Ornamental

Our use scores are our own 1 to 10 ratings, adapted from the grades S. A. Beach used in The Apples of New York (1905). A 6 is a solid good, and 8 and up are his higher grades, the ones that land on our Best Of lists. Purple lilac tops this group at 9 out of 10. Aronia, aspen, Dolgo crab, Dolores River Sorbet, golden currant, Jules and Nanking cherry, Manchurian apricot, mountain ash, rugose rose, staghorn sumac and Viking aronia all scored 8.

Pick for the season you want. In spring you get golden currant's fragrant yellow flowers, white flowers on mountain ash, purple-red blossoms on Dolores River Sorbet and early bloom on Manchurian apricot. Rugose rose follows with fragrant pink to white flowers in early summer. For fall, aspen has great fall color, staghorn sumac turns vivid, and Viking aronia goes vivid red. For fruit that shows, look at Dolgo's 1-inch crimson crabs and the showy hips on rugose rose.

Almost everything here earns its spot twice. Dolgo scored 9 for jams and jellies and 8 for pollenizing other apples, so it's a working tree in the orchard as well as a good-looking one. Nanking cherry is great for jam and hedges.

A few practical notes. Purple lilac is rated to zone 2, and our notes show it taking -50°F. Lilac, golden currant and Ponderosa pine are seldom badly damaged by deer (see deer resistant plants). Staghorn sumac plants are male or female, so plant all three for a good shot at both (only the females carry berries). Jules and the other Nanking cherries need two genotypes.