Malus ‘Golden Hornet’

‘Golden Hornet’ has been a garden favourite since the 1940s. Masses of cup-shaped white flowers, flushed pink in bud, cover the tree in late spring, followed in autumn by a profusion of bright golden-yellow crabapples that hang on for weeks as the dark green leaves turn butter-yellow.

It makes a medium-sized, rounded tree reaching around 5 x 4m in 20 years. Tough performer, tolerant of a range of soils including clay. The fruit makes brilliant crabapple jelly, or left on it draws birds through winter.

Plant in full sun in any reasonable soil. Brilliant as a pollinator for other fruiting apples flowering at the same time, its long flowering season and pollen-rich blooms help fertilise heavier-cropping varieties.

A cracking small garden tree for kitchen gardens, lawns, or a mixed orchard.