Red Sentinel Crab Apple, Large Trees

Malus robusta Red Sentinel Standard Trees

Red Sentinel crab apple trees have plentiful clusters of blood-red fruits that stay on the branches right through the winter months. It is pollution resistant, and we recommend it highly for urban planting and small gardens. Starting in late April, this tree produces a mass of single, white, strongly scented flowers that make a delicate, balanced display with the bright green leaves, rather than engulfing the whole tree. Red Sentinel's fruits are quite small but numerous and well suited for use in purées, jellies and other apple dishes that require a sharper taste. It's up to you to choose whether you want to leave them on the branch to brighten up your garden in winter or use them in the kitchen! Birds like to peck away at the fruit after they have been softened by frost. Malus Red Sentinel can reach a height of about 7 metres. Have a look at the rest of our range of crab apple trees.

How Standard Trees are Measured:
All our ornamental trees 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.

Look out for

Crab apples are not very prone to disease, but if you live in a warm, damp area, there is a higher risk of infection and, if you keep an orchard, it is reassuring to know that your crab apple won't spread diseases.

History & uses of Malus Red Sentinel

Red Sentinel is a cultivar of Malus x robusta, which is hybrid of the Asian trees Malus baccata and Malus Prunifolia. It was bred by Notcutts Nursery in the 1950's. The RHS has given this tree an Award of Garden Merit, for beauty and ease of cultivation, and an Award of Merit for cuttings of its flowering stems when used in a display. It is a good pollinator for apple trees, not only because it flowers all through the seasons of different varieties but also because it is exceptionally disease resistant to scab, fireblight and mildew.