Perfectly happy plants, or your money back
Specialist overnight plant delivery
The highlights
- Broadly upright tree
- Medium tree - grows up to 6m
- Deeply-cut foliage with intense pink blooms
- Excellent resistance to scab and rust
Description
- This proud crabapple cultivar is only a relatively recent introduction, having first been bred in the US back in 2003, but it has enjoyed serious popularity ever since. With its attractive upright habit, spreading somewhat with age, 'Royal Raindrops' certainly has a lot going for it.
- Deeply-cut purple foliage, crimson-pink spring blossoms and cherry-red autumn fruits result in a tree whose place in any garden is undoubtedly merited. Add to that the excellent resistance to problems like rust and apple scab and you begin to see why we're such big fans.
- The densely-branched tree takes on evocative autumn shades later in the year, with the leaves turning a burnished burgundy colour, while the fruits themselves will persist on the tree for several months.
- If you manage to get to the ripe crabapples before the birds do, then you can use them to make your own batch of crabapple jelly, which tastes amazing spread on toast or served with cold cuts.
- Crabapple trees (in fact, all trees in the Malus genus for that matter) are certified with the RHS's Plants for Pollinators status, indicating its benefits to pollinating insects like bees and butterflies.
What To Expect
Supplied as:
Height on arrival:
Eventual height:
Eventual spread:
Time to first crop:
Flower colour:
Habit:
Hardiness:
Rootstock:
Spacing:
How To Grow

Excellent pest and disease resistance
Displays excellent resistance to rust and scab.

Water regularly while establishing
Throughout the tree's first growing season, water your tree regularly. Once established, it will only need additional watering during dry spells.

Full sun to partial shade
Best growth will occur in full sun (at least six hours of direct sunlight per day) but partial shade is tolerable.

Any fertile, well-drained soil
Grows best in moist (but well-drained) soil with good levels of fertility.

Feed in early spring
Crabapple trees benefit from an application of high-potassium fertiliser each year at the start of spring.
Planting Calendar
- Best time to plant
- Harvest
- Flower
Meet
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Growing with Roots
Good to know
Our plants are grown in the UK
Specialist UK growers we know and trust grow your plants the traditional way, with organic fertiliser and biological pest control. They pick only the healthiest plants for you, professionally pruning them so that they’ll grow strong and well shaped.
Our plants are delivered overnight
Your plants are sent to you fresh from the field in our plastic free box that’s specially designed to hold them tight, then securely delivered by specialist plant couriers - straight from the grower to your garden within 24 hours.
We're here to help at every step
We want your plants to have a long and healthy life. Expect easy-to-follow grow guides and videos devised by our team of experts.
Perfect plants, guaranteed
We’re confident that you’ll be delighted with your new plants. Need help? Alice and her team are here to guarantee you’re perfectly happy.
Learn from our experts

Can You Eat Crabapples?
Digging deep to answer your questions
How do I know I'm getting quality plants?
All of our plants are grown in specialist nurseries with the highest standards of plant care and sustainability. We guarantee you'll love them as much as we do! Don't just take our word for it - we've got thousands of great reviews on Trustpilot.
When will I get my plants?
The delivery timescale for each plant is on the web page (near the 'add to basket's button). You'll receive a dispatch email with an exact delivery date once your plants are on their way, so you can get the garden ready.
How will my plants be packed and delivered?
We send all of our orders through a courier network designed to handle plants. Specialist equipment ensures that no plants will be damaged during the packing process and every order is carefully finished and checked by plant-loving humans. Your plants will arrive in the most sustainable packaging possible with minimal to no plastic used.
Where do you deliver?
We deliver to anywhere in Mainland UK for our standard delivery cost. We are able to deliver most plants to Highlands and non UK mainland however this will be at an additional cost. This will be calculated at the checkout. Please note, deliveries to these locations will take longer. Unfortunately, we are not able to deliver to Northern Ireland at present.
Ask the grower
One of our trusted team will get back to you via email
What customers say about us
We do our best to provide you the best experience ever
Best plants you will ever get online
I have ordered plants from them twice this year. They arrived well packaged, on time and looked strong and healthy. I feel the staff from Roots plants deal with their plants and customers with passion and care. I can’t wait to order again, price is good as well.
Peter Mawer
Highly recommended all round
Delivered quickly, perfectly packaged and the tree was in excellent condition. Really healthy and taken to the garden with no problems. Can't recommend highly enough. 5 stars isn't enough!
John Harris
Satisfied customer
Unlike other online sellers, this company are well ahead in the quality stakes. My plant arrived promptly as per their promise and the plant was much more established and healthy than I had expected. It’s the second time I have ordered from them and I have faith in their promise. Excellent service.
Karen McEwan
A really good quality tree
A really good quality tree, delivered on time and very well packaged. But the emailed planting advice and supporting information was what really impressed me. Thoroughly recommended.
Martin C Simmons
Exceptional quality
The quality of the plants was exceptional, unlike ones I have had before from local garden centres. Thank you so much. I will definitely be using you again.
Sara Bradley
Marvelous!
Marvelous service, great plants and fast delivery. Very useful information on how to care for the plants I bought. Easy to use website that makes it far too easy to overindulge in fabulous plants😂🌱
Cheryl Mae Owen