When we lived on acreage we had many apple trees. We had three mixed orchards, each orchard had some apples. We had some old heritage apples, we had over 50 espaliered apples consisting of four newer apple varieties. We also had a few other things such as medlar.
Now we live in town we have far fewer fruit trees. One I particularly like is the Huonville Crab Apple. It is believed to be the cross between a domestic apple and a crab apple. It grows small edible apples and is pretty enough to belong in an ornamental flower garden! The apples are red fleshed, which is very rare in Australia, but it has other traits that I also like.
The bark of the Huonville Crabapple is a lovely dark colour.
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| Huonville Crab the branches are a rich dark colour |
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| Domestic apples the branches are often more green |
During the growing season the Huonville Crab apple leaves are a beautiful purple colour. Most types of apple leaves are varying shades of green.
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| Huonville crab apple leaves |
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| Most apple leaves are green |
Huonville Crabapple flowers are a dark pink. They are incredibly beautiful. Before they have opened they look like tiny roses. Most domestic apples are a pretty light pink/white when they flower. While I like the look of both, and am glad to be growing both, I prefer the look of the darker Huonville crab apple flowers.
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| Huonville crab apple flowers look like roses before they open |
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| Huonville crab apple flowers before they opened |
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| Huonville crab apple flowers are beautiful |
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| Huonville crab apple flowers |
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| Most other apple flowers are pink and white and lovely |
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| Cripps Pink apple blossom almost ready to open |
The flesh of Huonville crab apple is red. I will try to remember to take some pictures of them this year and put it up in another post. Even the sap of the Huonville crab apple is purple.
I am quite taken by this tree. The dark trunk, the purple leaves, and the stunning flowers look amazing together. The dark red apples with red flesh are great, I think they would be better if the apples were just a little bit larger.
Great write-up! I'm just about to buy a huon tree or two to add to my orchard and I appreciate all the photos (especially the comparison to other trees). The flowers are just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI really like Huonville crab apples. If eaten too early or too late they taste ok, when eaten at the right time they are my favourite apple. Unfortunately I don't know how to tell when they are just right, so it has mostly been guesswork and luck.
DeleteI can hardly wait until next year when they ripen and I can eat some more.
Random question does your huon's leaves change from purple to green? Im a first time grower and its trippy tonsee
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteThe leaves on my tree are dark purple when they are new, as the season wears on they become noticeably less purple. By the end of the season each leaf is probably more green than purple. I really need to take a picture of the leaves late in the season for comparison.