Fruit Garden Mission: To provide support to the Washington State University (WSU) Northwestern Washington Research & Extension Center (NWREC) Fruit Horticulture Program through field demonstrations, educational activities, handouts, signage, website support and providing examples of recommended fruit varieties and their culture.
Members of the Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation created a six acre Fruit Garden located at 16650 State Route 536, Mount Vernon, Washington, to enable the public to view successful fruit varieties and cultural methods for our Pacific maritime climate.
Fruit Garden Designer: Our garden was designed by landscape architect Kristan Johnson.
Fruit Garden Tour: We have a series of 40 points of interest with signs and website information. You can explore the garden with our online Fruit Garden Tour.
The basic plan features a central oval of grass meadow, enclosed by a surrounding pathway bordered on either side by a lane of fruit trees. The inner-oval planting consists of 28 heirloom or “old-time” apples such as Esopus Spitzenberg, Yellow Newtown and others that were well known in early settlement orchards. The outer-oval trees consist of various varieties of fruit recommended for our area, starting with apples to the North and peaches to the South, with pears, Asian pears, plums and cherries in between.
Nut, apple and stone-fruit trees are located along the West and South fences. Twelve individual plots show various varieties of fruit and cultural techniques. There are arbors with grapes and kiwis, and other areas include unusual fruits, rootstock comparisons, pruning methods, and extensive espalier designs.
Mature fruit trees from WSU Research plots were added as they became available. Pruning, grafting and tree-training techniques are demonstrated at the annual Winter Field Day each March and during events in the summer (check our opening page in early June for information on summer events).
Links:
Fruit Garden list of specific cultivars
The Fruit Garden Tour map below shows the location of various types of fruit and cultural demonstrations to be found in the Fruit Garden.
