Preserving and keeping alive garden espaliering art – intangible heritage linked with nature

In the broader sense, garden espaliering consists in guiding trees on a trellised wall (espalier stricto sensu) or on a self-standing structure (counter-espalier) or in small volume forms. Relying on knowledge and skills that have been developed and accumulated over a multitude of small inventions by gardeners over the centuries, this art was – up to the mid 20th century – the leading method for growing fruit trees. Nevertheless, in the 1960s, professionals adopted approaches that required less manpower, and the art of espaliering became part of garden heritage, its transmission gradually falling into oblivion.
We will demonstrate how a collective group has been developed to draw an inventory, reconnect active professionals, understand the critical role of the very few masters still active in the field, understand the nature of this intangible heritage, and to obtain its integration within France’s cultural heritage, in an aim to initiate preservation and development. What can we do to help this art to re-emerge and develop, as it always has in the past?

Michel Schlosser is the chair of the Amis du Potager du Roi, in Versailles since 2016. In association with the Fédération des Mur à Pêches in Montreuil, the Amis du Potager du Roi launched a collective group to have espaliering art listed on the UNESCO untangible heritage list in 2018. More recently, the association organised the Journées Mondiales de l’art de l’espalier (World days of the art of espalier).
In 2023, the Amis du Potager du Roi – in partnership with the City of Nantes and Plantes & Cité – organised the first international conference on edible fruit-growing landscapes in the city.
With the WKN in the United Kingdom, the association also launched the permanent on-line colloquium for the preservation of historic fruit gardens and vegetable gardens. Prior to 2016, Michel Schlosser worked as a professor in higher education in France, Sweden and the United States. He has also worked as a consultant for major international companies. His fields of expertise include finance, strategy, change and adult pedagogy.