Donald Wyman Crabapple – Malus ‘Donald Wyman’
Donald Wyman Crabapple May 8th, near Chicago. Definitely an off-year blossom-wise.
Family Rosaceae – Rose Family; Fruit Trees
This cultivar is named for Donald Wyman, for thirty-five years Horticulturist of the Arnold Arboretum
Donald Wyman was president, director, and trustee of the American Horticultural Society and trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. He was awarded the Liberty Hyde Bailey Medal, the foremost honor of the American Horticultural Society; the George Robert White Medal, the top honor of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society; and the Veitch Memorial Gold Medal, the highest award available to a foreigner, from the Royal Horticultural Society of London.
Donald Wyman viewed arboreta as the best places to evaluate the ornamental qualities of trees and shrubs. It was in fulfilling this mission that Wyman established his reputation and for which he will long be remembered. More, perhaps, than any other single person, certainly of his era, he advanced the knowledge and appreciation of hardy woody plants through his articles (numbering in the hundreds), published in Arnoldia and elsewhere, and his seven books, which included the acclaimed Shrubs and Vines for American Gardens, Trees for American Gardens, and the bible of horticulturists, Wyman’s Gardening Encyclopedia.
With a personable style and a willingness to make unequivocal recommendations, he published comprehensive lists and then subdivided them into practical groupings recommended for special uses-shady spots, urban environments, seaside landscapes. A synthesizer and popularizer, he translated a great deal of technical information into a form nonprofessionals could understand. His work may now seem familiar, but only because it’s been so often imitated.
In an interview at age eighty-seven he remembered, “At a certain point in my studies, I had to choose which area of horticulture to devote myself to, and I chose to concentrate on ornamental woody plants. When I came to the Arboretum, there they all were, needing loving care and attention. I enjoyed working at the Arboretum. I loved every bit of it.” [4]
References
- Morton Arboretum, Crabapple: A Tree For All Seasons
- Donald Wyman Crabapple, Morton Arboretum acc. 87-90*2, photos – Bruce Marlin
- Morton Arboretum, Crabapples for the Home Landscape
- Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Remembering Donald Wyman 1904 – 1993 (.pdf)
Family Rosaceae – Rose Family; Fruit Trees
Containing Hawthorns, Apples, Pears, Cherries, Plums, Peach, Almond, Mountain-Ash and Whitebeam.
Rosaceae is a large family of plants with about 3,000 species in ~100 genera. Crabapple and other fruit trees provide some of our most outstanding flowering ornamentals, as well as food for birds and other wildlife. Tree Encyclopedia | Tree Index | Fruit Tree Index
