Our crabapple tree must have been here since the house was built. That makes it seventy one years old. It’s so gnarled and unsightly – due to the previous owner’s heavy pruning – that we were tempted to cut it down. It’s a good thing we didn’t as it has become our favourite tree. When the buds open in the spring they are an orange colour like in this photo. Then the tree turns Barbie pink with blossoms that gradually fade to white. In the fall its crabapples turn into a crazy red that I have never seen in nature. That’s a lot of colour for one elderly tree! There must be a lesson there for me somewhere.