Espalier

What is Espalier?

Espalier is a way of growing a woody plant flat. The branches are pruned and tied to a frame so the whole plant sits in a single plane, two dimensions instead of three. It is usually set against a wall, a fence or a trellis. Left to itself a tree spreads in every direction; trained this way it becomes a pattern of lines. Some designs follow a central stem with pairs of horizontal arms. Others look like a fan, a V or a row of low horizontals. The plant itself may also be called an espalier. Formal shapes have been worked out over centuries; informal ones use whatever odd shape a plant already has.

Where does Espalier come from?

The word came into English from French, which took it from the Italian spalliera, something to rest a shoulder against. In the 1600s it meant only the frame or trellis; later it came to mean the practice and the trained plants too. The technique itself is older. It appears to have begun with the Romans and was refined into an art by Europeans in the Middle Ages. Castle courtyards used it to grow fruit without filling the open space, and flattened trees were planted near walls to dress them. Vineyards have trained grapes this way for centuries, perhaps for thousands of years.

How Espalier is made

Wires or other supports go up first, fixed into the wall. The plant is set 15 to 30 cm from the base so roots can spread below and air can move above. A healthy, established tree three to four feet tall suits the work. Pruning waits until the plant is dormant, or for flowering kinds until the right season for that species. Bending and tying happen through summer, when the limbs are at their most flexible. Buds that are not wanted are rubbed off with a thumb. A Belgian fence starts with a slender tree cut back to between 40 and 45 cm, keeping the top three buds: one up, two making a V.

When and where Espalier is used

Espaliers are grown for fruit and for looks. In a small garden they take up almost no width, which is why they are used where space is short. In temperate places a trained tree can be set against a wall that throws back sunlight and holds warmth overnight, so the fruit has longer to ripen. Another trick is to run the plant parallel to the equator, catching the most light. Castles once grew fruit this way inside their courtyards. Vineyards have long used the method on grapes. Walls too can be decorated with flattened trees planted close to them.

Forms of Espalier

Designs have names. A V shape, made by cutting the tree to a low wire and training two buds onto canes, is the starting point for many others. Set several V shapes in a line two feet apart, branches crossing and tied to a trellis, and you have a Belgian fence. Stepover has a single set of branches at about 40 cm. Horizontal T, also called horizontal cordon, adds a new level each year. Palmette or fan radiates branches from a cut-back V. Cordons are single stems, vertical or angled, with short fruiting spurs. Named forms include the Baldassari palmette for peaches, the Verrier candelabra and Gaucher palmette, and the drapeau marchand.

What Espalier means

Espalier sits among the older arts of shaping living trees: grafting, pleaching into hedges, topiary clipped into clear forms, bonsai grown small to echo a full tree, and tree shaping in general. Its history in Europe is tied to the walled kitchen garden and the castle courtyard, where fruit and ornament shared the same surface. The appeal has lasted because the shape is both useful and orderly. The term is also used for the plants themselves, and a stunted or oddly formed tree may be exactly what an informal design needs.

The flowers of Espalier

PeachA flowering fruit tree from China, grown for its pink blossoms and sweet fruitMalusThe genus of apples and crabapples with spring blossoms and autumn fruit

Questions people ask about Espalier

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Espalier on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos
• Wikidata recordOpen data