Perfecting the art of espalier

Standing outside a row of Seattle homes squeezed onto city lots, it’s hard to believe what’s hidden behind David and Nancy Conners’ Ballard bungalow.

Despite a modest city-size backyard, the Conners’ garden is a cornucopia with rows of raspberries, blueberries, Asian pear and apricot trees, and 18 varieties of apples – and there’s still room for a generous patch of grass and a flower and herb garden.

City gardeners with a few feet of fence or a patch of earth as small as a dining room table can reap the benefits of fruit trees with some planning.

One of the secrets to fitting so many different types of fruit in a garden is espalier, the art of training trees to grow in formal patterns on a wall or trellis. The centerpiece of their garden is an espaliered Belgian fence, a vertical 8-foot-tall lattice of apple trees trained to grow in a diamond pattern.

Espalier seems like a hefty undertaking for the average gardener, but David Conners compared espalier to painting: Most of the work is in the preparation. Once the system is established, the trees require minor pruning two to three times a year.

A single tree can be planted next to a bare section of fence and its branches trained in a variety of designs.

Some of the more common designs include a T-shape, which resembles a telephone pole with several cross-arms. Another is a candelabra. Gardeners can train branches to form a low fence around a raised bed or garden spot.

Creating an espalier requires patience and planning. Conners rototilled, adding compost, peat moss, sand and fertilizer to achieve a loamy soil. He placed the Belgian fence so it would receive the best light and the best view from his house.

He built a long raised bed so the trees wouldn’t have to compete with the grass for nutrients and water. And he left a path behind the bed so he could work both sides of the espalier.

Next, Conners created a support for the espalier by driving two 10-foot-metal poles into the ground and anchoring them with cement. and stringing coated fencing wire between the poles.

In the beginning, three rows were spaced two feet apart. As the fence got taller, he moved the wires up.

He opted to keep his Belgian fence about 8 feet: tall enough for a pleasing design but short enough to reach the fruit without a ladder.

He planted 18 custom grafted trees at 2-foot intervals along the raised bed. The trees cost $5 a piece and the support system cost about $60.

After one year of growth, Conners trimmed off the tops of all the trees evenly; this would be the starting point for the diamond design.

The trim forced the trees to grow a whorl of buds at the cut site, which provided a number of branches to choose from.

The first three years of fruit production, Conners picked off the fruit when it was about the size of a marble. That allowed the trees’ energy to go toward root development and growth.

He tied branches to bamboo canes to keep them ramrod straight. Over time, the branches were slowly moved toward the wire, where he tied them in place.

Conners learned to manipulate the rate of growth by angling branches down or up; branches grow faster when they’re angled toward the sun. He learned he could slowly bend branches 90 degrees. The branch may groan and split, but it will heal itself as long as the inner layer remains intact, he said.

After six years, the tops of the trees reached the peak of the fence. The result is so stunning a neighbor decided to buy her house because she could see Conners’ creation from her backdoor.

Now the Conners are enoying the fruits of his labor; clusters of ripening apples hang from the fence.

Debra Smith