Bridge grafting is a well-known horticultural technique that has a long history of use in repairing
damaged orchard trees (Hartmann and Kester, 1975; Harris et al., 2004) but it has also been used to
repair damaged ornamental trees of historic, heritage, cultural, landscape and horticulture
significance which warrant the expenditure. The technique uses bark tissue from the same
specimen, a clone, or the same species, which is inserted into the remaining healthy bark of a ringbarked
or girdled tree. The objective of bridge grafting, as the name suggests, is to provide channels
of connection of both xylem and phloem tissue that allow transport basipetally and acropetally once
more (Figure 4). Success relies on healthy cambium producing callus at both ends of the grafted bark
and the rate of success can be influences by species and seasonal factors. Bridge grafting requires
skill and is quite expensive to undertake and so it is usually only contemplated for outstanding and
significant trees. On a large tree, a number of grafts, up to 10 or more may be inserted, and the
aesthetics of the outcome are sometimes questioned by arborists and the general public