just.wing.it
Deadwood Head
I thought it was a cool video.
Kinda like a fruit salad tree....
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GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
You will like this one too. It is his presentation that includes the history of the property and is pretty amazing.
Grimmy
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
I had a citrus that was a "fruit salad" tree. (Orange, Lemon, Lime) Though it sounds really cool in theory, I don't recommend it in practice. Each branch had slightly different characteristics and strength. You ended up constantly working to balance the strength of the tree by restraining the strong graft(s). Additionally, different parts of the tree would blossom at different times, and it would mess with your schedule for optimal times to fertilize, or to treat for pests, etc. You are better off having three separate trees. It is a little like having a JWP graft on JBP roots... but leaving some of the JBP branches as well.
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
Toss one through a Chipper. It would be like a giant blender.
just.wing.it
Deadwood Head
Its just cool as can be man. I dig it.
Thats awesome.
GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
I lived in that area for many years. Geneva is a great place for a lot of reasons. Cornell is also close by and they also have done some amazing work with trees in general as well as plants. Sometimes growers know more then you think
Grimmy
Eric Group
Masterpiece
Love it
Eric Group
Masterpiece
So, to relate this to another discussion had on this forum recently (and because so think this is freaking cool, more people should check it out and take note of the biodiversity that is danger of disappearing from the earth if we do not take action to preserve heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables)... the guy making these trees, numerous times, called this "ART".
Is it art?
Talk amongst yourselves!
@MichaelS perhaps you have an opinion? I am genuinely curious...
Is it art?
Talk amongst yourselves!
@MichaelS perhaps you have an opinion? I am genuinely curious...
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
LOL it's not art. It's horticulture. Had he grafted two or three stone fruits onto one root stock, no one would even mention it. He grafted 40 so now it is "art"? How about 50? 100? Does it become more "artistic"?
It would be like grafting 40 Japanese Maple varieties on one trunk. It would be extremely interesting... but I don't think it would be artistic.
As far as heirloom seeds go...
Seed Savers
Baker Creek
Eden Brothers
Territorial Seed Company
Salt Spring Seeds
Terra Edibles
Cottage Gardener
Just to get you started...
It would be like grafting 40 Japanese Maple varieties on one trunk. It would be extremely interesting... but I don't think it would be artistic.
As far as heirloom seeds go...
Seed Savers
Baker Creek
Eden Brothers
Territorial Seed Company
Salt Spring Seeds
Terra Edibles
Cottage Gardener
Just to get you started...
just.wing.it
Deadwood Head
I had no clue that there are so many stone fruits, he said thousands!
Is it art, eh.... not like bonsai is.
But if I was doing what he's doing, I could see people saying "how do you do that, it's like an art form"....
But I agree with @Bonsai Nut, its more like a cool science project than art, to me.
Is it art, eh.... not like bonsai is.
But if I was doing what he's doing, I could see people saying "how do you do that, it's like an art form"....
But I agree with @Bonsai Nut, its more like a cool science project than art, to me.
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
Don't get me wrong - I think what he did was super cool. But there is a reason why some of those stone fruits aren't widely commercially available. It's like comparing a grapefruit (an artificial creation) with a pomelo (one of its historical ancestors). Sure you can grow a lots of different pomelos and grapefruits on the same tree, and from the exterior they look almost identical. But then you try to EAT a pomelo and realize it has a super thick rind, little fruit, and an extremely bitter, acidic flavor.
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Eric Group
Masterpiece
Ok, that is true of a pomelo and grape fruit, certainly! Is it also true of other heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables vs the more widely available commercialized varieties? I think many would say absolutely not! Tomatoes are a perfect example... the tasteless garbage you generally find in the grocery are almost inedible when compared to many of the older heirloom fruits. (Yeah, it is a fruit...) I say that in full confidence and I generally do not even eat tomatoes personally! (Too acidic, they upset my stomach)
The varieties that make it to market on a mass scale are selected for uniformity of appearance, bright red color, uniform shape, and ability to stay fresh longer... NOT TASTE. Typically the base/ heirloom varieties for many fruits and vegetables have stronger (and if you like the specific taste usually) BETTER taste than the mass marketed bland stuff we find in a grocery... by the time it makes it to the shelf of a huge grocery chain, they are buying stuff that lasts longer on their shelves, looks like a perfect image of the fruit or veggie they want to sell and has an easy to package one size is a serving size portion. They don't want a tomato that has crazy undulating curves all over it's surface, colors fading from purple to green and is the size of a grapefruit- even if it tastes better than the tennis ball sized perfectly round red spheres they serve up as tomatoes in the store. They don't want a plum the size of a pecan... or an apple that is too small to make a decent snack on it's own, or has a slightly funny color... That is why these varieties are in many cases endangered. You listed a few seed providers that offer SOME heirloom seeds, and that is a good thing- but it does not change the fact that biodiversity is on a rapid decline in this world today and fruits and veggies are certainly a big part of it... FARMING in America specifically has done a poor job of cultivating for the best taste and health over the cookie cutter garbage... Beyond the hormones and chemicals they pump our food full of and spray all over it, they are constantly pushing us further and further away from good taste (and in many cases health- vitamins and minerals..) and quality options to these cardboard cutout pictures of what they think we want our fruits and veggies to be.
This tree he made may not be art to some (everyone is allowed their opinion, not demeaning yours or anyone else's), and that can be said of many works of art. The fact people disagree about it is part of the appeal- the controversy on some level confirms the creativity... if he just haphazardly grafted a plum branch to a root stock and let it grow... I would agree- horticulture not art. His intentional, intricate planning and organization, his arrangement of certain branches in certain places to produce varying flowers at different times of the year so that they compliment each other... has produced a tree with such varieties of fruits and blooms... it is beyond horticulture. It is a blending of Science with beauty in a way that... Well, I just don't know how else you would describe it except to call it a work of art. I have to agree with the artist on this one.
A solid definition of art I recently read went something like this: "something created with imagination and skill that is beautiful and/or expresses important ideas or feelings."
I would argue this tree meets- and in some ways exceeds- every piece of that definition. Beyond creating a beautiful, unique image while in bloom, this tree has a deeper meaning and activates an emotion in people... it is the embodiment of this idea of heirloom preservation that also happens to be beautiful and took quite a bit of both imagination and skill to create. On top of all of that, much like bonsai, it is not some static creation- "look at my beautiful painting, now hang it on a wall in a gallery and keep it UNCHANGED forever".... It is a living evolving life form which adds a level of complexity most human created art forms can never achieve.
Just my take... I can see why some would say it is not art. I was interested to try to get Michael's take on it because he seemed to have a very Firm stance on this subject based around refined, Japanese, highly stylized trees vs more naturally shaped bonsai and I thought it would be interesting to get his take on this completely un-styled (from a bonsai perspective) "work of art".
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