--- title: Tree of 40 Fruit by Sam Van Aken description: This tree can grow 40 different kinds of fruit canonical: https://time.com/3086552/tree-of-40-fruit-sam-van-aken/ author: Anita Hamilton article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-06T18:28:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:30.984Z og:title: Tree of 40 Fruit by Sam Van Aken og:description: This tree can grow 40 different kinds of fruit og:url: https://time.com/3086552/tree-of-40-fruit-sam-van-aken/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte04413a3fa678e96/69869e9655a85902ada82120/tree-of-40-fruit.jpg?branch=production&width=540&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 540 og:image:height: 304 og:image:alt: Tree of 40 Fruit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tree of 40 Fruit by Sam Van Aken twitter:description: This tree can grow 40 different kinds of fruit twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte04413a3fa678e96/69869e9655a85902ada82120/tree-of-40-fruit.jpg?branch=production&width=540&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Magical Tree Grows 40 Different Types of Fruit > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Anita Hamilton](https://time.com/author/anita-hamilton/) ## Anita Hamilton Aug 6, 2014 6:28 PM UTC  Sam Van Aken, Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Art by [Anita Hamilton](https://time.com/author/anita-hamilton/) ## Anita Hamilton Aug 6, 2014 6:28 PM UTC Add this to your truth-is-stranger-than-fiction file: an art professor in upstate New York is modifying plum trees so that each can bear not just one, but up to 40 varieties of stone fruit. In what feels like the backdrop for a children’s tale — move over _James and the Giant Peach;_ this is the real _Giving Tree_ _—_ Sam Van Aken of Syracuse University has developed a years-long technique that involves grafting buds from various antique, heirloom and native fruit trees onto the branches of a base tree to create one-of-a-kind hybrids. As he explained in a recent [TEDx Manhattan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9EuJ9QlikY#t=300) talk, “I take a sliver off one of the trees that includes the bud, I insert it into a like-size incision in the working tree, tape it, let it sit and heal in all winter, then I prune it back and hope that it grows.” The result: a single tree that bears 40 varieties of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines and cherries.  Sam Van Aken “It started as an art project. I wanted people to have this experience where a tree is blossoming in all these different colors or growing all these different kinds of fruit all at once,” Van Aken told TIME. As he began researching the various stone fruits available, however, he learned that there were literally hundreds that aren’t in stores because of their size, color or short shelf life. That led to the project evolving into a conservation effort for hard-to-find varieties. Among his favorite: Greengage plums, which came to the U.S. from France and look like Granny Smith apples. Van Aken plans to use proceeds from the trees, which he sells for around $30,000 each, to create an orchard that will serve as an archive of native an antique stone varieties. He’s also growing a small grove of the trees in Portland, Maine, where the trees — and their abundant harvests — will be available to the public. Since it takes nine years to graft branches from 40 different fruit trees onto each base tree, chances are Van Aken’s creations won’t end world hunger. 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