Yesterday, I shared how we primed, painted, and installed the vintage-style trellises on our blank white wall of siding, and today, I want to share how I planted the espalier apple trees in large terra cotta pots and tied them to the trellises. When I mentioned putting them in pots on my Instagram stories, I was asked several times why I opted for pots instead of putting them directly into the ground. Well, there are a few reasons for that…
Number one, I’m not sure what kind of chemicals have been sprayed on this soil over the years. We’ve had pest control treatments and I didn’t know I’d be planting edibles here, so I didn’t ask them to skip this area. I would be a little nervous planting a fruit tree in questionable soil.
Number two, I want to make sure they get enough light on this wall with the shade from the maple trees. I’m pretty sure they will since it faces south and gets good sun through the day, but it’ll be nice to make sure they are happy here before I plant them in the ground to get established. If they aren’t happy here, I have a few other places I can move them and try something else on the trellises. I’m learning, so I’m not married to any one idea. I’m very flexible and open at this point.
The main reason, though, is my current garden nemesis – Bishop’s Weed. It hasn’t taken over this area, but there is some along the house, so I want to smother it with plastic and mulch for at least a year before I put the apple trees in the ground. At that point, I would add new soil and compost to make a nice place for them to grow and mature.
I did a bunch of research before I purchased the espalier apple trees (from Home Depot) and this is a dwarf variety that will do well planted in pots, so I felt comfortable going that route. If these were full-sized apple trees, it probably wouldn’t have worked.
Here’s how this area looked a few weeks ago when I was putting down plastic and cardboard to establish a new bed…
I initially bought some large plastic pots with a terra cotta look, but I was so disappointed when they arrived. In the pictures, they looked very good and pretty convincing. I liked that they would be lighter to move and I wouldn’t have to worry about them cracking as temperatures dropped below freezing. In person, the color was much darker and they looked like plastic. It wasn’t what I was going for at all, so I returned them the same day they arrived.
I did a bit more searching and found oversized rolled-rim terra cotta pots at Home Depot. They just weren’t at my local Home Depot, but they were available at the one in Winchester, which is just a few miles from the Berryville Fairgrounds. You can find the pots HERE to see if they are at a local store. We’d be there for the Lucketts Spring Market anyway, so I’d pick up a couple of pots.
These pots were no joke and I needed help getting them loaded in the car. I tried nesting them initially to save room in the van, but they ended up rolling all over as I turned corners and came to stops, so we put them on their rims and figured we would sort things out if I found anything huge and space was an issue. It ended up not being an issue and we got the pots and all of my Lucketts purchases safely home.
Before potting the apple trees, I did some more research on planting in terra cotta pots. Apparently, not all terra cotta is of equal quality. Given these were only $49 compared to $300-400 for similarly-sized pots, I’m assuming these aren’t top quality or frost-proof. Since the pots alone are huge and, once filled with soil and small trees, it would not be practical to move them inside for the winter. They would have to stay outside and I would need to do what I can to winterize them. After all of the research, I decided to follow a few pieces of advice I saw repeated in several articles. I would put the terra cotta pots on risers to prevent the bottoms from soaking up moisture, line the pots with bubble wrap to insulate and prevent the porous surface from drawing too much moisture from the soil, and wrap them in bubble wrap and burlap for the winter.
I’m not saying all of this is right or best, but it’s the advice I followed and we’ll see how it goes.
I already had some thin bricks from other places in the yard, so I used six of those to lift the two pots off the ground. I had to play with them a bit to make sure the pot was stable and level sitting on them.
I lined the pot with some bubble wrap that came with a purchase a few months ago. I hold onto good packing supplies to use when I ship paintings or personal packages so I had a nice stash to pull from. I tried putting the bubble wrap horizontally in the pot but found it was much easier to put it in vertically and let the pieces flop over the edge of the pot to hold them in place.
I also put a few broken pieces of an old terra cotta pot (I dropped it on the driveway and was so mad at carelessness) to allow water to drain but prevent the contents from spilling out or clogging the drainage hole. Note – I only lined the sides with bubble wrap, not the bottom so the soil can drain.
I then added a few inches of pea gravel for drainage…
I don’t think this step was necessary, but I added a small piece of landscaping fabric between the pea gravel and soil. I did this so it would be easier to remove the apple tree when and if I removed it from the pot. It would just provide a little separation from the two materials while still allowing water to drain.
I put in a few inches of organic soil and then added the tree. It has to be planted towards the back of the pot so it can be trained on the trellis, but that is normal for an espalier tree.
