fruit tree bloom times--tell us about yours!

[mskrieger]

Hello there fruit+nutty friends,

Looks like bloom in my yard is a touch late (or perhaps I ought to say in line with historical norms pre-1990s) this year. Peach trees finishing up, sour cherries just starting, crab apple has pink buds but none yet open. For what it's worth, I find fruit tree bloom always correlates nicely with daffodils around here. Peaches bloom with the daffys, apples bloom when the daffodils are finishing up. Blackberries and raspberries are just unfurling leaves. No harsh frosts the past two weeks, fingers crossed I think it'll be a good year unless we have a frozen May.

How's everyone else's bloom going?

[diane]

plums, cherries, apples and peaches are blooming

There are white petals flying through the air and dusting the ground so it looks almost like it's snowing. However, big purple magnolia petals spoil the illusion.

[steev]

Plums, peaches, nectarines, aamonds, and apricots are mostly past; pears, cherries, apples, and quince are in full bloom; grapes are leafing ASAP; gonna be hammock-time under the arbor PDQ!

[walt]

Apricots are past.  Plums in full bloom or about done, depending on species.  Kansas has 4 species native, and hybrid swarms are common where they overlap.  I seldom see peaches any more so don't know.

Poncirus  are just leafing out.  Maybe they will bloom this year?  I can't tell yet.

[khoomeizhi]

thing is, the different daffodils bloom at different times here. the classic yellow ones are now well past, but the little 'pheasant's eye' ones just opened this past weekend.

plums, peaches, cherries, apples are past. walnuts and oaks starting to come on strong. pawpaws are just starting.

[mskrieger]

interesting, khoomeizhi, I had heard that about daffodils in more temperate climes. Someone in TN (who claims she's in Zone 7a, same as me--boggles my mind, but that just goes to show how imprecise climate zones are) told me that daffodils typically start blooming for her in early February and go until early May. Spring is more compressed here. February is always winter (and usually the worst, snowiest, iciest, 'we're all so over it' part of winter--unless March takes that cake, which happens as often as not). I just planted some mystery daffodils last fall and they turned out to be pheasant's eye. Adorable and fragrant! They bloom just a week or 10 days later than the classic yellows, here.

And glad to hear your tree blooms are here! The trees here are just thinking about it, for the most part. Today was the first day was had that pastel glaze of young green and red leaves over the landscape. Beautiful.

walt, what are poncirus?

[blueadzuki]

Trifoliate orange

[walt]

Poncirus trifoliate orange, or hardy orange.
Genus Poncirus is a close relative of genus Citrus.  They cross readily, and their hybrids have fertile pollen.  Unlike citrus, they are hardy to zone 5 and beyond.  But except for a couple of mutations, they taste really bad.
I started a thread on breeding hardy citrus in the plant breeding section here.  But mostly I post about it on tropicalfruitforum.com  There are at least 4 other people there working on hardy citrus.

[steev]

If any taste good, what are they? Actually, the way things are going, I'm starting to think citrus would do fine OTF.

[walt]

The trigoliate orange mutants that taste "really bad" are still very sour.  The juice needs water and sugar to make it drinable.
But an amature breeder, Dr. John Brown, MD., had a couple of mandarin hybrids that were 3/16 to 1/8 trifoliate orange which were said to be pretty good.  They grew to maturity in Dallas, TX as well as other places.  But a worse than usual winter killed those in Dallas.  Dr. Brown's selections seem to be extinct now.

I don't know why the different font today.

[philagardener]

Thought this was a great article on Japanese citrus varieties others might enjoy - www.oishisojapan.com/home/2017/11/22/citrus-japanese-fruit-kankitsukei

[mskrieger]

Thanks for that, philagardener. Tokyo has a similar climate to Washington, DC. Many of us might be able to grow Tokyo-hardy citrus varieties.

[steev]

Apropos that; I've been mulling citrus OTF and noticed that Costco has a selection of 5 gal trees at <$20; think I'll take a chance; I want at least a Meyer lemon and navel orange; a blood orange would be nice, also a pomelo, if they have any.