There’s a cherry tree outside the gym I go to. I walk past it as I arrive and leave, and gaze out of the window at it between sets. At this time of year, it blossoms in the most stunning way. The flowers on one side are bright white, on the other side they are the warmest pink, and every spring it reminds me of a special skill that I was once taught that I wish I had call to use more – grafting.
Grafting is the method through which two different plants from the same species or genus are joined together to grow as one. It is a technique commonly employed in the cultivation of fruit trees and explains how the cherry tree I described above could appear to be one tree while behaving like two spliced together. The reason it can do this is that the resulting plant benefits from the qualities of the two different original plants. For example, a delicious apple variety that would normally result in a full-size tree could be grafted on to the rootstock of a smaller variety, so that it produces the desired fruit while being suitable for a modestly sized garden.
