Plant of the Week: The Apple Tree

Apple tree family suffers under Linnaeus by the name Malus and the marketing of the so named company. Mr. Jobs has singlehandedly improved not millions but billions of lives. Parks in many ways have enhanced lives of almost as many. While Queen Victoria gets little notice for starting what we call conservation, our country suffers somewhat from the lack of recognition as the originator of public parks.

Digital Generation should be aware of both. Knowing has become easier, doing is a bit harder. States and communities are spending tax dollars to “educate” this generation about the outdoors. Unionized education continues its oxymoronic existence in cahoots with public policy operatives to stifle innovation. Education is the best tool for protection of Democracy. Freedom to win and lose is key to life of liberty. Parents and children can experience life, love and reward by planting an Apple tree.

Parks, be they pocket or vast wilderness expanses give the individual the chance to experience a sense of space and awareness. Part of the proud history of the United States continues to be a positive example worldwide. Think of parks as yours not theirs, start at home. Whether at a park in your town or a National Wilderness Reserve, feel at home. To know and understand how plants in parks are an important a rewarding experience can be by planting an Apple Tree.

Spring is the best time to start. Local nurseries, stores, catalogs and online shopping can have a tree at your doorstop in hours or days. As small as a 1-foot tall bareroot plant or a mature specimen brought by truck and planted by crew it can begin an experience that will be your own park. By caring for it, harvesting the fruit, cooking, eating, preserving or all of the above can be a process that will raise you and your family’s awareness of the care and management of parks. How? We take for granted apples in the store and having a park nearby. Parks are special because let us get back in touch with the outdoors, the beauty of Nature and feelings of happiness and opportunity. Active recreation parks can allow people to act on Olympic size dreams, and share personal moments with loved ones. A Parisian park is famous as a place of first kisses and moments of engagement. Central Park in New York started as a reservoir site and is one of the most visited places on earth. Both include places of reflection and the finish point for marathons.

True outdoors education can begin on an Apple and last decades with an Apple tree.

Southwest New England was known for its vast orchards that produced millions of tons of apples for the growing population on New York. The bulk was turned into hard cider through a simple process of fermentation. Today, China produces nearly 60% of the commercially harvested apples. It also is the place where Mr. Jobs' brilliant gadgets are constructed. Can planting an apple tree connect these two seemingly different widely known and appreciated parts of our lives? Yes. Park awareness can be the link. Watch your tree grow, watch it bloom, care for it as it produces tiny fruit and then grow to the point of picking or fall to volunteer for wildlife food.

Get to know your computer product from the base that it starts with and accumulates your thoughts, feelings, times of fun, worry success and failure. Get to know your local park, care for it, from the first time you visit it find some trees or other plantings, courts, trails, beaches, playing fields and watch them through the year. Compare the pieces to your tree. Birds, critters of all shapes and seasons will be there asking to be noticed. Feel certain you are an expert on the subject of your family apple tree. Know the reverence that Mr. Jobs held for his family. Share your thoughts with your loved ones on that machine and in your park. Feel certain that you are your own expert with a connection to Nature not just digital expertise.

Feel aware that parks are yours. You are in charge, if you decide to be, of you and yours. From the physical reality of the place, to the emotional connection of events there parks are special. So are we. Innovation is our highest achievement. Tasting your own apple is a suitable reward. Sharing your fruit with family started with Adam and Eve. While that may have actually been a fig, having your own apple tree is a great gig. A park is only a park when people are in it. The placement, design, protection, conservation is meant for you. Enjoy it without your computer.

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By Peter F. Alexander, Landscape Architect Planner

A traditional practicing professional who designs and accomplishes projects from Perennial Gardens to Regional Planning. Inspired by Norman Newton, Peter Goldmark and Michael Everett he is dedicated to restore Landscape Architecture as the primary effort by mankind to plan for the future. Insisting on inclusion of fun and positive conclusions for all is the base. Copies of the book can be made available by contacting pfalexla@gmail.com a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the By River Parks Foundation.