Join Old Frog Pond Farm’s orchardist, Linda Hoffman, at Let’s Talk Apples, an afternoon of orchard information exchange co-hosted by The Ecological Landscape Alliance and Tower Hill Botanic Garden at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA

Topics will include:

The Davenport Collection Through the Years

Mark Richardson sets the stage for the afternoon orchard workshop with a discussion of the heritage collection at Tower Hill Botanic Garden.

Orchard Management Practices

Ben Crouch provides an overview of how to care for your orchard through the summer and how to achieve a successful harvest in the fall.

Adaptive Strategies for Dealing with Fire Blight and Other Orchard Challenges

Bacterial disease of fruit trees begins with an opportunity to enter the vascular system of the tree. The organism causing fire blight, Erwinia amylovora, takes advantage of open blossoms and tender shoot growth when conditions are right. Michael Phillips shares his holistic approach to preventing this devastating disease, an approach which hinges on competitive colonization in all the right places.

Creating a More Resilient Orchard for the Future

Linda Hoffman focuses on ‘outrageous diversity’ to create a healthy orchard ecosystem that will stand the test of time. She introduces two Japanese orchardists who inspired her practices for Old Frog Pond Farm’s orchard. Linda also shares some of the challenges and lessons learned in the orchard.

The afternoon will wrap up with a panel discussion featuring all of our orchard experts who will continue strategy discussions and will take questions from the audience.

For more information visit: https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/summer-workshop-lets-talk-apples/