Crab Apple 'Red Sentinel'

The Crab Apple 'Red Sentinel' is a tree that offers something special in every season. Clusters of white blossom, flushed with the faintest blush of pink, open in spring, providing an early feast for pollinating insects. Glossy dark green leaves follow, giving way in autumn to a fine golden colour.

It's the fruit, though, that gives 'Red Sentinel' its name and its charm. Small, bright red crab apples form in autumn and — unlike many varieties — hang on right through winter, long after the leaves have fallen, giving months of colour in the garden and a valuable food source for birds when they need it most.

This is a compact, hardy crab apple, well suited to smaller gardens and happy in chalk, clay, loam, or sand. Plant in moist, well-drained, acid to alkaline or neutral soil in full sun or partial shade, in a north, south, east, or west-facing spot. Crab Apple 'Red Sentinel' will tolerate some drought and is a reliably robust choice for gardens of most sizes.

An excellent specimen tree, 'Red Sentinel' also works beautifully in a mixed border or as part of a wildlife-friendly planting scheme, bringing blossom, colour, and birdlife to the garden across every season.