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At last the spring blossom is here. Our apple trees (top) have begun to flower this week. They’re much later than last year. There has been less sunshine than usual, and more rainy days, so it’s not much wonder that the buds on the fruit trees haven’t been keen to open.
(In case you think I’m unhappy about the wet weather, I can assure you that I’m not. That’s because the extra rain will be a blessing if temperatures begin to rise the way they did last year. Excess heat and drought may become a problem here.)
It was still rather grey and breezy when I remembered to photograph the blossom on our very young pear tree. (It had it’s first fruit last year.) I was a bit worried that the blossom might get blown away if the winds persisted, but things calmed down and the blossom survived (photo below). It’s too early to expect more than one or two pears this year, but it was good to be at least able to enjoy the blossom.
Some stronger sun in recent days has now also brought the Morello cherry (bottom photo) into flower and I was even lucky enough to have a bright blue sky for a background. Whether I’ll be able to pick many of the eventual cherries before the blackbirds descend on them is another matter. I do hope they leave me some!
The flowering cherry in our front garden (‘Kanzan’ – a very pretty pink) is flowering surprisingly well this year, given that it has looked sickly for a couple of years. Eventually it may give up the ghost, so I really ought to go and pick a few twigs of flowers so that I can photograph them indoors. (They’re too difficult to get close to otherwise.) And then there’s the lovely deep pink crab apple out on the green in front of us. It is loaded with blossom this year. I think I need to go and get my camera…
Ann Mackay: Inspired by Nature 