Grafting is a common practice with many trees and is especially important to the apple growing industry, but what is grafting? It is what happens when tissues from one plant are joined with the tissues of another so that they grow together. Usually, one plant is selected for its roots and the other for its stems, leaves, flowers, or fruits. Grafting is done for a number of reasons, including speeding up the growing process, creating hybrid plants and trees, repairing damage, and strengthening the hardiness, sturdiness, or pest and disease resistance of a tree. Sometimes several different trees will be grafted onto a single tree to create what is called a “family tree.” For example, a single backyard apple tree could have several different varieties of apple blooming on it by using this method of grafting. For more information on grafting, click here, and to see a step-by-step guide of how it is done, click here!