Espalier?

[Cammie27]

Does any one here have experience growing fruit trees as espaliers? I am hoping to plant a Belgian fence style espalier arrangement along the front fenceline of our property, using apple and pear trees, and I would love to hear some advice from others who have done something similar. Photos would be even better!

 

[scotkat]

Hello Cammie I am involved as a volunteer in theerestored walled garden of Glamis Castle.

And their is a wall full of espalier apples.

Next week head gardener wants me thin them out an also tie more in on to the wall.

As we are training them along.

I shall get some photos for you.

 

[claudine]

To be honest, it's the first time when I hear about growing fruit trees as espaliers. I've just googled it because it sounds so interesting! Are we talking about something like this?:

It looks absoultely gorgeous! But how to make trees grow like this?

 

[scotkat]

You have to train the Apples Claudine.

This is the way the apples are growing at Glamis Castle on the wall.


http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?PID=319

I shall take photos on Tuesday for you .

 

[ACSAPA]

To be honest, it's the first time when I hear about growing fruit trees as espaliers. I've just googled it because it sounds so interesting! Are we talking about something like this?:

It looks absoultely gorgeous! But how to make trees grow like this?

That is stunning. It looks like a fancy ornamental gate. I've never seen anything like this before in real life. It looks like something that would take a lot of work and planning.

 

[Cammie27]

To be honest, it's the first time when I hear about growing fruit trees as espaliers. I've just googled it because it sounds so interesting! Are we talking about something like this?:

It looks absoultely gorgeous! But how to make trees grow like this?

That is exactly what I'm hoping to do. We live in a small town with lots of over-the-fence neighbor chat so I don't want anything too tall or too solid (like a regular privacy fence), but I need something to screen the view of the street for privacy and so my dogs don't get so worked up over pedestrians. So I'm planning that sort of fence arrangement, topped at about four and a half feet, inside the current chain-link fencing. And since I don't have room for a proper mini-orchard, using fruit trees solves two issues at once.

Scotkat, I look forward to seeing your pictures.

 

[claudine]

Cammie27, this is such a gorgeous idea, I'm completely in love with it. It doesn't look like fence, it looks like art., it's beautiful. I found two other pictures to share with you:

 

[ACSAPA]

Cammie27, this is such a gorgeous idea, I'm completely in love with it. It doesn't look like fence, it looks like art., it's beautiful. I found two other pictures to share with you:

That is so pretty. I've never seen this done in the US. The second one would look absolutely gorgeous if it was done with flowering cherry trees.

 

[scotkat]

I am just back from my volunteer work at Glamis walled garden project.

And I was pruning our Apples here are some photos.

 

[scotkat]

These are Tower of Glamis Apples

 

[claudine]

Scotkat, the apple tree looks great, it's so interesting. And very unique. So far, I've only seen tree espaliers in pictures, no one here grows them. Maybe I'll be the first person to do this

 

[Cammie27]

Thank you for the photos, Scotkat. I have a neighbor who grows her apples in that shape to save room and provide a border for her garden, and they are lovely. They seem to fruit earlier than trees left to grow naturally too.

ACSAPA, it isn't a popular growing style here in the States. I think that's because we have so much land compared to Europe that people who want to grow fruit just buy a home with a big enough lot to do so. There are a few high-profile examples though - our founding fathers seemed to be fans of the practice, and there are espalier fruit trees at Montecello and Mount Vernon. That's where I first developed a bit of a fascination with the idea.