Pleached Malus Evereste Crab Apple Tree

Pleached Malus Evereste is a deciduous pleached Crab Apple Tree with pretty white blossom and large juicy fruits in autumn. It holds the RHS AGM and creates an ornamental wildlife-friendly screen above a fence. This is a pleached Crab Apple tree meaning it has been trained on a single clear trunk with its crown trained on a square bamboo frame. Over time the crown fills out to form a screen above the fenceline.

Malus Evereste is also known as Crab Apple Evereste. Crab apples are native to most continents and are associated with fertility in many different mythologies. Crab apples get their name from the twiggy ‘crabby’ appearance of its branches and the small apple-like fruits.

The cultivar Evereste was bred in the 1980s and awarded the RHS AGM in 1993. More recently it’s gained the Perfect for Pollinators badge too, so you know it’s an all-around winner. This is a deciduous crab apple so it will shed all its leaves in winter and re-grow them in spring. It has rich green ovate foliage and so much blossom in spring it covers its grey-brown crabby branches. Buds appear warm pink but open to pure white blooms with long stamens. Each flower measures up to 5 cms in length which is a good size for crab apples.

In autumn its foliage turns fiery shades of orange and large clusters of orange-red fruits appear. As with the blossom, these fruits are large so there’s plenty to make into jellies with some leftover for the blackbirds.

If you’re looking for a beautifully blossoming tree that’s wildlife-friendly with good autumn colour while blocking out the neighbours you can’t beat Pleached Crab Apple Evereste.

Height And Spread of Pleached Malus Evereste
Pleached Crab Apple Evereste can reach 7 metres in height and several in spread. Keep the pleached form with an annual trim. 

How Hardy Is Pleached Malus Evereste
This pleached crab apple is hardy throughout all of the UK down to sub-zero temperatures in well-drained soil.

How To Use Pleached Malus Evereste
Pleached trees are a great way to block out neighbours and dampen traffic noise in compact gardens because their clear trunks leave plenty of garden space, while the square crowns create privacy.

Evereste will lose its leaves in winter, but its branches continue to provide some screening. It’s also an excellent choice to line pathways, disguise an ugly outbuilding, or create shady privacy screens to section off garden spaces.

Crab Apple Evereste is one of the best choices as a pollinating partner for apple trees and in its own right as a source of fruit for jams and jellies in a kitchen garden, though if you don’t fancy harvesting or preserving anything its fruits are an excellent food source for fruit-eating birds such as robins, blackbirds, and starlings.

How To Care For Pleached Malus Evereste
Crab apples are tough and Evereste is no exception. You can plant it in the majority of moist to well-drained soils including clay and chalk in sheltered or exposed locations – though it will hold onto its blossom longer in a sheltered spot.
A sunny to partially sunny position suits Evereste and it can cope with some drought once established, but be sure to water it well for the first year. Lack of water is the number one reason newly planted trees fail. Mulch around the roots in early spring to trap moisture and feed it with nutrients.

This pleached crab apple has a square crown trained on a framework and a yearly prune is required to keep its shape. There’s no need to remove the bamboo frame, just tie in its whippy stems and trim away excess in the dormant winter season.