[Bcma-l] Heritage Orchards

[bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca]

During over almost two decades of creation, development and maintenance of a 
heritage orchard at the Grist Mill , beginning with the planning and 
planting, several aspects became especially evident:

1) Living cultivars need real expertise to keep them healthy.  They are 
artificial creations and not native plants naturally suited to your 
environment.  Consider a heritage orchard like a zoo.
2) There is more than one professional opinion about style of pruning. 
Learn the orchardist's language first and then decide on the style you wish 
and hold to it year after year.  Know why, so you can fight off those with a 
different opinion.  Learn about both historic and modern styles in your 
area, and make your own choice in consultation with your trusted expert. 
Interpretation is a great decision making tool.
3) Develop a long term relationship with a professional (meaning someone who 
is competent and respected in the orchard or botanical garden industry). 
Hire a professional to teach you or to actually do the work.  A small annual 
fee for advice or contract work is a lot less expensive than seeing the 
trees die or get sick after all the investment of planning and planting.
4) Water in the right proportion is critical to health.
5) Commercial Certified Organic practices suit historic sites perfectly. 
You don't have to actually become Certified, because that will probably be 
more expensive than is worth while, but Organic practices work wonderfully 
if performed correctly.  Any property can be maintained beautifully with 
Organic methods, including lawns, and all landscape features.  Get used to 
fish fertilizer, applied at times and dates so as to not interfere with 
visitor traffic.  Practice Organic management throughout your entire 
operation.  Use it as a marketing and interpretation feature.   Don't keep 
it a secret.
6) Documentation is crucial, right from the beginning.
7) Right from the beginning, documentation is crucial.  Got it?
8) Anyone wishing to work with your trees should prove their competence 
first.  Check references.
9) Plan for succession of staff and management.  Continuity is crucial.
10) Leave records of practices, annual work calendar, and daily Gardener's 
Journal.
11) Analyse and Evaluate.  Document and leave written plans for the next 
season.
12) Lawn mowers and weed eaters can be disastrous to bark and branches.  A 
tree can die from infection if a branch is broken by a careless lawn mower. 
Maintain at least a foot of bare soil around the trunk of each tree or bush 
to prevent lawn mowers from touching the bark.  Mulch that area to keep 
grass from growing there.
13) Ban weed-eaters from your historic site.  They can do unnecessary and 
stupid damage to buildings, fence posts, signs, machinery artefacts, trees 
and bushes.  Damage to tree bark can kill the tree - - - fast.  Do the work 
the historic way and/or let some weeds grow around the edges if necessary.
14) No matter how much you care about the orchard, then next person in 
charge may not.   Be prepared to let it go if you do not own it.   Say a 
prayer when you leave.

Happy to share experiences, resources and recommendations in more detail.

Cuyler Page
Heritage Interpretation Services
Victoria, BC
(250) 386-8588
cuyler@telus.net



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <bcma-l-admin@museumsassn.bc.ca>
To: "BCMA-L" <bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca>
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 11:35 AM
Subject: [Bcma-l] Heritage Orchards


> Is there anyone out there in museum/historic site land who has knowledge 
> of and deals with the care, maintenance, interpretation and programming 
> related to a heritage orchard? How do you do it? What resources do you 
> have or know of?  Do you work with volunteers, local, community experts, 
> contractors, food banks or others?
>
> The Historic Stewart Farm has an orchard with 28 varieties of heritage 
> apple, pear and plum trees.  Our greatest challenge is maintaining the 
> health of the trees and surrounding landscape with limited resources. I'm 
> looking to hear how others have may have approached maintaining the health 
> of the trees through proper pruning practises, grafting, dealing with 
> pests, disease, etc.  The apple harvest in the fall is the largest 
> programming component leading up to our annual Apple Day event that brings 
> in close to 200 people. The apples are used for sampling, cooking, making 
> cider, and drying.
>
> Any information that can be shared is greatly appreciated.  Thank you.
>
> Lana Panko, Curator
> Historic Stewart Farm, Elgin Heritage Park
> 13723 Crescent Rd.
> Surrey, BC,  V4P 1J4
> phone:  (604) 591-4797
> fax:      (604) 591-4789
> e-mail:  lmpanko@surrey.ca
>
>
>
>
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