Today in the orchard
Fameuse tree, 2012
Cammy and I have nearly completed the pruning for the year. Angus Dieghan joined us to help with the high climbers. It’s always a pleasure to have him spend a day with us. One of the trees Angus worked on was our ancient Fameuse tree. Cammy’s comment was, “I care less about the apples than the tree itself. I love that tree.” It is a really cool tree. The trunk is basically a shell. One branch pushed itself into the ground thirty or forty years ago and holds up what’s left of the rest of the tree. I imagine it was planted about 100 years ago. In 2012 when we took over Finley Lane there were six trees left of the original fifty or so. Now there are four. The Fameuse put on a burst of growth when we pruned it in 2012. That may have been it’s last big gasp. This past year the longest new growth was only a couple inches. It may be time to bid it farewell.
