The other day I came across a this pin on Pinterest that showed apples growing on little vertical trees in pots. This blows my mind, because while I’ve seen lemon and lime trees in pots… apples??  I can grow apples on my porch??  (Turns out that it’s probably too hot here, but I’m not dissuaded.)

This revelation inspired a huge Google tangent which now has me completely obsessed with the art of espalier (“es-PAL-yay”, for us non-French speakers).

It turns out that you can espalier many different trees in all kinds of patterns. From the somewhat ordinary-plant-shaped informal espalier to fancier trained shapes like the Belgian fence and u-cordons to complete works of art like the ones in the drawings at the bottom of this post.

I need to go to a nursery and see what can grow nicely in a pot in this climate, and then I think I’m going to give it a go. I love the idea of having my own fruit trees. And because they grow flat, it would be easy to cover with a net to keep the pests away.

Links for my future reference:
♥ The Fine Art of Espalier from Everything French Gardening – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (that whole site is beautiful)
♥ The Enduring Gardener
♥ Long but thorough article “How to Espalier Apple Trees”

Someday I may graduate to the amazing world of arborsculpture, and I’ll make a chair, a bench, or a table… even a playground or a house!