Agriculture and art are joining forces in the City of Brotherly Love. Contemporary artist Sam Van Aken is bringing the “Tree of 40 Fruit” to Temple University’s main campus in Philadelphia. This art project is a single grafted tree that produces 40 varieties of apricots, cherries, peaches, plums, and other stone fruits. Over the next two years, students will have the opportunity to learn more about the fusion of horticulture and art and Van Aken plans to plant an additional “Tree of 40 Fruit” in Temple’s Ambler Arboretum. Students will also learn about the cultural history of fruit in the Philadelphia region including indigenous and introduced varieties.
During a recent lecture, Van Aken shared his passion for grafting and its deep historical roots potentially dating back to 1800 BCE. Grafting is a way to propagate fruit trees by combining one plant’s qualities of flowering or fruiting with the roots of a more vigorous or resilient species. It is used for two main reasons, according to the University of New Hampshire Extension. Firstly, most fruit trees don’t come true to seed. For example, the seeds from a McIntosh apple won’t grow into McIntosh trees. Secondly, cuttings don’t root very easily. Grafting joins together a piece of vegetative wood (called the scion) from a more rigorous tree. It is a difficult skill that requires a lot of practice, but can go a long way.
“For me, what’s become really interesting in my discovery process is that these heirloom fruits aren’t just agricultural products,” Van Aken said in a lecture. “They are cultural objects and embedded in them aren’t just nutritional aspects or tastes, it’s actually the history of civilizations around the world.”
[ Related: Ecologists have declared war on this popular decorative tree. ]
While taking in the history that each fruit holds, the students attending the lecture grafted their own pit fruit tree. It offered a way to practice…
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