Orchard History
Origins
In 2013, when Jean Bahnuk, an 80-year park neighbour died, the community gathered in her memory. A purple beech tree was planted and neighbours suggested planting fruit trees in what had once been an orchard. In 2014, neighbours of Clark Park started planting.
In 2016 a website was created for the project to post information on the orchard, the history of the park and the stories of the people who use it.
Fruit-bearing trees and bushes are tended by the community and provide fruit for any who use the park. Plantings are along 14th Ave. between the upper tennis courts and the Woodland Avenue cul-de-sac. In 2016, planter boxes were built.
During the COVID years the project expanded through a Neighbourhood Matching Fund to create signs in the park describing the trees that grow here and the park’s rich history. These were installed in May 2022.
Annual Events
An annual June orchard party has taken place since 2014 when the first trees were planted. Events have included tree care, games for children, story collecting, sign painting, seedling planting, mason bee home building, music and a potluck dinner.
Each October, neighbours gather for an cider pressing event developed and organized by the community.
Pruning workshops, weeding and planting events happen regularly during the year.
What’s growing
Four apple Trees (Honey Crisp, Copeland and Fuji), two figs, hazelnut and plumcot, saskatoon berries, blueberries, raspberries, currants, strawberries and gooseberries. Flowering plants which bloom throughout the season provide support for pollinators.
Honey Crisp Apple
Developed in the 1960s in Minnesota. Medium-to-large apple with red-orange blush over a yellow-green background ripens in September and October. Honeycrisp offer a juice-laden bite unlike any other apple. (M9 dwarf rootstock). There are two Honey Crisp apples in the orchard.
Cortland Apple
Cortland is a cultivar of apple, that was raised at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York, United States in 1898. The apple was named after nearby Cortland County, New York. It is among the fifteen most popular in the United States.
Hazelnut
Planted June 2016. Donated from Strathcona Gardens.
Violette de Bordeaux – Widely regarded—and beloved—as the finest tasting fig, ‘Violette de Bordeaux’ produces a small abundance of small to medium size purple-black fruit with a very deep red strawberry pulp and out of this world , sweet, rich flavor. Hardy 6-10’ self-fruiting plants produce a harvest of fruit that can be enjoyed fresh or dried. Plants will thrive in extremes of heat, humidity, and drought; very good resistance to pests and disease.