Apple Blossom

Blossom Time (1)

Posted on by Ann Mackay

NB: A note for WordPress Reader users – you need to click on the title of the post again to see the full photograph. (Otherwise you see just a tiny section!)

Right now my garden is frothy with the blossom of fruit trees. While perhaps a little plainer than the ornamental cherries and crab apples, they do give a lovely show of graceful flowers. The pink flush on the backs of the petals of the apple blossom pictured here really appeals to me. There’s something about the soft shading of the petals and the deeper pink of the unopened buds that’s particularly pretty in combination with the delicacy of the white.

The blossom in these photographs belongs to our Braeburn apple tree. It’s a small tree but gives a good crop of crisp, tasty apples. (We also have a Cox’s Orange Pippin, which is still very young. I prefer the Braeburn apples.) We aren’t the only ones that like the apples though – any windfalls are a magnet for blackbirds and wood pigeons. It can be quite entertaining to watch them competing for the fallen apples. Luckily for the birds, though, an apple is big enough to satisfy the appetites of several hopefuls.

While they’re in flower, the apple trees are the biggest provider of flowers for any bees or other pollinating insects that are around. So not only do the trees provide us with food and beautiful flowers, they are an important source of pollen and nectar early in the year.

I have other young fruit trees in the garden too. Especially beautiful is the cherry tree – just as much as any of the ornamental varieties – and that’s my next set of flowers to photograph. I’ll show you the results next week! 🙂

Apple Blossom

Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

27 thoughts on “Blossom Time (1)”

  7. Braeburns are one of my favorite apples, so its especially fun to see how they begin! We had apple and cherry trees in our yard when I was growing up, and I still miss them. Of course we have peaches here, and berries, but cherries and apples belong to more northerly climes, and I envy you your blooms as well as the fruit.

    You’re probably too young to remember this classic song from the 1950s, but I still love it. I actually prefer the instrumental version done by Perez Prado, but the lyrics are fun.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The flowers are so light and airy and the mass of them looks so insubstantial… 🙂 I’ve read that Housman poem in the past but had forgotten it – thanks for reminding me!

      Like

  10. The apple blossoms are really beautiful – the pink color is so nice! When I lived in San Diego I had a Lemon, Lime and Crab Apple trees. The birds always beat us to the Lemons and Limes though, but it was fun to have them. You are lucky you can grow fruit trees as it is fun to have them.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. How wonderful to be able to grow lemons and limes outside! We have two little lemon trees in pots in our conservatory but they are suffering badly from scale insects. I have to try to clean them off somehow…very difficult! The apple trees are pretty easy here – thank goodness!

      Liked by 1 person

  11. I love the image of your garden being “frothy with the blossom of fruit trees”. (I see the two Steves have already said something similar, so you’re clearly on to a winner with that turn of phrase 🙂). The photos are pretty good too!

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Blossom time is the best, a cheerful reminder that spring is here, even if the weather seems to think otherwise. Sounds like you will be enjoying lots of apples too, after the blossom is just a memory.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The blossom this year was the best it’s been – partly due to the trees being a little bigger but having lots of war sunshine early on really helped. This little tree does produce a lot of apples for its size. 🙂

      Like

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.