This is the first part of a series on the life expectancy of fruit trees. We start with a story based on a real life incident, an ageing gardener who uproots trees in his orchard.
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I had the opportunity to attend a screenwriting course this autumn, and decided to write a short play about fruit trees, telling the story of a visit to a gardener during an early autumn afternoon. Here it is.
The Old Man’s Trees
Scene 1
EXT. TOWNHOUSE – EARLY AFTERNOON
South-West France. The garden of a comfortable 1970s townhouse in the green suburb of a small city.
Julien (a man in his forties) walks through the garden gate. A train passes to his left. Against the fence that separates the garden from the railway to the North of the house, a fan-trained tree, laden with red nectarines, captures the midday sun.
Julien walks along the paved terrace that surrounds the house. He looks for Daniel. He finds him sleeping in his armchair in the kitchen, facing the garden from the opened door window. He continues towards the corner of the terrace.
As he approaches, a large empty square of dry earth unveils a few steps below in the main orchard. It’s around four-by-four metres wide. He looks surprised. He sits down on the stairs for a while, contemplating the empty space and the trees around it.
He stands up and takes a few pictures, framing the empty square from slightly different angles. Happy with the result, he sits down again and waits in the warm shade. He looks at his watch. 2:10.
The noise of a Formica chair on the kitchen floor behind him. The time has come. He silently walks towards the opened door window and looks inside. The armchair is empty, Daniel has disappeared. Julien turns round the corner of the house and rings the main door bell.
DANIEL (an old man, probably in his eighties)
Hello Julien.
JULIEN
Hi Daniel, how are you?
DANIEL
Fine, thank you, and you? Good to see you again.
JULIEN
Sorry to disturb you Daniel, it’s a bit early.
DANIEL
No, no… No problem! Please come in.
Scene 2
INT. KITCHEN
Julien and Daniel sitting around the kitchen table. A laptop sits on the table. On screen, text and the picture of a peach.
DANIEL
Thank you for this. I have nothing to add, it’s accurate.
JULIEN
Thank you Daniel, such an interesting story.
DANIEL
This is between us, but I haven’t always been a gardener…
Scene 3
INT. KITCHEN
Around the table, twenty minutes later. Daniel and Julien smile at each other. They stand up. Daniel puts his garden shoes on.
EXT. GARDEN
Daniel and Julien go out of the kitchen and walk towards the main orchard. They stop in front of the square of dry earth.
JULIEN
You completely got rid of it.
DANIEL
Yes, a fortnight ago.
JULIEN
Wow, you didn’t wait for long, did you?
DANIEL
Well, when I have decided something…
JULIEN
But you completely got rid of it!
Scene 4
EXT. GARDEN
Next to the square of dry earth, in front of a peach tree. Behind the tree, another empty square of dry earth.
JULIEN
You had the other tree uprooted too.
DANIEL
Yes, and this one will go soon.
Daniel moves around the tree, checking the ripeness of the peaches by delicately turning them in the palm of his hand to see if they easily detach from the stem.
DANIEL
I’m waiting for the peaches to ripen before the tree goes.
Daniel offers one of the dark-red peaches to Julien.
DANIEL
Try this one…
Scene 5
EXT. GARDEN
Next to another peach tree.
DANIEL
I should get sixty to seventy kilos from this one. They look a bit greenish but most of them are fully ripe. Please take as many as you want. My daughter came to pick some already.
JULIEN
Oh, thank you Daniel. It’s very generous of you. Your peaches taste so great!
Julien moves around the tree, trying Daniel’s picking method. He bites into a peach with delight: it is perfectly ripe. He fills a bag with the precious fruit. Four kilos or so.
Scene 6
EXT. GARDEN
Daniel and Julien walk for thirty meters to the south side of the house, towards the end of the orchard. Julien stops in front of another empty square of dry earth. Puzzled, he looks at Daniel.
DANIEL
There were eleven varieties of pears on the tree.
JULIEN
Yes, I remember. How old was it?
DANIEL
Thirty years old.
JULIEN
I am not surprised you got rid of this one, because in August you told me you would do so. But the large peach tree on the other side of the garden… You said you wanted to cut it back to a smaller size. You didn’t say you would remove it completely! What’s up?
Daniel waits for a while before replying.
DANIEL
Disease prone. Too much hassle.
A shorter silence. Daniel points at the large apple tree to their left.
DANIEL
This one will go this winter.
JULIEN
Really?! This beautiful tree on which you grafted – how many? – twenty-one varieties of apples?!
DANIEL
Yes, I can’t go up on a ladder as I used to. It is too much work for me now. I prefer to have smaller trees.
