The tree is about 20 years old now, but we didn't plant it.
It just "naturally" popped up. A guess would be that a bird helped to deposit seeds. My husband calls it our "weed tree" and wants to remove it. However, I find it pretty all year round; just like the crab apple trees that we did plant. So, the tree remains for now. It is usually an early bloomer before most of our other trees even have leaves. Two days ago, this tree had just a vague hint of buds. Now, there are flowers and some leaves. That was a fast change.
It's a wild but pretty tree. There are wild crab apple trees native to Missouri. That may explain this one's surprise origin.
Anyhow, with the flowers now on this one tree, I finally feel Spring is actually here. So far, none of our nursery purchased and planted crab apples (with the exception of the hot pink one that has set flower buds) are not doing anything so far. Hopefully, they will all also bloom this year.
Unfortunately, it's been such a weird weather year that these trees may be too confused. We just went from a balmy 87 degrees one afternoon to a high of 29 degrees the very next day. The weather trend this Spring has been this way throughout March and April.
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