Imagine a tree that would grow 40 different fruits! There are several that actually exist, thanks to Sam Van Aken, an artist and professor at Syracuse University. He uses “chip grafting” to create trees that each bear 40 different varieties of stone fruits (fruits with pits).
The grafting process involves slicing a bit of a branch with a bud from a tree of one of the varieties and inserting it into a slit in a branch on the “working tree,” then wrapping the wound with tape until it heals and the bud starts to grow into a new branch. It’s a process that takes a really long time.
Over several years he adds slices of branches from other varieties to the working tree. In the spring, the “Tree of 40 Fruit” has blossoms in many hues of pink and purple, and in the summer it begins to bear the fruits in sequence. His works of art continue to evolve, blossoming and fruiting all summer long!
Van Aken has created more than a dozen of these trees that have been planted at sites such as museums around the U.S. , which he sees as a way to spread diversity on a small scale. He sees his trees as not only artworks, but also a way to spread diversity on a small scale.
He’s preserving heirloom and antique stone fruits that are no longer commercially grown. Having worked with 250 different kinds of stone fruits, Van Aken says he is in his own small way creating his own conservation effort.
Van Aken talks in more detail about creating his trees in the TED Talk below!
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