Fruits as Ornamentals

by Marvin Pritts

A second reason that fruiting plants have not been used in landscapes is because many gardeners believe that they will grow too large over time. It is certainly true that an apple tree on its own roots can grow to 30 ft. tall, but you will notice few apple orchards these days with large trees.

Most new orchards are planted to dwarf trees that grow to 10 ft. tall. (Trees are dwarfed by grafting the variety, called a scion, to a different root piece, called a rootstock.) These small trees allow the orchardist to produce more fruit of higher quality with fewer inputs. These same small trees can be grown in the home landscape as well. A Liberty scion grafted to a MM109 rootstock could be just the ticket for a background plant, or an espaliered tree along a wall.