Colonnade Apple Trees

These days, it seems like there's more opportunities to buy plants through the mail, whether you're looking for herbs or perennials or even trees, it's a great place to shop.

Now, this time of year, if you order something like fruit trees, don't be disappointed when you unwrap them and they look like this, a stick with some roots. They're actually asleep and there's a lot of potential in this little plant.

As soon as they arrive there's some things you should do. Once you get them unpackaged, make sure that your order is complete and then soak the roots for at least two hours and no more than twenty-four in water. Now this goes for all varieties of fruit trees, but today, I'm planting some apples.

Now you might think that you have to have a lot of room in your garden to grow fruit trees, but that's not true at all, my garden is pretty small. So I stick with dwarf varieties or some of these new ones like this colonnade apple.

Just as the name implies, this apple grows in a strict vertical column. At maturity it'll reach eight feet tall , but only two feet wide. That makes them perfect candidates for growing at the back of my vegetable garden in this narrow space against this fence, and there's nothing to planting them. Just dig a generous hole so you can spread out the roots and when you position the tree, make sure that the bud union, the swollen part at the base of the trunk, is about two inches above the ground line. Now, I'll gently place the soil around it and water it in with some liquid fertilizer.

Now remember, if you're going to grow apples you need two varieties for cross pollination. If you'd like to know where to get these colonnade apples, just right me here at the station.

From the garden, I'm Allen Smith.

Source for Colonnade Apple Trees: Stark Brothers 1 (800) 325-4180

P. Allen Smith Gardens

© 1997 Hortus, Ltd.