A-Grafting we will go...

Ever wonder where all of our trees come from? We make a lot of them right here, and this year we are on the ball enough to be making them in our kitchen. Getting them done early means they have a longer season, as they will be healed up and ready to go as soon as we can get into the greenhouse.

The apple trees and dwarf conifers are our focus at the moment. Apples (above) are clonal - to get a Gala apple, you need to take a cutting from a Gala tree and graft it onto a rootstock. Rootstocks can also confer different characteristics onto the tree, like dwarfism. It's amazing how little tissue you need to get an entire tree - a single bud will do! We are hoping to host some grafting workshops here this summer, and also to be at the Fireweed Market in July.

Our ornamental conifers are the same - each named line is genetically unique and is cloned by grafted cuttings. This is from a new broom we found this winter. We made ten little trees that we will watch for the next five-ten years to see what it does. If it's lovely and consistent, we'll make more and give it a name! If you know of a special broom or tree you would like to try, let us know. Back to the breakfast - I mean grafting - table!