DM (who is a completely lovely man) bought me three trees for Christmas. But given that they are natural things, they couldn’t be hurried so they stayed in the ground, where they’ve been grown from babies, until now.

We’ve been on a trip up-country to go and collect them today. They’ve come from a specialist nursery in Devon, which sells a huge range of fruit and ornamental trees, including many old Cornish and Devonian varieties. Not that what I got for Christmas is particularly local in as much as they were chosen to fit in around the edge of my little orchard.

There is one “proper” fruit tree – a quince. It’s for making real old-fashioned jellies with. There is another one for jelly too – a Rowan. That one has “dual-functionality” because it’s also a great one for the birds and the bees too. I’m thinking I’ll take a couple of buckets of berries for us and leave the rest for my friends the birds.

This one is completely indulgent. It’s a Prunus Serrula (Tibetan Cherry) chosen because of this fabulous bark. It has the added benefit of flowering like a mad thing so hopefully it’ll keep the bees happy too.

I’m testing a theory that growing ornamental versions of my fruit trees will help pollination of the productive trees. I’m not sure of the science of this but I do know it works for some other plant groups so I’m hoping the same is true here. I know that crab apple trees will help pollinate other apples for example.