They look at each other. Julien remains silent. He takes a breath.
JULIEN
You could ask for help.
DANIEL
To do what?
JULIEN
To keep this treasured orchard of yours in good condition.
DANIEL
It is in a very good condition.
JULIEN
But… You are uprooting your trees!
DANIEL
I am just downsizing. To make it manageable for me.
JULIEN
We could help you. There are so many of us who would be glad to help you with your trees.
DANIEL
I don’t need any help with my trees. I do manage.
JULIEN
But this orchard is a jewel!
DANIEL
I don’t care what it becomes after me.
JULIEN
We do!
DANIEL
Julien, these trees are not about orcharding.
JULIEN
What do you mean?
DANIEL
They just tell a story, my story. Like all orchards. They are the product of a human story.
Short silence. Julien looks puzzled.
DANIEL
Don’t worry. I have no intention to stop mine now. I plant smaller trees, that’s all.
Short silence.
DANIEL
Julien, what’s your story? What are you up to? Do you have an orchard?
JULIEN
Herm… No, I don’t.
DANIEL
Do you live by the stories of others’, then?
Deep silence. Julien looks shaken.
DANIEL
Sorry Julien. I didn’t mean to hurt you. But think about it. You should plant your own trees.
Scene 7
EXT. GARDEN
Still in the orchard. In the place where the former conversation stopped a minute ago. Julien whispers. Daniel looks at him with compassion.
DANIEL
Did I show you my nashi trees?
JULIEN
Herm… Yes. I took pictures of them in August. Unusual fruit around here. Beautiful.
They walk a few meters towards the two trees. Julien seems to feel better, he speaks with more confidence.
JULIEN
It’s unbelievable how this one recovered from its bark disease just above the rootstock two years ago.
DANIEL
Indeed! This variety tastes better than the other. I still have a few in my cellar. I’ll give you some to compare.
Scene 8
EXT. GARDEN
A quarter of an hour later, at Daniel property’s gate. Julien is about to leave, after an hour at Daniel’s place, a bag full of fruit in each hand. Daniel waves him goodbye from the front door, five meters away, to Julien’s left. Julien turns his head to the right and glances at the apple tree. He can see the various colours of its apples, ten meters away.
JULIEN
Daniel… I need to take a photo of the apple tree before it goes.
A short silence.
JULIEN
And maybe I’ll write another story about you and your garden.
DANIEL
Yes Julien, of course, do as you feel. Bye for now. Take care of yourself.
Daniel turns back and enters his house. Julien looks at him doing so. Then, he glances at the tree again. He gently puts the bags on the ground and walks towards it, turning his camera on…
End
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A square of dry earth, a peach tree and a second square of dry earth behind it. Photo 3 October 2018, France.
The same place two months earlier. Photo 8 August.
Some gardeners play with grafting. Twenty-one varieties of apples grow on this tree. Photo 3 October.
Claude, the gardener who inspired me, in front of his preferred peach tree, next to those he uprooted this summer. In reality, we get on very well. I wouldn’t have such a dramatic conversation with him, and I doubt he would say something as harsh as ‘Do you live by the stories of others, then?’. Photo 8 August.
Nashi tree in Claude’s garden. The nachi pears, native of East Asia, are uncommon in this part of France. Photo 10 September.
Peach trees don’t live for long compared to human beings. They usually need to be replaced after fifteen to twenty years1. Claude told me that in commercial orchards they rarely live more than twelve years. Photo 10 September.
- https://leafnetworkaz.org/resources/LEARN/Tree%20Life%20Span.pdf (accessed 31 December 2018).
Les Jardins d'ici 
I know cultivated varieties are very different to natural ones, but I wonder how long wild fruit trees growing in the few remaining areas of wilderness fruit for, before declining and being replaced by their offspring?
Thank you for your question Paul. Three-hundred-years old wild apples trees which still produce fruit can be found in the Tian Shan region, Kazakhstan (source: Catherine Peix’ 2010 documentary ‘The Origins of the Apple’ https://www.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/4066-the-origins-of-the-apple.html).
In that region, where wild apple trees grow in vast forests, mammals such as bears eat the fruit whole and transport the seeds to other places where the trees’ offspring can grow, when the vegetation density is excessive for it to catch sun and grow close to their parents.
Crab apple trees are said to live up to one-hundred-years old in the UK and Europe (https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/native-trees/crab-apple/).
The life expectancy of a cultivated fruit tree can also far exceed that of a human being, depending on the species and the way the trees are grown. The link at the end of this article is a good introduction to this topic.