Man Grows 250 Types Of Apples On 1 Tree

This takes home gardening to the max: Paul Barnett, a horticulturalist in the United Kingdom, has created a tree that grows some 250 varieties of apples, from cooking apples to cider apples to apples for eating.

Barnett told the Daily Mail that he spent 24 years developing the tree in his backyard. The tree, right now at 20 feet tall, has had various branches grafted onto the it. Every winter, Barnett says, he inserts branches of apple trees into the original tree, so various apples can produce off the same tree.

So far, Withington Fillbasket, Eady's Magnum, and more apple varieties grow off the one tree. "I wanted to grow my own trees but I didn't have the area to plant that number so I started a 'family tree' where I can have all the different varieties in a smaller amount of space," Barnett said. "I add to it each year by budding in the summer and grafting in the winter." From the tree, Barnett reportedly gets a few of each variety a year, enough to sample without tiring of the same apple's flavors.