6 ms·

Apple Park's tree whisperer

76 points by steven 9y ago

Gravityloss 9y ago
I've visited a park here that has living trees that were planted by a wealthy retired officer, to be sail ship masts. Now would be about harvesting time, some 100 years later. It's a nice place though. I applaud their efforts. Seems it's just impossible to let the environment be. First everything absolutely just must be destroyed, and then, years later, somebody must spend a lot of effort and time to actually try to make it "nice" again, and they won't see the results in their lifetime anyway.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- matt4077 9y ago
  "A healthy society is one where old men plant trees they'll never eat from".
  - snovv_crash 9y ago
    "Pears for the heirs"
  - gadders 9y ago
    A similar (probably apocryphal) anecdote about an Oxford University college: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/oak-beams-new-college-oxford http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/oak-beams-new-college-oxf...
atourgates 9y ago
I can't believe that this is the first time anyone's ever brought up plating a macintosh apple tree. I mean, if you have the opportunity to make a pun in tree form, how could you not?
- nicky0 9y ago
  McIntosh, isn't it?
sapote 9y ago
There have been so many articles about the trees planted in the new Apple campus, and how this was somehow groundbreaking, but it's actually been pretty disappointing. I've seen some lists of trees, especially fruit trees, that they've planted, and it's pretty uninspired -- they didn't Think Different. Lots of pomes (Apples, Pears, etc.) and stone fruit (Plums, Cherries, etc.) -- conventional varieties too. And they talk about drought tolerance, but I haven't seen a single mention of them planting White Sapote, a fruit perfectly adapted to the local climate, delicious, and very productive (not to mention, rare). Or various Guava relatives (Lemon / Strawberry Guava, Guabiju, Pineapple Guava, etc.). And that's just scratching the surface... I wish they would have talked to the local chapter of California Rare Fruit Growers to plan an orchard with a true diversity of interesting fruit. They had an opportunity to include a huge diversity of fruits and cultivars with the space they have, but it seems like they're not going to.
- GuiA 9y ago
  Maybe the arborist considered the options you just outlined, and there are some good reasons for not deciding to go with it? Somehow it feels like the arborist who has worked on this project for 7+ years might have done more due diligence than someone who created a HN account just to post a few sentences to complain about it.
  - sapote 9y ago
    Disappointed by your response given that I've been reading here for ages and figured I'd weigh in on something I know a lot about...but ok. To respond to your point: I think there's probably a good reason he chose what he did -- it's what Jobs was used to (given that the fruits they planted were the commercial fruit varieties that were commonly grown in the area when Jobs was a kid). That doesn't make it an interesting orchard worthy of the press it's gotten. And I'm sure he put lots of effort into the aesthetics of it, but he didn't in the actual selection of fruits. Also, the climate of 2050 won't be the climate of 1950 (both due to climate change and the urban heat island) -- it's possible to successfully grow many fruits that only did well in Southern CA 50 years ago. (Just to highlight the lack of forward thinking: the orchard includes many citrus fruit trees, which are going to be toast in a matter of just a few years due to HLB.)

76 points by steven 9y ago

I've visited a park here that has living trees that were planted by a wealthy retired officer, to be sail ship masts. Now would be about harvesting time, some 100 years later. It's a nice place though. I applaud their efforts. Seems it's just impossible to let the environment be. First everything absolutely just must be destroyed, and then, years later, somebody must spend a lot of effort and time to actually try to make it "nice" again, and they won't see the results in their lifetime anyway.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
matt4077 9y ago
"A healthy society is one where old men plant trees they'll never eat from".
- snovv_crash 9y ago
  "Pears for the heirs"
- gadders 9y ago
  A similar (probably apocryphal) anecdote about an Oxford University college: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/oak-beams-new-college-oxford http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/oak-beams-new-college-oxf...

atourgates 9y ago

I can't believe that this is the first time anyone's ever brought up plating a macintosh apple tree. I mean, if you have the opportunity to make a pun in tree form, how could you not?

nicky0 9y ago
McIntosh, isn't it?

sapote 9y ago

There have been so many articles about the trees planted in the new Apple campus, and how this was somehow groundbreaking, but it's actually been pretty disappointing. I've seen some lists of trees, especially fruit trees, that they've planted, and it's pretty uninspired -- they didn't Think Different. Lots of pomes (Apples, Pears, etc.) and stone fruit (Plums, Cherries, etc.) -- conventional varieties too. And they talk about drought tolerance, but I haven't seen a single mention of them planting White Sapote, a fruit perfectly adapted to the local climate, delicious, and very productive (not to mention, rare). Or various Guava relatives (Lemon / Strawberry Guava, Guabiju, Pineapple Guava, etc.). And that's just scratching the surface... I wish they would have talked to the local chapter of California Rare Fruit Growers to plan an orchard with a true diversity of interesting fruit. They had an opportunity to include a huge diversity of fruits and cultivars with the space they have, but it seems like they're not going to.

GuiA 9y ago
Maybe the arborist considered the options you just outlined, and there are some good reasons for not deciding to go with it? Somehow it feels like the arborist who has worked on this project for 7+ years might have done more due diligence than someone who created a HN account just to post a few sentences to complain about it.
- sapote 9y ago
  Disappointed by your response given that I've been reading here for ages and figured I'd weigh in on something I know a lot about...but ok. To respond to your point: I think there's probably a good reason he chose what he did -- it's what Jobs was used to (given that the fruits they planted were the commercial fruit varieties that were commonly grown in the area when Jobs was a kid). That doesn't make it an interesting orchard worthy of the press it's gotten. And I'm sure he put lots of effort into the aesthetics of it, but he didn't in the actual selection of fruits. Also, the climate of 2050 won't be the climate of 1950 (both due to climate change and the urban heat island) -- it's possible to successfully grow many fruits that only did well in Southern CA 50 years ago. (Just to highlight the lack of forward thinking: the orchard includes many citrus fruit trees, which are going to be toast in a matter of just a few years due to HLB.)