StarliteStarlite®® Flowering Crabapple Flowering Crabapple Malus x Malus x ‘Jeflite’‘Jeflite’ www.jeffriesnurseries.com

Starlite® Flowering Crabapple

Malus x ‘Jeflite’

An exciting new flowering crabapple with upright branching, outstanding resistance to apple scab, white flowers in spring and candy-like, retained fruit. __________________________________________________________________________ Botanical Name: Malus x ‘Jeflite’ __________________________________________________________________________ Family: Rosaceae __________________________________________________________________________ Common Name: Starlite® Flowering Crabapple __________________________________________________________________________ Origin: Seedling of the cross: Rosthern x Spring Snow. Selected by Dr. Wilbert Ronald and Mr. Rick Durand of Jeffries Nurseries Ltd. __________________________________________________________________________ Hardiness: Zone 2 (Canadian and USDA) __________________________________________________________________________ Growth Rate: A moderate growing small tree. __________________________________________________________________________ Description: A new selection of flowering crabapple for the northern plains. Starlite® offers dark-green, glossy, disease-resistant foliage that is an improvement over Spring Snow. The white flowers are evident in mid-May followed by candy-like, retained fruit. __________________________________________________________________________ Culture: Grows best in full sunlight or partial shade. Prefers well drained, medium textured soils with adequate moisture. __________________________________________________________________________ Pest and Disease: No specific problems. Excellent foliar resistance to apple scab. __________________________________________________________________________ Landscape Value: Excellent ornamental tree for space-challenged sites. Starlite® will perform well under power lines or as a small, boulevard tree with four season ornamental value. __________________________________________________________________________ Propagation: Budding on Crabapple. Propagation by licensed growers only. __________________________________________________________________________ Sales Potential: Starlite® is a replacement for Spring Snow Crabapple in regions of North America where apple scab has become a persistent problem. It is the first green-leafed, cold hardy cultivar for prairie Canada to offer tiny, retained fruit. __________________________________________________________________________ Production: In Canada, Starlite® is available from Jeffries Nurseries. For U.S. customers, virus-indexed stock of Starlite® is available from Sester Farms of Oregon, USA (www.sesterfarms.com). Protected by a registered trademark in Canada and the United States. COPF Royalty of $1.00 per plant. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

For additional information about Starlite® Flowering Crabapple, contact:

Jeffries Nurseries Ltd. P.O. Box 402, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba R1N 3B7

Phone: (204) 857-5288 Fax: (204) 857-2877 www.jeffriesnurseries.com © Jeffries Nurseries Ltd., 2012

STARLITE® vs. SPRING SNOW

Starlite® Flowering Crabapple is a new flowering crabapple introduced by Jeffries Nurseries in 2009. This new cultivar was derived from a cross between ‘Rosthern’ and ‘Spring Snow’. Starlite® is viewed by many as a replacement for ‘Spring Snow’, a long-time industry favorite. Here’s how these two cultivars compare in four key areas:

FLOWERS Equal Flowers are often the primary reason homeowners are attracted to ornamental crabapples. The outstanding flurry of spring flowers that obscures expanding leaves, drives many consumers to garden centers in search of their own copy. ‘Spring Snow’ and Starlite® both belong to the Siberian Crabapple group (green foliage, white flowers) and produce an abundance of 5-petalled white flowers.

FOLIAGE Advantage Starlite® Foliage is exposed to the elements (fungi, insects, wind) for about 6 months every year. Leaves that emerged clean and glossy in the spring are often blemished and tattered by mid season. Starlite® has exceptional foliage that remains crisp and clean throughout the growing season.

FORM Advantage Starlite® In today’s increasingly confined landscapes, trees must go up rather than out. Starlite® inherits an as-cending branching pattern from its nearly columnar parent ‘Rosthern’. ‘Spring Snow’ has a rounded crown with width approximately equal to height.

FRUIT Advantage Starlite® Sometimes we forget that for six months of the year our deciduous trees are leafless. During this time, we must depend on other ornamental features such as retained fruit. Some ornamental crabapples have been much maligned for fruit size and fruit drop, how-ever Starlite® shines in both categories. It’s tiny candy-like fruit are retained through the winter adding colour to otherwise bare branches and serving as a valuable food source for songbirds. Spring Snow’s fruitlessness is often touted as an unbeatable feature, but tiny retained fruit are perhaps of greater value.

Spring flowers of Starlite® Spring flowers of ‘Spring Snow’

Leaves of Starlite® continue to look crisp and clean in this photo from September 22nd

Foliage of ‘Spring Snow’ showing the effects of fungal damage on September 22nd

Mature tree of Starlite® in full bloom showing upright, conical crown form

Mature tree of ‘Spring Snow’ in full bloom showing rounded crown form

Fruit size of Starlite® in comparison to a Canadian penny and fruit of ‘Selkirk’, an older Rosybloom cultivar

A TREE FOR ALL SEASONSA TREE FOR ALL SEASONS STARLITESTARLITE®®

STARLITESTARLITE®® SELKIRK SELKIRK

Dazzling Dazzling spring spring

flowersflowers

Glossy, Glossy, disease resistant disease resistant

foliagefoliage

Tiny, Tiny, retained retained fruitfruit

Pyramidal Pyramidal canopy with canopy with

upright upright branchesbranches