Try espalier technique to grow trees in smaller space

With land so valuable in Hawaii and our gardens getting smaller, many of us still want to grow fruit trees. But with monster houses and towering high-rises blocking our sunlight and air circulation, how can we do this?

Espalier, an ancient and artful gardening technique, could be the answer to helping our gardens be fruitful.

The word is French, with Italian origins.

“Spalliera” in Italian means something to rest the shoulder against. In gardening, espalier means training a fruit or flowering tree to grow flat against a wall, supported by a lattice or a framework of stakes.

We think it started with the Romans and was enhanced by Europeans with castle courtyards. The French expanded the technique so they could have fruit year-round.

Modern landscape design often looks to the French and Italians.

Some of the first beautifully designed and landscaped gardens were in Italy. (Check them out on your next journey to the continent. Gardens are way more fun to visit than a museum, in my opinion, and you get outdoor exercise too.)

Today we can use strong cables to train mango and other fruiting tree branches to keep them low, to get maximum sun and air circulation, and for easy harvesting.

Or we can do something more artful and horticultural in our Hawaii gardens. As in Europe, leafy branches can be trained to spread horizontally, oriented to get maximum sunlight.

And the trees will absorb the heat retained by the wall, extending the growing season.

There are many designs of espalier, from a simple V-shape, to fans, crosses and many more. Some are curved or spiraled.

England is known for great gardens and akamai horticulture. One technique there is called a freestanding stepover, which is a low-growing, one-tier espalier you can actually step over. It is used for hedges and borders.

They do it with apple and pear trees, and we can adapt this for our fruit trees here in Hawaii.

Mark Suiso of Makaha Mangoes is great proponent of mangoes and other fruit trees. He encourages us to graft good mango varieties, prune them correctly and cherish every fruit. He got me re-excited about espalier. It seems to me that we have more fruit these days and that more people are choosing to carefully prune and nurture their legacy mango trees. Espalier can be a space-saving option for gardeners planting new mango trees.

After all, mangoes are the king (or queen) of fruit — just ask Queen Victoria (the new movie “Victoria & Abdul” coming out with Judi Dench shows her wanting to taste a mango from India).

I think we should try espalier with ulu (breadfruit) too! Horticulturists always love a garden challenge, and what better one?

I espalier my mulberries to keep them low for easy picking and out of my neighbor’s yard. It also makes it easier to net my fruit and protect them from ravenous alien bulbuls and rose-ringed parakeets.

Japan, Taiwan, Australia and other places also have elaborate kinds of horticulture, including espalier, to nurture and cherish every leaf, flower and fruit. We could do this too!

I would love to hear from readers who are practicing espalier to nurture their own special fruit tree. Please send pictures if you have them; we can all learn from and inspire one another.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable landscape consultant specializing in native, xeric and edible gardens. Reach her at heidibornhorst@gmail.com.