I filled the rest of the pot with organic soil and cut off the excess bubble wrap.
Lastly, I topped it off with organic, dye-free mulch to insulate the soil and keep moisture in. It also hid the top edge of the plastic.
I went back and forth about adding the plastic bubble wrap but decided to in the end based on the articles I read. it would be pretty easy to pull out if I change my mind.
It was then time to tie the branches to the trellis. I didn’t design this trellis specifically for these apple trees (I built the trellises first), so some of the branches are situated better than others, but I think it’ll work out just fine. I secured the branches with leather cording because that’s what Bunny Mellon suggests in the book Garden Secrets of Bunny Mellon.
Oh, and they look so good! I hope they are happy there and the pots and trees do well over the winter. It is an experiment so we’ll see!
The trees each have six varieties of apples on them! Isn’t that amazing? One of the tags was missing, so we have a mystery branch, but the others are Fuji, Yellow Delicious, Cortland, Gala, and Gravenstein.
I removed the tags because they were bright colors and labeled the branches in my gardening notebook. Hopefully, we’ll figure out the last branch when the trees fruit.
Honestly, I don’t care very much about the fruit these trees produce. I just love how they look and any fruit will be a bonus.
And, we already have little apples…
I bought THIS BOOK on espalier fruit trees so I could study up on caring for them.
Several of you suggested planting an espalier tree on this wall and, initially, I couldn’t picture it but I was only imagining one. Once I changed the plan to two trellises, two dwarf espalier fruit trees seemed like the perfect idea.
Whatever you do, it is the best it can be….leave the rest of us in the dust! I am excited for you!
The trees look beautiful! I did notice in a overhead shot that it looked like the soil and or mulch was higher than it should be. For those beauties to thrive the root flare (where the trunk meets the main roots) should be exposed.
Oh, thanks for letting me know! I’ll give them a bit more room.
It’s art!
Love how these look!! Will be fun to see how they mature.
(I think cotta in the title should be 2 t’s.) (Looks like you recently changed the blog fonts? The previous one without the serifs was much clearer, cleaner and easier to read the copy, like the post titles.)
Ah, thank you for catching my typo in the title. I fixed it. As far as the font, we increased the size for accessibility, but that’s good feedback on the font being harder to read. I’ll look into some other options.
This looks just beautiful and very classic. I love the trellis you designed and the beautiful apple tree! Bravo!
Are they grafted apple trees? I would think that would be the only way you can get 6 varieties of apple on one tree. Let me know, I am curious.
Yes, they are grafted. There are six different varieties grafted onto one trunk. So amazing!
Well done! Inspiring!
Hi Marian, Please tell me how you enter your garage with your car ? I see no driveway ? Is your driveway on the side of your home or are you situated on a corner property and you enter from a side st ? Thank you for clearing this up for me !!
Yes, the driveway and garage door are on the side of the house. The front of the house is at an angle and faces two streets. The wall of siding where the trellises are located is the side wall of the garage. I hope that makes sense!
My husband and I easily move pots much larger than those with dollies.. We live in Houston and when a rare freeze comes we fill our garage and sun room with huge potted plants.
That is good to know! I’ve been doing more reading and might move them into the garage on especially cold days. I’d have to untie them from the trellis… Anyway, always learning, so we’ll see! It’ll definitely be easier when they are in the ground! I think that will be ideal.
i live in australia so having to move plants inside in cold weather isnt something we have to worry about (very hot days are a different story) but is it possible to attach the trellises in a way that means they can be unhooked so that you can move the whole plant? after a year or two it will twine through the trellis and will be easily damaged if you try and remove it.
they look gorgeous by the way
Marian,
Did I ever learn a lot! The trellises look amazing, and the tree’s look like they belong there. I’ve never heard of this type of tree and even though I don’t have place for one I want one!! I was reading everything on my phone and am excited to get on my Mac to see the little apples. I love the leather ties too!
You are on a roll~ Thank you for sharing when you have so many plans!
Cynthia 🌸
It’s like a bunch of how to(s) from all over consolidated into one inspiring and easy to digest post!
From someone in Gravenstein Apple Fair country.
I’m concerned that you are trapping too much moisture in the soil with bubble wrap on the inside of the pot. Most of the time moisture evaporates through the terracotta because it’s porous.
This evaporation also is what allows terracotta pots to breathe, which is good for the plant’s roots.
