According to a note in our archives attributed to Frank Anderson, an authority on medieval and Renaissance botany and honorary curator of the rare book collection at the New York Botanical Garden who died in 1994, the technique is first mentioned by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner in 1561. However, the technique was not widely practiced until the 17th century. Our pear is trained as a palmette Verrier; this form, which resembles a candelabrum, is named after a 19th century French practitioner of the art.

Our arborist, Fran Reidy, is compensating for the fact that our palmette Verrier, which is more than 60 years old, has not always been pruned as it should have been. Fran is cutting it back hard in phases, forcing the formation of new fruiting spurs further back along the branches. Over the course of time, the over-long branches can gradually be shortened, and the tree can be brought back into the space originally allotted to it.

Medieval gardeners were certainly adept at pruning, both as a practical technique applied to orchard fruits and woodland management, and as an ornamental technique for the production of the basic topiary forms typical of the late Middle Ages. Many 15th century garden representations depict ornamental topiary, but there is no evidence for the practice of true espalier before the Renaissance.

Please do let me know when next you visit!