Where possibilities take root

John Gabriele doesn't mind a bit of graft and production.

- John Gabriele

Grafted plants are becoming increasingly popular in horticultural circles for a multitude of reasons, and that popularity is also gaining traction in the landscape industry. More and more grafted plants are being produced by wholesale nurseries, and the drivers behind this are as diverse as the plants themselves. Grafted plants offer landscape designers access to a range of plants with highly regarded aesthetic and functional qualities that would otherwise be out of reach and difficult to cultivate under a variety of conditions.

Botanically speaking, grafting involves the joining of the meristematic tissue (cambium) of two separate plants in a way that allows them to grow together and function as a single plant. Grafting typically involves a scion (the upper part of the graft) and a rootstock (the lower part onto which the scion is Grafting is restricted to dicotyledonous plants where the vascular tissue forms a ring, as opposed to monocotyledonous plants, such as grasses and orchids, that have scattered vascular bundles.

Enough of the science. Let's turn our attention to history.

A long-stablished practice

Grafting has been practiced for thousands of years by ancient civilisations from across the globe. Early records date back to China, where grafting was practiced as far back as 2000 years BCE (Before Common Era) to propagate fruit trees.

The Romans and Greeks also used grafting to produce olives, almonds, grapes and figs. In the period 23AD-79AD the first record of a multi graft was made by the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, reporting a grafted tree producing both apples and nuts.