<p>panoramic image of open orchard of fruit trees including apple, pomegranate, peach, etc.</p>
<p>The mission complex included a walled garden and orchard, in which you are now standing. The treelines in front of you and to your right grow along the stone foundations of two of the adobe walls which originally surrounded and protected this area. Within this 4.6 acre enclosure, the community grew vegetables and fruit trees. Since there are few fruit trees native to this area, the orchard would have contained favorite trees brought to the mission from Europe such as peach, pomegranate, quince, and fig. As recently as 1938, peach trees lined the mission acequia, stabilizing its banks and making use of moisture which seeped through its mud walls.
The fruit trees that you see growing here today were started from seeds and cuttings of old cultivar fruit trees—the oldest trees that could be found in historic orchards and yards throughout southern Arizona. This replanted orchard was dedicated in 2007.</p>
<ul><li>Keywords: orchard; mission; fruit trees; heritage; crops; agriculture; tumacacori; tumacácori</li></ul>
NPS Photo
Taken on 4 April 2020
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