Gladiator™ Crabapple
Malus x adstringens 'Durleo'
20 feet high x 9 feet wide
Zone 2
Sun
Gladiator™ Crabapple is unlike any crabapple on the market today—most are as wide as they are tall, but Gladiator™ with its strong columnar habit matures out at 20′ tall and only 9′ wide! It is perfect for space-challenged sites such as under power lines or small boulevard strips. In spring expect a profusion of bright pink flowers followed by tiny reddish purple fruit in late summer. Don’t worry about this tree getting messy in autumn as the fruit is enjoyed by many types of birds. The foliage is an attractive bronze-purple which looks lush all season.
Throughout this site, the following are used as guidelines for watering established plants:
These truly xeric plants can live with our 12 inches of natural annual precipitation and only need a winter watering during a multi-year drought, but they will thrive with a monthly watering. Overwatering will kill some of these. These plants are adapted to intermittent deep
watering with soil drying to a depth of a few inches between waterings. Watering frequency may be every couple of weeks during the active growing season and maybe only one winter watering for optimal care. These plants need regular watering somewhat like a bluegrass lawn so that
they never dry to depth in the root system during the active growing season, and need occasional winter watering to prevent root dessication and resultant plant
death. About sizes of our plants:
Sizes indicated with a # are roughly the equivalent in gallonage; so a #2 is about a 2 gallon pot size; b&b stands for balled and burlapped.