We are thinking about the same thing! We want to espalier a dwarf stock 5-in-1 or 3-in-1 apple tree on the east side of our garage.

Have you checked w/ the folks at The Tree Farm on Hwy 52 west of I-25. Their people are very knowledgeable. And it is nice drive out of the city.

Have you checked w/ the Denver Botanic Gardens?

Here is a link that might be useful: The Tree Farm

Hi there Irisgirl! Fantastic! We can compare notes as we go for it. I havne't checked out the Tree Farm but definately will! Thanks for the recomendation. From everything I've read apple would be the easiest for an Espalier first attempt. And the locale I'm looking at should be well suited.

I'm thinking of working with some copper tubing for the frame. I'll have to experiment with the guage.

When are you looking to begin? I was thinking of starting in September.

I haven't done it but I have a friend that has a fabulous 20 ft espalier apple tree here in Colorado Springs. It is on an east facing wall. And she gets fruit every year.

Good luck.

Hey Nancy -

Thanks for the encouragement! Do you know what kind of fruit tree that they have down in the Springs? It sounds amazing!

I have similar interests, and finally got my plan in gear this year. I ordered 1-year 'whips' from Henry Leuthardts Nursery in New York, by mail order. Tried a variety of fruit trees after adjusting order to deal with fact that some trees are self-pollinating, others need a 'buddy' to cross-pollinate. The Leuthardt folks are reasonably priced ($11/tree for whips, as I recall) and good at answering questions.

Been 17 years (!)... did anyone espalier a fruit tree here, and if so, how is the tree doing?

We have a pear that's about 8 years old. It's against an East-facing wall. It came as a 3-in-1 but only the Bartlett has ever given fruit (the other two were D'Anjou and Flemish Beauty). So we've had the added challenge of trying to re-train the Bartlett branch over to the areas where we initially trained the others!

I'm hoping to install an apple, but we have limited space and I don't want two so need a self-fertile one...given our experience with the pear I'm not too hot on a multi-grafted plant.

Depending on where you live, there are a lot of apples in Colorado. Many crab apples can also serve as an apple pollinator, so may be worth looking around your neighbor's yeards.