I had the same experience as Rick with the 2 PF crab's in my yard. Both were planted last spring and flowered ok. This spring one went crazy with flowers and now is concentrating its energy into fruit development. It has small leaves and the new growth is unimpressive so far although still growing. The other tree (the one that receives the MOST sun) flowered in 2 small sections but has put over 1' of growth with huge leaves and still actively extending the new growth shoots. I think rhizo is dead on. This weird winter is most likely to blame for the poor flower display but a late freeze could also be the culprit. Remember the once dormant buds have to open and the growth extend a certain distance before the flower buds will be visible. My Harvest Gold crab is in full on leaf out before flowering which really detracts from the flower show. Every cultivar is different and we don't know which one you have. John

if that is the whole tree.. it is dead ... if its only one branch ... the branch is dead.. and we would need to see the rest of the tree ... and if you want us to speculate why it died... we need pix of the whole .... and any additional facts that might help.. e.g. its a recent transplant ... [of which i expect dan's default #1] ken

I have Paul's Himalayan Musk Climber on his way up a mulberry tree at the end of the driveway by the garage. He shows the ability to have this tree completely swallowed in a few years ... it's the look I'm after, fortunately. American Pillar is planted on the fence by the Rose Field, and I intend to encourage it to take over a cedar tree. I haven't been too successful, yet, because the canes keep getting blown out of the tree. This rose is WAY to vigorous for a crabapple tree, IMO. How about Gardenia? It blooms once, but it lives to climb trees. It will scale your tree and spill out the other side, with pale yellow-fading-to-white flowers in clusters. Beautiful. Some opinions of the others that have already been mentioned, since I'm in your area: Madame Alfred Carriere tends to grow straight up around here, then form an 'afro' on top. May be a possibility, but it doesn't 'hang' very well. Susan Louise probably won't survive here. I want this rose very, very badly ... but it's probably too tender. Mermaid? Way, way too vigorous once it gets going. Alberic Barbier, though once blooming, is a wonderful rose. The canes are very flexible, so it would hang nicely off a tree. It will go 15' in a season, easy. A possible deterrant ... the wichuriana ramblers make lots of basal canes, which would need to be trained up the tree every year. My AB made at least 12 new canes this year ... no lie. The multiflora ramblers may be a better choice, if you are considering once-blooming roses. Veilchenblau is my favorite of these. I don't grow it, yet, but it will stop traffic at Robert's house when it's in bloom in his holly tree. or Tausenschoen? For re-bloomers, maybe one of the hardier tea-noisettes ... Reve d'Or or Lamarque, perhaps? Photos? You asked. Alberic Barbier Leontine Gervais (another beautiful, stringy Wichuriana rambler) Paul Transon (wichuriana) Gardenia Veilchenblau That should be enough for this morning. As you can see, depending on the effect you're after, the choices are practically endless. Just avoid the really tender ones. HTH, Connie

I have seen crabapples live for many years "looking ratty" with scab. I am one of those people that would cut it down and replant a resistant tree rather than messing with the annual detailed cleanup and spraying. If you do spray, it takes three applications per spring starting at blossom and being repeated at 7-10 day intervals. I've heard of neem oil being used for anthracnose and rust, but I'm not sure about scab. Maybe someone else can give an opinion on that. hortster