![]() Let's see how we can help you to enjoy your garden more. Tythorne Garden Design provides professional fixed-fee garden design solutions for customers in Grantham, Stamford, Newark and surrounding areas. Strain into a sterilised bottle and enjoy either sipped on its own or mixed with a light tonic to make a ‘longer’ drink. Just add 100g of caster sugar for every 20 good-sized crab apples and steep in gin or vodka for at least two months, turning regularly. Made in the same way as sloe gin, it tastes delicious. My favourite use for crab apples is, however, crab apple liqueur. Crab apple jelly is easy to make (just add water and sugar) and absolutely delicious with cooked and cold meats. Exceptionally high in natural pectin, they are brilliant for helping to set jams and jellies. They may be largely unpalatable in their raw state, but crab apples can be delicious if cooked with a little care. Hanging like delicate glass baubles on a Christmas tree, they are sure to brighten up any December garden. This is definitely to our advantage because they look really magical on a bleak winter’s day. The pretty flowers are succeeded by small red and yellow fruit (see picture at the top of this page) which begin to mature in early autumn but last well into winter if left on the tree.īeing rather sour and acidic, the fruit tends to be ignored by our garden birds. Emerging from light pink buds, the majestic blossom is much loved by bees, making it an ideal pollinator for any nearby apple trees. ‘John Downie’ is absolutely resplendent in April when it is covered in a blanket of small white blossom flowers (see image below). It has attractive mid-green oval leaves which provide excellent autumn colour when they gradually transform into a glorious yellow, orange and bronze display. It will cope with a bit of partial shade and is tolerant of relatively exposed positions. Happy growing in almost any soil types providing they are reasonably free-draining, M. In my book that makes it well worth considering for all but the smallest of plots. 'John Downie' can grow to a height of 8-10m with a canopy width of about 4-6m, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one anything like that large in a UK garden. A beautiful crab apple, it tends to be relatively modest in size. Malus ‘John Downie’ is a wonderful deciduous tree. Providing height, structure, texture and colour, trees are definitely a must-have in the vast majority of the gardens we design for our customers. That’s hardly surprising- we are garden designers and we know how much the right tree can add to a well-designed garden. Ideal for parks and new housing developments for families to enjoy picking the fruits and their seasonal features.We love trees. The wonderful crab apples remain on the branches long into the winter, ready to be picked and pulped into fresh apple sauce or desserts for the Christmas table. This Pectin is also what gels sugar, making jams and jellies without the need for animal gelatine. These apples are very flavoursome and have higher levels of the starch Pectin, making them firm and crunchy. During the late summer, the John Downie provides an abundance of large fruit brushed with the colours of rich marmalade and vibrant red. The summer foliage is a pleasant glossy green, which mellows into buttery yellow as the summer fades. They are popular for bees, encouraging pollination of other Apple trees and plants in the area. These are tinged with wonderful shades of water-washed pink and subtle lilac from the still opening buds. At the end of Spring, this Malus produces beautiful white flowers that envelope the entire canopy. This charming Malus is perhaps one of the most popular due to its fruit. ![]() He named the tree after his good friend and fellow nurseryman John Downie in his honour. Edward enjoyed the flavoursome taste of the fruit, leading to its commercial supply. Raised by Edward Holmes at Whittington, England during the 1870s.
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