APPLE TREE HOUSE

An apple tree house, seen in spring bloom and fully leafed out in summer. It grows in a garden near Sebastopol, California.

This apple tree house is 6 years old and still in training. The supports of metal fence posts, wire and bamboo, to which it was tied to direct and support its growth when young, are going to be finally removed in the Spring of 2001. As the trees have grown in girth and strength it has become self supporting.

A practical concern for anyone wanting to grow a large structure with more than one tree at a time, that was learned the hard way with this sculpture, is to use all the same variety of trees. The tree house was started from four standard apple rootstocks (Bountiful Arcade) and grafted with several different heirloom varieties. Unfortunately the different types of apple have different growth rates and habits, creating problems as one portion of the house lags far behind the others.