Isn't this a little beauty--in Anne & Peter's garden. It's either Malus 'Magenta' or Malus 'Brandywine.' I'll check with them when I see them next and do a little post-posting edit.
Flowering crabs seem to come in a wider variety of colours--from whites and pale pinks to deep magentas and reds--than our regular blossomy fruit trees. I also learned last year, at a Forest-Food Garden (Permaculture) workshop with Richard Walker, that crabs can cross-pollinate with any apple tree, so that's an added bonus.
We're a little challenged on the North Shore with scabby/rainy weather diseases on fruit trees, so have to be selective with varieties. (Whatever local nurseries carry is your best bet.) Some of the best-producing fruit trees I've witnessed over here are the Asian apple-pears and a round golden plum (we think it's a 'Golden Gage' instead of a 'Green Gage' plum) that is straight out of a Greek myth, like you turn into a frolicking little god when you eat it. So good. Buuut I've never seen the tree for sale in nurseries because it's fallen out of fashion due to the fact that the fruit is soo bursting with juicy goodness that it is impossible to pack for shipping. So ironic. I'm getting off topic.
2. Hostas. Welcome back, faithful foliage friends. We love you. Here, 'Francee' with a quince-petal smooch.
3.English bluebells (Endymion non-scriptus). Love 'em or hate 'em, they're here. Apparently, there's an inspiring scene in the movie Howard's End that will convert the most embittered blue-bell vanquisher. Curiously, the species is non-scriptus, which is latin for "not worth writing about." Funny that. Nice blue tho.
4. Tree paeonies (Paeonia suffruticosa). They do really well in big pots, and unfailingly produce opulent buds and opulent blooms that make you feel like you should take them out on the town.
Let's go dancing.
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