Cultivar 478: Garnet

Garnet is a prairie crabapple, usually described as a small fruited applecrab with fruit about 4 cm across. Sources link it to W. J. Boughen and Boughen Nurseries at Valley River, Manitoba, and place its introduction around 1930. Its parentage is given as an open pollinated Yellow Siberian seedling, while another source shortens this to an M. baccata seedling. These accounts point to the same Siberian crabapple background rather than a fully documented named cross. [S2] [S3] [S4]

The cultivar seems to have been selected as much for prairie usefulness as for fruit. Older prairie references describe Garnet as a very vigorous stembuilder with an upright to round topped tree, a strong framework, and notably wide angled crotches. It was valued for topworking. One catalog anecdote says a grower had 27 varieties grafted onto a single Garnet tree, with limbs so firmly attached they were hard to break from the trunk. [S1] [S3] [S4]

The fruit is described as small to medium for a crabapple, flattened to oblate, somewhat blocky and ribbed, and red to red purple. One fuller description says it is light green under a total dark red cover with moderate bloom. Flesh is reported as yellow, crisp, sweet, and nutty flavored, but also somewhat astringent. Other sources describe it more simply as tart. This fits its reputation as a utility fruit rather than a dessert apple. [S1] [S3] [S4]

Sources consistently place Garnet in kitchen use. It is described as good for canning and jelly, excellent for juice, and only fair for fresh eating. One source notes that the cut flesh browns badly. Season is less clear. One prairie bulletin gives early October, while an index table marks it late. Recommendation listings also credit it with keeping quality, and narrative notes say it keeps well. [S1] [S2] [S3] [S4]

Tree performance is where Garnet stands out most clearly. Prairie sources describe it as hardy, with one profile placing it in zone 2a and another recommendation list giving it the top H1 hardiness rating. Manchester's note that it had grown at Jarvie since 1943 without winterkill, and remained frost hardy until late fall, supports that reputation. It was also described as highly resistant to fire blight. [S1] [S3] [S4]

Garnet mattered in prairie fruit culture because it combined hardiness, structural strength, and processing value in a reliable crabapple, not because it was refined table fruit. A Saskatchewan assessment in 1955 placed it with Columbia and Osman among the best crabapples for the province. That standing, together with its Siberian crab background and use as a stembuilder, helps explain why it persisted in prairie orchards and reference literature. [S1] [S3]

Summary source basis

• S1: Edible Apples in Prairie Canada
• S2: An index of fruit cultivars tested or developed on the Canadian prairies.
• S3: Garnet
• S4: TreeFruitsGrownInPrairieOrchards WRLeslie 1946 HQ

This summary currently draws chiefly from Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, with 3 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Browns badly when cut.”
— ^[1]

“Manchester noted it was grown at Jarvie since 1943, was fruit-frost hardy until late fall, and kept well.”
— ^[1]

“H1 hardiness rating.”
— ^[1]

“Tart.”
— ^[1]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• CR Garnet J/P/K/H1 (Hardy vigorous stembuilder)Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p4
• CR Garnet J/P/K/H1 (Hardy vigorous stembuilder)Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p4
• Garnet (op fellow Siberian) Boughen (c1930) CREdible Apples in Prairie Canada, p31
• Garnet (op fellow Siberian) Boughen (c1930) CREdible Apples in Prairie Canada, p31

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context