Houses, Tree Houses and Trees: A Bloggy Triptych

This is the third part of my bloggy triptych. My first post was about living in South Korea; while the second post revolved around the coolness of tree houses. This one will center on the art of Pleaching. It is like grafting two trees together, and it can result in some beautiful tree art. I must admit that the writing of this was started in March and is being finished in June...if it seems disjointed and slightly lazily written--well, it's because it is; sorry.

Part III: Trees as Art

I was talking to my father about pleaching a couple weeks ago. I asked him if he knew what pleaching was. Maybe it was the shoddy skype connection, maybe it was my mumbling, maybe it was neither; but my father humorously replied "Oh yeah, I think I ate one of those the other day!" He thought I was talking about the fruit, the lychee.

While lychees are delicious, and are born from a tree, and this blog post will examine many fruit bearing trees...I wasn't talking about this slimy subtropical martini maker. I was referring to the near forgotten art of pleaching.

What is Pleaching? You may ask...

pleach (plēch, plāch) tr.v. pleached, pleach·ing, pleach·es

1. To plait or interlace (branches or vines, for example), especially in making a hedge or an arbor.

2. To shade or border with interlaced branches or vines.

[Middle English plechen, from Old North French plechier, probably from Latin plectere; see plek- in Indo-European roots.]

(Thank you, dictionary.com)

Pleaching is the practice of planting trees relatively closely and binding the branches of neighboring trees together. The trees are wounded at the point where the branches cross, causing them to fuse and grow together through a process called "inosculation." It is similar to grafting trees--how most of the apple trees we see bearing delicious apples are started.

History

According to some websites (and we all know how reliable the internet is!). Pleaching has been practiced since the days of the Roman Empire, when horticulturalists pleached trees arranged in large grids to transport water from trees along river fronts to trees further inland through their connected branches, as well as offer a place for huts to be built (on top of the trellised trees) during times of flood. This practice didn't last long due to how time consuming it was. After this dawning of the practice through today, the art has become largely that: Art.

As Art

Through the eighteenth century, pleached trees were seen in European gardens in the form of fences, covered walkways and other beautiful, yet labor intensive, features in ornate gardens. The practice wasn't (and still isn't) commonly seen in the Americas. One man, Axel Erlandson, pleached trees as a hobby and farmed dozens of trees on his land in California. His farm was a small tourist attraction, referred to as "The Tree Circus."

Pleached Sycamore Trees, Axel Erlandson

The early nineteen hundreds saw some other American pioneers in the art of tree shaping. One John Krusback (Of Wisconsin!) reportedly imagined, trained and harvested the first "Grown Chair." It took eleven years for the au natural Laz-E-Boy to grow, and it is beautiful:

Grown Chair, John Krubsack

A couple in Australia has taken this craft to new heights. They move beyond "grown chairs" and have captured the art of "living chairs." They also create playful tree people and other sculptures. Through the use of other materials, such as mirrors and stone, they have also created tables and other art pieces. Their company is called Pooktre Tree Shapers. Check 'em out.

Peter and Becky's Fist Tree Person, Planted 1998

How does Pleaching work?

Good question. I was, and still am to a degree, wondering the same thing. Not all trees are able to be grafted together. Here is a list of some "inosculate" trees (trees whose branches will naturally graft if given the chance), they are the best candidates for pleaching:

Elm	Holm Oak	Olive
Live Oak	Golden Oak	Pear
Apple	Peach	Almond
Beech	Hornbeam	Linden
Hazelnut	Crepe Maple	Dogwood
Golden Willow	Wisteria	Grape
Privet	Liburnum	Sycamore

Different species of trees can be pleached together, however I don't know if ALL species can be pleached with one another. If they are to be pleached, they must be roughly the same size and age, and you must consider climatic restraints. One man in Japan supposedly has a citrus tree with 11 different kinds of citrus fruits growing on his tree! Since I have never pleached any trees (although I do plan on having at least a one ring tree circus of my own one day), you'll have to trust this ehow on the art of pleaching.

...And I JUST found this awesome PDF: http://lda.ucdavis.edu/people/2008/TLink.pdf, it is long, but it looks well worth the read if this practice interests you at all!