Plant, Tree & Shrub Library

Group/Class:  Urban Apple Series

Brand:  Garden Debut

Description:

A hardy large apple that is bright yellow-green, blushing red; the perfect combination of accent and fruit tree, ideal for smaller landscapes and patios with an upright columnar habit; must have well-drained soil and full sun; needs a second pollinator

Edible Qualities

Urban Apple® Blushing Delight™ Columnar Apple is a large shrub that is commonly grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. It produces chartreuse round apples (which are botanically known as 'pomes') with a red blush and creamy white flesh which are usually ready for picking from late summer to early fall. The apples have a sweet taste and a juicy texture.

The apples are most often used in the following ways:

• Cooking

Features & Attributes

Urban Apple® Blushing Delight™ Columnar Apple features showy clusters of lightly-scented white flowers with shell pink overtones along the branches in mid spring, which emerge from distinctive pink flower buds. It has forest green deciduous foliage. The pointy leaves turn yellow in fall. The fruits are showy chartreuse apples with a red blush, which are carried in abundance from mid to late summer. The fruit can be messy if allowed to drop on the lawn or walkways, and may require occasional clean-up.

This is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a narrowly upright and columnar growth habit. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition. This is a high maintenance plant that will require regular care and upkeep, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Messy
• Disease

Aside from its primary use as an edible, Urban Apple® Blushing Delight™ Columnar Apple is sutiable for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent
• Orchard/Edible Landscaping

Planting & Growing

Urban Apple® Blushing Delight™ Columnar Apple will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more. This variety requires a different selection of the same species growing nearby in order to set fruit.

This shrub is quite ornamental as well as edible, and is as much at home in a landscape or flower garden as it is in a designated edibles garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.