Bareroot John Downie Crab apple trees in standard sizes

Misc	RHS AGM, Edible Fruit / Nuts, Pollinator, Self fertile, Wildlife Value
Area	Frost Pockets, Scotland & The North
Soil	Poor/Dry
Type	Screening
Also Good	Autumn Colour, Berries
Flowering	May

Malus sylvestris John Downie (Standard)

See full product description Bareroot Plant

	Buy 3 or more bareroot trees and save

SIZES	1-2	3-9	10+
Half Standard. Bareroot	Plenty of Stock£27.49	Plenty of Stock£25.49	Plenty of Stock£24.49
6/8cm Girth Standard. Bareroot	Plenty of Stock£38.91	Plenty of Stock£35.91	Plenty of Stock£32.91
	Prices include VAT

Please select the size and quantity of Bareroot trees you would like

£32.12

£27.49

Crab Apple, John Downie - Standard needs...

Tree Guard - Heavy Duty
The best guard for an established tree or a bare root standard

From £4.02
Stakes - Tree Planting
Tree Stake - 150cm x 5cm Rounded & treated. Necessary for all standard ornamental trees. Also fo

From £5.76
Rootgrow
For healthy plants and trees, if you only do one thing, use Rootgrow when you plant them. Mycorrhi

From £6.00
Tree Planting Pack
All the accessories you need to plant a large tree, i.e. any Ornamental Standard or Bush or Half-Sta

From £10.19

Frequently bought together...

Buckle and Strap Ties

From £2.28
Buckle and Strap Tree Ties Rubber strap with buckle & buffer. Buffer prevents tree from rubbing
Stakes - Tree Planting

From £5.76
Tree Stake - 150cm x 5cm Rounded & treated. Necessary for all standard ornamental trees. Also fo
Apple Trees - Bramley's Seedling

From £18.95
Malus domestica Bramley Cooking: Bakes to a soft puree. Tangy sweet-sharp flavour. Partial Tip b

Malus John Downie Standard Trees

Malus John Downie crabapple trees are attractive and heavy cropping plants that produce some of the best yields of crabapples for use in the kitchen. They are commonly planted in orchards and their narrow canopy makes them a great specimen tree for a small garden. John Downie has abundant white blossom in mid-late spring and good red-gold autumn colour. It is a vigorous tree, but is naturally tidy. The long, conical, bright red-orange fruit are some of the prettiest of any crabapple tree. They can either be left on the branches for their ornamental value, or used to make crabapple jelly, apple sauce or pressed and blended with the juice of other apples to make cider.
John Downie is one of the best pollinators for apple orchards, along with Golden Hornet. It can reach a height of about 8 metres.

Browse our variety of crabapple trees or see our full range of trees for sale.

How Standard Trees are Measured:
All the plants in the ornamental trees section are graded as standards, which means that they are measured by their girth in centimetres 1 metre above ground level (basically, their trunk's waist measurement). They aren't measured by their height, which will vary. So, a 6/8 standard has a trunk with a circumference of 6-8 centimetres and an 8/10 standard has a trunk 8-10 centimetres around. This measurement makes no difference to the tree's final height.
Standard trees are 2 - 3.5 metres tall (on average) when they arrive; they are the most mature trees that you can buy from us. We cannot tell you precisely how tall your trees will be before we deliver them.

History & uses of Malus John Downie

This tree was bred in the 1870's by Mr E. Holmes and he named it after his friend, who was a Scottish nurseryman. It has won both the RHS Award of Garden Merit and and Award of Merit for displays of its cut flowers.

Notes on planting Malus John Downie:
Crabapples are tough plants that thrive in any moderately fertile soil. They tolerate shade well, although we recommend planting them in full sun to get the best display of flowers and fruit. Although a moist, well drained site is ideal, crabapples like heavy clay and don't mind a bit of waterlogging in winter.
They won't grow in deep shade and may struggle in very poor dry soil.

Prepare your site before planting:
It is good to dig over the site where you plant a tree several months in advance. Kill the weeds first: for tough weeds like nettles, brambles and ground elder, you will usually need a glyphosate based weed-killer to get rid of them. When you dig the soil over, remove stones and other rubbish and mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades.

Watch our video on how to plant a tree for full instructions.
Remember to water establishing trees during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Tree Planting accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Roundup weed killer.
You can buy a tree planting pack with a wooden stake & rubber tie to support the tree and a mulch mat with pegs to protect the soil around the base of your tree from weeds and drying out.
We suggest that you use mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of all newly planted large trees: if your soil quality is poor, we strongly recommend it.
You can also improve your soil with bonemeal organic fertiliser and Growmore.

After you plant a tree, the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather. You will also need to weed around the plants. Watering should be thorough, so the ground is soaked. Let the soil almost dry out before watering again. Watering & weeding will be necessary for at least a year after planting.

If your trees do need pruning, it is ideal to do this in winter. Always hire a tree surgeon to remove large branches.

Special notes on caring for your trees:
Malus John Downie is an ornamental tree that will perform best when it receives a yearly mulch of well-rotted manure or compost to help keep the soil around it fertile.
Remember to check the stake and tie supporting your trees a few times a year. Tighten the tie if it becomes loose and loosen it as the tree grows. Make sure that the tree's trunk isn't rubbing against the stake.

Hygiene & Diseases:
Dead, damaged or diseased wood can be pruned off as soon as it appears.
Disinfect your pruning tools between every cut if there is any sign of disease.
Burn or dispose of any diseased material, do not compost it.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: Our standard delivery charges are:

Small box (Orders containing only seedlings or rooted cuttings) £7.20 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Standard box (Bareroots up to 1.2m) £11.40 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Large box (Pots up to and incl. 7.5L) £15.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £100 inc VAT)
Trees & Hedging (Bareroots & trees 1.2m+) £18.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £120 inc VAT)
Pallets (Root balls, large pots, trees etc) £60.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £240 inc VAT)

Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
We will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

*Surcharges to the Highlands and Islands still apply.

Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.

Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.

Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.

Ashridge Nurseries is working as normal and the despatching of bareroot plants is underway.

You can see Current Delivery Information Here. We are now taking orders for delivery in January 2021.

John Downie Crab Apple, Large Trees

Malus sylvestris John Downie (Standard)

Tree Guard - Heavy Duty

From £4.02

Stakes - Tree Planting

From £5.76

Rootgrow

From £6.00

Tree Planting Pack

From £10.19

Buckle and Strap Ties

From £2.28

Stakes - Tree Planting

From £5.76

Apple Trees - Bramley's Seedling

From £18.95

Maple, freemanii Autumn Blaze - Standard

From £59.89

Malus John Downie Standard Trees

History & uses of Malus John Downie

Bareroot planting is best done between October and April
Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?

Ashridge Nurseries is working as normal and the despatching of bareroot plants is underway.

You can see Current Delivery Information Here. We are now taking orders for delivery in January 2021.

John Downie Crab Apple, Large Trees

Malus sylvestris John Downie (Standard)

From £4.02

From £5.76

From £6.00

From £10.19

From £2.28

From £5.76

From £18.95

From £59.89

Malus John Downie Standard Trees

History & uses of Malus John Downie

Bareroot planting is best done between October and April Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?

Bareroot planting is best done between October and April
Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?