Minnesota Hat Trick

We had been pondering getting apple trees for some time. The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum has amazing espalier trees, and doing that along the edge of our property would make a lovely living fence. So we looked into getting whips from a grower in Wisconsin that had the kinds we wanted, but getting them would be a bit complicated and we weren't sure we were up to the challenge of establishing our own espalier trees.

Then one day we were at our local nursery to get perennials for our new part-shade garden. Lo and behold there it was, the Minnesota 'Hat Trick' three-in-one espalier apple tree! I knew it was our tree as soon as I saw that it had two of my favorite U of M apples, Sweet Sixteen and Zestar, and the third, Honeycrisp, is also delicious. And it is self-pollinating, since it is three trees in one, so we don't have to get another tree right away (although we probably will get another one eventually!).

It stood in the yard for a little while before we got the nerve to put it in the ground. But it is now planted! I've done the first espalier pruning on the top branches, which are Sweet Sixteen. The Zestar and Honeycrisp branches haven't needed any trimming yet.

It has been in the ground a few days now and seems quite happy.