Flowering fruit trees

Spend some time this spring, daydreaming underneath the canopy of a cherry tree, it might cure what ails you. Imagine the rough, rugged trunk of a Sargent cherry, rocketing toward the sky, and then the flowers spread out like pink stars in a new constellation. It is quite a heavenly thing, this contemplation of cherry trees, work fit for the Dali Lama.

The Sargent cherry is an old timer among our backyard cherry trees. Lives long, grows big (30 to 50 feet) is cold tolerant, and cozies up to drought. It's one of the first of the spring trees to flower. Their bulky, stout trunks, support impossibly long branches, dripping with flowers. They are big enough to make grownups feel like kids.

There are many other cherries populating home gardens, like the Japanese flowering types, but maybe not as many as in past years. Cherries need to be chosen carefully to minimize problems with disease. Among newer types, a small weeping cherry called 'Snow Fountains' is praiseworthy. An introduction of Lake County Nursery in Ohio (www.lakecountynursery.com) it is described as a carefree maintenance tree, requiring little or no upkeep to retain its form. And the form is as dainty as a ballerina, the height just 6 to 12 feet and the shape is wispy and weeping. It needs full sun, a well drained soil and will tolerate drought.

It's easy to be romantic about cherry trees, especially if they are growing in someone else's space. But for a clear-eyed view of the tree talk to someone like Dave Bakker Senior. He almost groans when I ask him about cherries.

Bakker Nurseries (www.jcbakker.com) of St. Catharines has been in the business of growing trees and selling them wholesale since 1949. "We don't grow cherries. Their range is small here, they need sandy soil, they attract disease, and they aren't nearly as foolproof as crabapples," says Bakker Sr.

The crabapples, now there is a tree Bakker Sr. can sink his teeth into. "The flowering crabs are really making a comeback. A few years ago you couldn't give them away, now people realize how good they are for small gardens. They will grow in pavement, they practically read and write," he says.

Bakkers specialize in small crabapples, and ship them to most of the major nurseries in Ontario. A particular favorite of his is a crabapple standard called 'Lollipop'. It grows just 1.5 to 2.5 metres tall, the small rounded head is covered in white flowers in the spring, followed by golden-amber fruit. 'Lollipop' is tolerant of a wide range of soil and prefers full sun to part shade. Its formal shape would make it perfect to frame a doorway or line a walkway.

"The crabapples are so beautiful," says Bakker Sr., "but gardeners should remember to ask how big the apples are, and they should look for trees with smaller apples, they're not messy, and kids aren't as likely to pick up the apples and whip them around."

'White Angel' is a lovely crabapple with good disease resistance and stunning fruit. It's a favorite of another crabapple fan, Victor Kraus President of Kraus Nurseries (www.krausnurseries.com) of Waterdown. "It's very ornamental," says Kraus, "It has a good crop of fruit." The small, scarlet apples look like decorations on a Christmas tree, hang on through the winter, and provide food for birds.

So do some steely-eyed research before falling for crabapples and cherries, look for new disease resistance varieties, and then when they bloom, relax and enjoy a bit of heaven on earth.