Malus toringo Freja - Crab Apple

Malus toringo 'Freja' is a variety of flowering crab apple that produces a breathtaking flowering in May. This medium-sized tree (about 5m (16ft)) is then covered with a cloud of small pink flowers, inspiring admiration all around. In spring, the young shoots are purple and evolve into a dark green colour as the season progresses, before finally turning yellow in autumn. Its fruits are very small but still decorative due to their quantity and attractive red and yellow colour. Very hardy, 'Freja' is particularly accommodating regarding the nature of the soil, requiring only a little moisture and a sunny exposure. Beneficial to biodiversity and highly ornamental, this flowering crab apple is also a source of nectar and food for birds.

Ornamental crab apples come from various botanical species of the Malus genus, belonging to the Rosaceae family. This very important family, both in terms of ornamental and economic value, gives us most of our temperate climate fruit trees (apple trees, pear trees, plum trees, apricot trees, peach trees, etc.), but also many garden plants (hawthorn, cotoneaster, roses, photinia, prunus), as well as numerous wild plants that brighten up our countryside and forests (such as wild strawberry). Hardy, accommodating, and easy to grow, flowering crab apples are content with ordinary soil but prefer loamy, deep, loose, and moist soil, as well as sunny exposures. Once established, they tolerate being neglected while maintaining their generous nature. Many cultivars have been developed in Europe and the United States, which are always more attractive and more disease-resistant.

'Freja' is a selection (probably from a Malus toringo seedling) from the Danish nursery Ole Bønsdorff, south of Copenhagen, introduced to the market in 1999. It is a cultivated variety of Malus toringo (syn. Malus sieboldii), a botanical flowering crab apple with a rounded habit, pale-pink almost white flowers, and superb autumn colours. Like the species, 'Freja' is well-suited to small gardens, forming a small tree 4 to 5m (13 to 16ft) high, with a rounded and slightly irregular habit. In spring, small elongated elliptical leaves of a purplish colour appear, borne by long petioles. During the season, they turn a dark green tinged with dark red before taking on beautiful golden colours in autumn before falling.

The flowering is especially the highlight of this variety. In May, the tree is covered with a multitude of dark pink flower buds, which open into small single flowers about 3cm (1in) in diameter, formed by 5 crimson pink petals. It is then a dazzling spectacle for 2 to 3 weeks that illuminates the garden, visible for metres around. These nectar-rich flowers delight bees and evolve into very small fruits less than 1cm (1in) long, slightly elongated in shape. Their abundance compensates for their small size, and their red and yellow colour makes them decorative and attractive to birds that feed on them in autumn. Not content with being a true ornamental glory, this flowering crab apple is also a particularly useful plant for wildlife!

Very hardy (beyond -20°C (-4°F)), 'Freja' is also resistant to pollution, which, combined with its reasonable size, makes it a perfect tree for small urban gardens. Easy to grow, rather disease-resistant and resistant to apple scab, and not fearing the wind, it is an ideal choice. It accepts most types of soil: acidic, neutral, or alkaline. Its only requirements are that it prefers sunny locations, and moist soils, rich in humus.

Malus toringo 'Freja' is a real gem for small gardens, combining an extraordinary flowering, decorative foliage for part of the year, and a multitude of small colourful fruits that will attract birds to your garden, bringing life to the short days of the end of the year. Plant it in isolation on a lawn so that its flowering is clearly visible or, in a mixed bed with other trees and shrubs to create a changing scene throughout the year. For spring, choose a beautiful white-flowered spiraea, such as Spiraea thunbergii, which will enchant the beginning of the season with its myriad of small flowers. 'Freja' will then take over with its abundant flowering, which will then give way to the huge white panicles of Hydrangea paniculata 'Diamantino', a compact hydrangea that will thrive in the dappled shade of 'Freja'. And to accompany it beautifully, Lagerstroemia indica 'Soir d'Eté', an Indian lilac with slightly fluffy flowers in a candy pink colour, will be absolutely perfect.