What is grafting or budding?
Grafting is any method which surgically connects a part of one plant to a part of another plant; the two then grow together to become a single plant. The top part, which will produce the branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit, is known as the scion (pronounced sigh-on). The lower portion, which produces the root system and the very bottom part of the trunk, is known as the rootstock, understock, or simply stock. The scar where the two are joined, and which may remain visible throughout the life of the tree, is the graft union, bud union, or simply union. Budding is simply a method of grafting in which the original scion had a single axillary bud eye on it (as opposed to a bigger scion with more bud eyes). An axillary bud, known to budders as an eye, is the tiny green bump just above the point of attachment of a leaf, on the stem.
