By Dan Tortorice
Friends of Lake View Hill Park
There is possibly no more beautiful sign of spring in Wisconsin than the sight of blossoming fruit trees. In the coming years, we will be viewing a nice patch of blossoms from several kinds of fruit varieties at the bottom of the hill in Lake View Hill Park. They can be viewed from vehicles on Northport Drive.
Dane County, along with the Early College STEM Academy of Madison College, planted an orchard of 37 fruit trees last fall. The trees blossomed in May and some will even produce fruit this year. The apples and pears may bear some fruit with all others to bear in three‒five years.
According to Forester Specialist Adam Alves, the fruit species include apples, hardy peach, moongold and sungold apricots along with fruiting pears. All the trees are dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties. The county moved the trees from its gravel bed nursery, where it cares for donated or purchased bare-root trees. This method results in a substantial cost saving.
Our little orchard will benefit pollinators and other wildlife. It will also provide a nice snack to any hungry hikers who might pass by on a late summer afternoon. There are five such orchards planted in county parks, with a sixth coming this fall. In all, the county has planted about one thousand fruit trees on its properties.
The county encourages foraging on its 12,000 acres of parkland. Their website has a separate section to aid foragers with a link that can help foragers find a particular item. For example, you can select “apples” and get directions to the location of trees in a park near you. Foraging is for personal use only and people are encouraged to leave some for others and for wildlife as well. They hope to add an interactive map that can be used by smartphones.
As is so often the case with public parks, this program has a community-building component. STEM education is a curriculum to educate students in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math. The academy at Madison College is in partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District. The pruning and care of the orchard will include students from Operation Fresh Start to help young people learn about careers in horticulture.
Feel free to enjoy our orchard with a bite of fruit on a sunny day or just enjoy those blossoms through your car window.