New York City's Heritage Crabapples
Trees in Central Park
Conservatory Gardens
Photo by: Benjamin
Swett, www.benjaminswett.com
Each
spring, from mid-April into May, New York City parks
are abloom with the sights and scents of flowering
crabapples. Dark rose-colored buds yield to soft pinkish
white sweetly smelling flowers, occurring in great
profusion along gnarled, craggy branches that originate
low to the ground and meander elegantly upward in
all directions. Some of the finest mature crabapple
stands in park landscapes, including Riverside Park's
Crabapple Grove and Central Park's Conservatory Gardens
allee, were planted in the 1930s and early 1940s as
part of the federal Works Progress Administration
park construction projects under Parks Commissioner
Robert Moses.
These
graceful trees are very much a part of New York City's
horticultural heritage, as integral to our landscape
history as the remaining great American elms, or the
living arboreal collections of our botanical gardens.
Their distinctive multi-stemmed branching form is
perhaps as stunning as the tree in flower, yet if
you plant a crabapple tree today, chances are that
it won't develop into one of the beauties of yore.
That is because nurseries tend to train them to have
a single stem with higher branches. It's also difficult
to choose, among the hundreds of commercially available
cultivated varieties, those types that have proven
disease resistance in this climate.
The
report "Painting
with Crabapples"
(PDF, 1.6 MB)
describes the search into the past for a greater understanding
of New York City's heritage crabapples, and the recommendations
for restoring them to park landscapes for future generations
to enjoy.
Related Information
Citywide
Blooming Guide