The Tree of 40 Kinds of Fruit

Location: New York, USA

This isn't a Photoshop. This tree is actually an enchanting palette of purples and pinks. It’s called the Tree of 40 Fruit, and it literally grows 40 different kinds of fruit. From peaches to plums, apricots to almonds, nectarines, cherries, you name it. It took 6 years to complete the tree.

Van Aken is a professor from Syracuse University. Having grown up on his family farm he had amassed quite the knowledge base about working with fruit and trees. So far, he's grown 16 Trees of 40 Fruit. Through a process of chip grafting sculptor/contemporary artist Sam Van Akenis was able to graft together various types of fruit trees into a single tree. After buying a run-down orchard in upstate New York, (at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station) which had hundreds of fruit trees, Van Aken began the grafting process on a single tree. 

Sculpted through the process of grafting, the Tree of 40 Fruit blossom in variegated tones of pink, crimson and white in spring, and in summer bear a multitude of fruit. Primarily composed of native and antique varieties the Tree of 40 Fruit are a form of conversation, preserving heirloom stone fruit varieties that are not commercially produced or available.