Identifying the tree on my front lawn.?

Question

I have a love/hate thing going with this tree. It has branches that "bend" and they cross over one another to form all sorts of shapes. In the spring it produces lovely pink blossoms (each spring the shades of pink are different) the way the branches bend it looks like a beautiful flower arrangement. Once the blossoms fall it has small leaves burgundy on one side and green on the other (it's awesome). Now for the downside. It also produces once the leaves are there which are there only for a short period of time, I often think it looks like winter instead of summer. Anyway, it produces these berries. Each year the size of them changes. They look like small apples. This year, more like cranberries. Either way, they fall all over the place. When stepped on it looks like squashed tomatoes! Their awful! I have a neighbor that's not a happy camper to begin with so I am constantly sweeping only to wake to more of the same the next day. I have not a clue what type of tree it is...until this woman moved in next door to me I loved this tree (I guess I still do) but she makes my life h**l on earth and I'm thinking about taking it down even though it would break my heart. I just would like to know what the heck kind of tree it is. Perhaps once I know that, I can find a way to care for it come berry time and avoid removing it. Help............

Answer 1

Sounds like an ornamental plum tree.  The reason for difference in foliage color is due to amount of sun.  I had 3 or 4 orn. plum trees, and when they ripened and fell (fruit being the size of a grape they would ferment and the stench was foul for a few days.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/im...

Answer 2

Sounds like a crabapple tree.  I have one in the front of my house that I didn't plant, someone else did.  It's at my curbside which is the stupidest place for a tree like this to be planted.  Same problem with the "fruit" falling off and as far as I know, there's nothing you can do about it.  We have the same mess here every year and I feel terrible because my mess is all over the sidewalk where people need to walk on.  I'm sure it annoys them but unless I'm out there sweeping the stuff up 5 times a day, there will always be something on the ground and it looks terrible, I know.  What gets me the most annoyed is that in my case, the Town that I live in planted it there and I wonder what they were thinking.

P.S.  These websites will tell you all about crabapple trees.  I researched them because of your question and found them very informative.  They are:

http://www.landscape-america.com/landsca...      and,

http://www.treehelp.com/trees/crabapple/...