Those of you who have read my posts know how I feel about the
debt we owe to the Japanese for their contributions to the art of bonsai and
to horticulture.
=================================================================
Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 21:21:09 -0500
From: IrisCohen@AOL.COM
As far as I can figure out, hime ringo is the Japanese name for Malus
halliana.
Iris
=================================================================
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 19:39:12 -0800
From: Sandy Vrooman
Brent states:
>My feeling, and this is speculation, is that terms like Sango Kaku and
>Yatsubusa are names for groups or types of plants rather than cultivars, or
>at least they were. So my problem is that there may be several cultivars
>floating around with the are named Malus 'Hime Ringo'. As a nurseryman I
>find this distressing.
As you suspect, these terms are descriptions of plant growth rather than
taxonomical names. Yatsabusa is many spoked wheel and applies as a
description to any plant that has many shoots from one internode, and
perhaps shorter internodes, where a regular of the same species may have
only one or two shoots from an internode. Koto Hime maple is a yatsabusa
variety of acer palmatum. Hime Ringo is a small fruited crab apple the 1/2
inch or smaller fruit (snowdrift, I think, is a hime ringo). Don't know
about Sango Kaku, but know there are several acers call bonfire.
You may see yatsabusa and hime used to mean similar things. Yatsabusa
meaning dense growth and Hime meaning feminine and delicate in apperance.
Sandy Vrooman
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Information Sources:
Information on Malus is taken from Jahn (ed.) "The Simon and Schuster
Guide to Bonsai," Murata's "Four Seasons of Bonsai," Owen's "Bonsai
Identifier," Resnick's "Bonsai," the Samson's "Creative Art of Bonsai,"
Tomlinson's "Complete Book of Bonsai," my own experience, and posts
by Robert Maxwell Harris, Jim Lewis, Brent Walston, Geoline Havener,
Iris Cohen and Sandy Vrooman, with species information from Mitchell's
"American Nature Guides: Trees," and Thomas (ed.) "The Hearst Garden
Guide to Trees and Shrubs." In addition, there is extensive and
excellent information on all aspects of crabapple growing and styling
in the 1994/No. 1 issue of "International Bonsai." Jim Lewis also
suggests Jerald P. Stowell's "The Beginners Guide to American Bonsai,"
as a source for information on collecting crabapples from old orchards,
and I also consulted Brent's "Evergreen Gardenworks" catalog.
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