Also, be aware of fungal and bacterial issues that affect apple trees, such as cedar apple rust and fireblight (both are common in the Mid-Atlantic area and the south). Depending on the root stock used, some trees will be more resistant than others.
BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING, LOVE IT!!
The apple trees and the trellises look fabulous! I have two questions/comments, though. 1) Why are the trellises installed so low? Given where the lowest limbs are, it looks as though they could be hung at least a foot higher. Seems like alot of wasted trellis is hidden behind the pots, with no purpose. 2) I agree about the bubble wrap inside the pots preventing necessary evaporation. I can see wrapping the outside with bubble wrap when freezing temps are expected, and I’d also wrap the pots with thick insulation. That should be enough protection.
Good to know about the plastic. I’ll give it some more thought! I suppose I wasn’t concerned about it since I was considering plastic pots which wouldn’t allow evaporation either. I decided on adding the plastic based on warnings I read about the terracotta absorbing lots of water from the soil and these were too large to soak. As far as the trellises, we wanted them to balance out a pair of windows on the other “wing” of the house, so we placed them based on that so the height would line up. I also wanted the opinion to put vines on the trellises down the road and they would climb from lower than an espalier tree.
Ahhh, that makes sense! I didn’t realize (or forgot) that you were trying to line up the height of the trellises with the height of the windows. And, yes, I see your point about possible future planting of vines if you decide to ultimately move the apple trees.
As an experienced in-ground organic apple tree grower up here in Canada, I can see a lot of potential problems with this scenario of trying to grow apple trees in pots. But, we all have to right to experiment in gardening and try and hope for the best!
I think that the biggest issue is that those pots are going to be too small for the root system that you will need to support the trees as they grow. They will also get MUCH bigger than your trellises. Maybe they could be better located in-ground near your planned potager out back? It is something to think about. Look up espalier fences.
As well, is the goal of those trellises that they should be seen for their architectural beauty, or that they should be covered? Most perennial vining plants will completely smother them, but there are some annual vines that you could grow in the pots each year.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! This is a dwarf variety of apple trees so do you still think the pots are too small? Also, I was planning to keep them in the pots just for the first year and then move them into the ground. As I shared in the post, I am trying to smother an invasive weed under the mulch and I am concerned about chemicals that have been sprayed in that soil. Do you think it would be better to plant them in the ground and deal with those issues? I just need to carry you in my pocket for a few days to answer my questions! 😉
As far as the trellises being visible, I don’t mind if they are covered with the apple tree branches or vines if I change them out. Anything I select will be bare in the winter, so I wanted to still have architectural interest during that time. Basically, I want the trellises to look good full and covered or naked!
There are many different ways to train an espalier, but keep in mind that branches that are the size of a pencil today will be the size of your leg in a few years! Most fruit trees sold today are grafted onto a dwarfing root stock, which is a different type of apple than the upper canopy. Even still, these “dwarf” trees can reach 25 feet high! Given the nature of making an espalier, you would be forcibly thwarting the tree’s growth so you will not have as big a tree in the end as you would if you just let it grow as a basic standard tree.
Apple trees have very strong branches, which are needed to hold the weight of the fruit. As well, their root systems will be spreading outward to match the canopy at the very least. Putting them in pots will thwart this natural action by the apple tree to stabilize itself. If you only keep them in the pots for a year, though, you would probably be okay doing that if you are going to be putting them in the ground next year.
It is not a good idea to plant food in areas that you know have been treated with poisons and chemicals, so maybe putting the apple trees somewhere else would be a better idea if you intend to eat them.
And back to the espalier idea, there are other plants that can be grown as espaliers other than fruit trees, if you are wanting a certain look to the planting. Have fun looking at all the varieties of training out there, you can even just use hooks and wires attached to your house.
AH!! Shouldn’t have doubted your reasoning about planting your new trees in pots. I know I couldn’t do that here – but your research and sound reasons make sense to me. They look great, everything really looks great, Marian. What a beautiful thing you are doing for that home.
Great idea! Growing espalier apple trees in terra cotta pots adds beauty and fresh fruit to any space.
Marian, you are a wonder! I’ve been under the weather for a couple of weeks and I’m just now catching up with my favorite bloggers so my comments are a littled belated, but I love love love your espaliered apple trees! They look wonderful where you’ve placed them, and I’m hoping you will keep us updated on their progress. I fervently hope they thrive and produce bushels of apples! Thank you for sharing all the steps you took, too, as I never fail to learn something.
Oh, and I agree with some of the other comments about the new font…it’s a bit hard to read, and the previous font was clearer.