There is something satisfying about seeing fruit trees neatly trained against a wall in a historic garden. Refined into an art form by the French in the 17th century and perfected in the King’s Vegetable Garden at Versailles, perhaps the apotheosis of walled fruit-tree growing was the network of walls built in Montreuil, near Paris, for growing peaches.
With its gnarled branches and pleasing symmetry, wall-trained fruit has an obvious aesthetic appeal, But there are other benefits too. Walls provide a protective microclimate that’s perfect for growing fruit. The restricted forms take up less space, which is particularly useful in smaller gardens. The fruits are easier to reach and the well-spaced branches reduce the chance of fungal diseases.
The walls of Henry VIII’s Tiltyard (jousting area) at Hampton Court defined the edges (a rather grand illustrated fruit identification guide for estate owners). The kitchen garden and its fruit had completely disappeared by the 1920s, but Hampton Court’s gardens’ team recreated one section in 2014 that provided the perfect opportunity to grow wall-trained fruit trees again.
