I’ve been trying to grow an apple allée in the back acre. So far, I have six trees, three varieties of apples for cross pollination.

Problem is, the trees aren’t cooperating. One of them keeps falling over.

“You used the wrong soil,” Jim says. And he’s probably right. Instead of plopping the tree into Kansas clay, I mixed in potting soil. The remaining trees are still quite young. It’ll be several years before they grow enough to form the alley, or the path between them.

Just in case you’re wondering, the word allée comes from the French aller, the infinitive meaning ‘to go’.

I’ve been looking for examples of allées, and here is a good one. Driving out of the Rutlader Cemetery–about a mile from our house. I think these are oaks, but honestly, my tree identification skills are not great.

I like to think that someday, my apple allée will look this good.