an Orchard in One Tree

In 2008, while looking for specimens to create a multi-coloured blossom tree as an art project,Van Aken acquired the 3 acres orchard of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, which was closing due to funding cuts. He began to graft buds from some of the over 250 heritage varieties grown there, some unique, onto a stock tree. Some five years later the resultant tree had branches from forty different “donor” trees, each with a different fruit, including almond, apricot, cherry, nectarine, peach and plum varieties.

You can listen to his history here