The Centurion Crabapple tree

This tree has stolen my heart over the years, but I never would
have thoughtit possible. It was such an ugly duckling when I
first brought it home because it had been left in it's nursery pot
too long and was very root bound. I bought it because it was
cheap at $50.00, marked down from$100.00 and the only one I
could afford at the time.It was the second tree (the first was a southwest
border pine) I had bought for this garden and when I got it home it
looked so lonesome sitting in it's place that the next day I went
and bought another one just like it (root-bound at all) and planted it
a few feet away in the lawn behind the house.

For the first five years they put on very little growth,
the result of being in pots too small for the size of root ball.
I almost had my husband pull them out several times, but thought
I would give them one more year to show what they could do,
and that went on year after year.

 Slowly the tree was taking on a decent shape and growing well.
Even in the beginning though, it would flower so abundantly that I decided
I could get used to them and let them stay.

I am so glad I did!
They have finally grown into beautiful trees and have totally
redeemed themselves in the eye of this gardener.

The bloom of this tree is so interesting in that it starts out this deep deep pink
and very soon after it opens, the blooms turn to the palest pink and the branches are
so packed that you can hardly see the leaves.
 

Thank you Centurion for being so beautiful!

I think I got a good return on my $100 !

Don't you love it when an ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan ?