A is for...

It's 54 weeks since I grafted ten apple scions onto ten rootstocks. Last autumn the five grafted onto dwarfing rootstock all died but the five on standard rootstock seemed to be OK. I gave one of them to the person who taught me how to graft and he has planted it in a public place. I have fretted about the others during frosts but my remaining four are all now producing leaves.

A: Ants also and, assumedly, aphids.