Gordon started in the craft of horticulture as a young teen, working in urban gardens in and around Glasgow under the direction if his father, a professional horticulturist. He attended the two year program at Threave School of Gardening in southwest Scotland where plant propagation, arboriculture and alpine plants soon became huge sources of interest. This led to a further three years at Pershore College of Horticulture in the Nursery Stock production program.

Still with an interest in plants and propagation, Gordon has always been drawn to the world of arboriculture and he feels fortunate to be able to fulfill this ambition; the majority of his work in now in pruning fruit trees. Now living on Vancouver Island, he also teaches at the Pacific Horticulture College in Victoria. Gordon is an avid beekeeper and self-confessed collector/hoarder of dwarf conifers and alpines.

Gordon’s presentation included:

• Winter versus summer pruning

• Why we winter prune: apples and pears are our focus

• The cuts explained: tip prune, reduction cut, spur prune and removal cut

• Introduction to Compartmentalization of decay trees (CODIT)

• Tree forms eg. tall spindle, espalier, step over etc.

• How much should we prune and when do we know when to stop?•

Gordon showed lots of images of poor pruning versus good pruning, how to avoid the pitfalls of poor pruning and some myth busting mixed in. He covered an intro. to the CODIT system which is important to mention with regards to fruit trees, and also mentioned Alex Shigo and his work on this tree decay model.

He also discussed a few of the main pest and disease problems on fruit trees on the coast, along with mentioning the various rootstocks used which will determine the mature size of your apple or pear tree.