„Sam Van Aken, an artist and professor at Syracuse University, uses „chip grafting“ to create trees that each bear 40 different varieties of stone fruits, or fruits with pits. The grafting process involves slicing a bit of a branch with a bud from a tree of one of the varieties and inserting it into a slit in a branch on the „working tree,“ then wrapping the wound with tape until it heals and the bud starts to grow into a new branch. Over several years he adds slices of branches from other varieties to the working tree. In the spring the „Tree of 40 Fruit“ has blossoms in many hues of pink and purple, and in the summer it begins to bear the fruits in sequence—Van Aken says it’s both a work of art and a time line of the varieties‘ blossoming and fruiting. He’s created more than a dozen of the trees that have been planted at sites such as museums around the U.S., which he sees as a way to spread diversity on a small scale.“

(Direktlink)

(könnte irgendwann solche Blüten tragen: The Tree of 40 Fruit)

Als heimlicher und gleichwohl untätiger Liebhaber der Botanik geht mir hier ein bisschen das Herzchen auf. “The Tree of 40 Fruit“ von Sam Van Aken ist ein Baum-Hybrid, der aus verschiedensten Steinfurchtsorten zusammengezüchtet wird. Insgesamt trägt er am Ende 40 Fruchtsorten. So der Plan. Neben Kirschen, Pflaumen, Nektarinen, Aprikosen gesellen sich weitere Früchte ausschließlich alter Sorten. Und unabhängig davon, dass es an sich schon mal ziemlich grandios ist, wenn verschiedene Früchte an einem Baum hängen, wird der Baum in endgültiger Größe im Blütenstand wohl nahezu atemberaubend schön aussehen.

The Tree of 40 Fruit is an ongoing series of hybridized fruit trees by contemporary artist Sam Van Aken. Each unique Tree of 40 Fruit grows over forty different types of stone fruit including peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries, and almonds. Sculpted through the process of grafting, the Tree of 40 Fruit blossom in variegated tones of pink, crimson and white in spring, and in summer bear a multitude of fruit. Primarily composed of native and antique varieties the Tree of 40 Fruit are a form of conversation, preserving heirloom stone fruit varieties that are not commercially produced or available.

Hier der TEDx-Talk von Sam Van Aken zu seinem Baum-Projekt. Ich geh‘ dann mal eben in den Garten.

(Direktlink, via Interweb3000)