of food, but instead mainly for contemplation by viewers, like most fine art. Espalier Espalier is the art and horticultural practice of training tree branches onto ornamental shapes along a frame for aesthetic and fruit production by grafting, shaping and pruning the branches so that they grow flat, frequently in formal patterns, against a structure such as a wall, fence, or trellis. The practice is commonly used to accelerate and increase production in fruit-bearing trees and also to decorate flat exterior walls while conserving space. Pleaching Pleaching is a technique of weaving the branches of trees into a hedge commonly, deciduous trees are planted in lines, then pleached to form a flat plane on clear stems above the ground level. Branches are woven together and lightly tied. Branches in close contact may grow together, due to a natural phenomenon called inosculation, a natural graft. Pleach also means weaving of thin, whippy stems of trees to form a basketry affect. Topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of shaping live trees, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees and shrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, often geometric or fanciful. The hedge is a simple form of topiary used to create boundaries, walls or screens. Topiary always involves regular shearing and shaping of foliage to maintain the shape. Plantings for the future The Fab Tree Hab Three MIT designers – Mitchell Joachim, Lara Greden and Javier Arbona – created a concept of a living tree house which nourishes its inhabitants and merges with its environment. The project of Fab Tree Hab is expected to take a minimum of five years to grow the home. The plans are for the interior to be lined with clay and plastered to keep the weather outside and to look normal. The exterior is to be all natural. The Patient Gardener A Swedish architectural firm VisionDivision took part in a week-long workshop at the Italian university Politecnico di Milano with the students. The result was an 80-year plan of a living cherry tree dome in an hourglass shape and grown furniture. Framing for the dome, table and a lawn chair were built. Ten Japanese cherry trees were planted in a diameter of eight-meter circle. Four of these trees are to be living staircases to a future top level. The stair trees will have their branches grafted into each other to form the rungs. VisionDivision's architects