If you’ve never seen a Sargent crab, you’re in for a treat. Barely 8' tall and more than 30' wide, a delightful jumble of twists and curves—like a dozen connected pretzels trying to out-pretzel each other. Densely and horizontally branched from the base with no tendency to develop a central leader, so don’t force it! Pink buds and profuse pure-white fragrant single flowers seem to bloom forever. Very small dark red-purple persistent fruit.

Seed collected in Hokkaido, Japan, by one of America’s most famous horticulturists, CS Sargent. A species rather than a variety, many of the Sargents have been started from seed: hence the variability. This strain comes from the front entrance of the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass.