Wild Crab Apple Hedge Plants

• Native British hedging tree — Malus sylvestris
• Sold bareroot only, delivered November to April
• Whip sizes: 40/60cm, 60/80cm, 90/120cm
• Fully hardy (RHS H6)
• Height: to 9m, though a maintained hedge is kept far lower
• RHS Plants for Pollinators
• An outstanding pollination partner for orchard apple trees
• Guaranteed to grow for 12 months, like all our bareroot stock

Wild Crab Apple Hedge Plants

The native wild crab apple, Malus sylvestris, is one of the most useful plants in a British hedge. It carries the best blossom of any of our native hedging species — sweetly scented white flowers flushed with pink, in late spring — and it earns its place doubly, because a long flowering season also makes it one of the best pollination partners a nearby apple tree can have.

The glossy, serrated leaves turn yellow in autumn. What look like thorns on close inspection are actually spurs — short, stubby side-shoots that carry the blossom and fruit rather than defend the plant — so this is a hedge you can work with bare hands.

The plants on this page are young whips, sold for hedging and woodland planting. If you want a specimen tree rather than a hedge, our ornamental crab apple trees are a separate range, sold in larger sizes and bred for fruit and flower rather than density — the two are not the same product and shouldn't be confused.

Features

• Sizes available: 40/60cm, 60/80cm, 90/120cm
• Grows in almost any soil except very poor, dry sand or waterlogged ground
• Tolerates dappled shade, though flowers and fruits best in sun
• Edible fruit, traditionally used for crab apple jelly
• Fragrant white blossom flushed pink
• Height: to 9m
• An excellent pollination partner for orchard apple trees
• Bareroot delivery only: November to April

Growing Wild Crab Apple

This is a tough, adaptable native that will grow almost anywhere except deep shade or very poor, dry, sandy ground. Young plants have a dense, twiggy habit, which is exactly what makes them such good hedging — left alone, they mature into an attractive, if informally shaped, small tree.

Prune lightly rather than hard: heavy cutting back encourages a flush of vigorous new stems rather than the shorter, flower-bearing spurs you actually want. Focus removal on inward-growing or crossing stems, and if a larger branch needs to come out, take it over two or three seasons rather than all at once.

The fruit is edible once cooked — classically into crab apple jelly, which sets firmly because the fruit is naturally high in pectin — but the pips, like those of other members of the rose family, contain natural toxins and should be removed rather than eaten.

Spacing a wild crab apple hedge

For a standard native hedge, plant at 3 per metre in a single row (33cm apart), or 6 per metre in a staggered double row for a denser screen.

A Hedge That Feeds Its Neighbours

Wild crab apple is the single most widely used plant across our ready-made native hedging mixes — it appears in eight of them, more than any other species in this range, including the Mixed Conservation Hedge. It pairs naturally with hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn and dog rose, the classic constituents of a native British hedgerow, and with each other they give a longer season of blossom, berry and cover than any one species alone.

Its early blossom is an important source of pollen and nectar for bees while little else is out, and the foliage feeds the caterpillars of the eyed hawk-moth, green pug, Chinese character and pale tussock moths. Blackbirds, thrushes and crows take the fruit through autumn. And unlike almost anything else you could plant in a garden hedge, it earns its keep in the orchard too: plant it near apple trees and its long flowering window means it's still in bloom to pollinate varieties that flower earlier or later than each other.

If you want the same species as a specimen tree with better-quality fruit, John Downie and Golden Hornet are bred for exactly that. Browse our full native hedging range or the complete hedging plants collection.

Why Buy Wild Crab Apple from Ashridge

Hedging isn't a sideline here: it's grown for us from the outset by growers whose whole business is hedging, never surplus stock diverted from forestry or general nursery lines. Bareroot plants like these establish very readily — like for like, a bareroot plant is larger, stronger and healthier than a pot-grown one, and better value for money too. Every bareroot plant we sell, including these, is guaranteed to grow for 12 months, provided it's planted promptly and given the basic aftercare all bareroot stock needs.

Will a crab apple hedge pollinate my apple trees?

Yes. Wild crab apple flowers over a longer season than most cultivated apples, which is exactly why commercial orchards plant it deliberately as a pollination partner. A hedge of it near your apple trees does the same job.

Is this the same as the ornamental crab apple trees you sell?

No. These are young whips sold for hedging. Our ornamental crab apple varieties are named cultivars sold as specimen trees in larger sizes, bred for garden display and fruit quality rather than hedge density.

Can I eat the fruit?

Yes, once cooked — traditionally into a well-set jelly, since the fruit is naturally rich in pectin. Remove the seeds first; like other members of the rose family, they contain natural toxins.

Is wild crab apple thorny?

No. It carries spurs — short, stubby shoots that bear the blossom and fruit — rather than thorns, so it's a comfortable hedge to maintain.