If 40 varieties of fruit grow on one tree, can they be delicious?

It is not surprising that ancient paintings and treasures such as "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", "Mona Lisa", "Water Lilies", and the bronze statue of Sanxingdui appear in museums and galleries. But why is a fruit tree also collected in museums and art galleries? Is it just because it looks beautiful?

40 kinds of fruits growing on one tree during flowering period｜samvanaken.com

This antique fruit tree with 40 varieties of fruit has been planted in art venues around the world - in the form of a "living antique". To be precise, the tree is planted outside the museum, while the stories on each of its branches are displayed inside the museum. The reason why it is defined as a work of art is that it can provide a new aesthetic experience that combines vision, smell and taste.

A tree that lets you eat 40 kinds of fruit at once

Partial display of grafting in the museum｜samvanaken.com

The antique fruit tree blooms 40 kinds of flowers in spring, providing people with viewing effects and environmental atmosphere. The flowers of various fruits (peach, plum, apricot, pear...) are adjusted to bloom at the same time, making the surroundings full of the breath of spring. The whole tree has become an olfactory archive of various flowers.

Real photos of spring flowers｜Rhododendrites/Wikimedia Commons

Real photos of spring flowers｜samvanaken.com

Another highlight of this tree is that it is edible! In summer and autumn, the tree is full of apricots, plums, pears, cherries, peaches, nectarines, etc. You can pick a few and serve them with a small cup of yogurt, salad or fruit plate. This is why some people call it the "salad fruit tree".

Just imagine if we could have a salad fruit tree at home - with 40 kinds of fresh fruits changing with the seasons, this would be the ultimate in urbanites’ pastoral dreams!

Two branches of the salad fruit tree are hung with different varieties of fruits | businessinsider

The above is only the most superficial value of this "antique fruit tree". In fact, it also gathers a large number of ancient fruit varieties, and is a time machine! It not only remembers the taste of childhood, but also inherits the taste and history of my grandfather's grandfather... that era.

Salad fruit tree that has not grown up yet｜abcnews

In today's factory farming era, we carefully select many high-quality varieties for large-scale planting, but at the same time we also discard many more varieties just because they don't taste good, don't look good, don't produce high enough, etc. This tree allows now little-known varieties to be presented on the same tree in your garden.

The creators of the antique fruit tree said: "Each variety on this tree reveals a piece of history - from peaches originally grown by the first Spanish missions in South America and then brought north by Native Americans who propagated the trees over the centuries, to apricots brought by Chinese immigrants working on the transcontinental railroad."

Red peaches｜Albany, JB Lyon Company, printers, 1917

This tree brings hope for the history of these flavors to flourish again.

Is it easy to realize such a wonderful fruit tree?

Whether it is difficult to achieve or not, you have to ask the creator of the fruit tree. He is Sam van Aken, known as the "fruit tree sculptor", an artist who fell in love with plants since childhood.

Sam and the saplings | Syracuse

Whether the technique is difficult or not, I believe most people can think of the technique he used: grafting. Yes, it is this simple gardening activity that even a gardener has practiced. But grafting 40 varieties is not as simple as 1+1=2 - the selection of rootstock and scion varieties, the trial of grafting techniques, the regulation of flowering periods of multiple varieties, the prevention and control of pests and diseases, pollination activities, etc., a large number of trivial links determine the success or failure of the matter.

Diagram of rootstock and scion｜Melissa J. Will

Generally, Van Aken travels between gardens in the United States in February every year to obtain a batch of new shoots and store them in refrigerators; he then travels again in August to guide the grafting work.

In this way, there are 40 varieties of fruit trees, and the yield will be stable after 9 years, of which 5 years are needed for grafting and development, and 4 years are needed to bear different fruits.

At present, the varieties of "antique fruit trees" are still limited to stone fruit trees such as apples and peaches, and do not include berries such as strawberries and grapes. There are many difficulties of all sizes in practice. Taking peaches as an example, a certain variety may survive grafting, but it may not necessarily thrive. Then the solution is also very simple, change the branch, or change the variety - but you can only try again next year. The grafting of the entire tree is like a set of simple coded system programs, which is gradually completed through trial and error of varieties, and it requires a lot of time and energy.

Variety planning map｜samvanaken.com

In addition to the usual problems of grafting, the balance of the whole plant must be considered, so that the scions are evenly distributed along the trunk and avoid unnecessary crowding. It is not only typhoons that can shake a tree, but also the unequal weight of "all small white apricot-sized fruits on one side and all Pinggu peaches on the other side."

How to make fruit trees pollinate smoothly is also a problem. If the bees don’t like the existing variety combination, the branches cannot be naturally pollinated and bear fruit; even if the branches have grown vigorously, they have to be abandoned to make way for other varieties.

Finally, and most importantly, there is the "big problem" that can easily ruin the previous achievements: pests and diseases. Van Aken said that the most appropriate way to describe the crisis here is that if a single move affects the entire tree, the whole tree will suffer! Therefore, you must choose healthy branches for grafting.

Antique fruit trees expand their territory

Since the first tree was planted in 2008, Van Aken, the creator of antique fruit trees, has never stopped exploring. In the process, he has continuously collected antique varieties, upgraded planting techniques, and developed the diversity and sustainable development of fruit trees.

Sam Van Aken and his partners are exploring sustainable methods of growing salad trees｜Walter Wlodarczyk

Cultural heritage, category protection, and food diversity are particularly important in the era of increasingly prosperous factory agriculture. Therefore, Van Aken's fruit tree art has also attracted the attention of many institutions. The manager of Governors Island in New York even provided land and specially invited him to jointly build an "open orchard", which includes 50 salad fruit trees and covers more than 200 "antique" fruit species, becoming a special museum of fruit trees.

Antique fruit trees on Governors Island, New York | samvanaken.com

This idea, which was inspired by an art project in 2008, has already been commercialized. Australia sells a type of salad fruit tree that contains "six varieties". Taking citrus fruits as an example, one such comprehensive fruit tree can grow oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits, oranges, etc. It is really good news for citrus lovers. Do you have the urge to get one?

The top picture is a lemon mixed fruit tree, the middle picture is an apple mixed fruit tree, and the bottom picture is a peach mixed fruit tree｜fruitsaladtrees.com

References

[1]https://www.samvanaken.com/trees

[2]https://galleries.lafayette.edu/2017/10/12/10786/

[3]https://www.ted.com/talks/sam_van_aken_how_one_tree_grows_40_different_kinds_of_fruit

Author: monica

Editor: luna

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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