Some Nice Flowers. 5.5.17

Laburnum.  5.5.19

White Lilac.  5.5.19

Tree Peony.  5.5.19

Bloomerang Korean Lilac.  5.5.19

Thinning Apples and Pears. 5.5.19

Gravenstein Cluster After Thinning.  5.5.19

Gravenstein Apple Cluster Before Thinning.  5.5.19

Maxie Pear Cluster Before Thinning.  5.5.19

 Today I started thinning the earliest of the fruits to look like they set.  In this case, some of the Gravenstein apples and Maxie Asian Pears.  It looks like the Gravensteins set heavily so itwill take some time to thin them.

It's a little early but by the time I work my way through all of the clusters, it might be a little late.

Maxie Pear Cluster After Thinning.  5.5.19

Nadia Plum X Cherry Hybrid. 5.1.19

Developing Nadia Plum Cherry Hybrid Fruits.  5.1.19

Developing Nadia Fruits.  5.1.19

Fruits continue to develop on the Nadia Plum X Cherry hybrid tree.  I counted roughly two dozen fruits, then stopped.  I meant to graft potential pollinators onto the tree but forgot.  I can do that next year.

These fruits are up very high.  That's good for deer avoidance, more difficult for me.  I may need to prune the highest branches.

This is the first time that fruits have developed on this tree.  I'm interesting to see how they do.  Since the number of fruits is small, and the tree is well established, I think they will be large for that variety.

Sarracenias Waking Up. 5.1.19

Sarracenia "Extreme Green" flower bud.  5.1.19

Sarracenia "Tarnok" flower bud.  5.1.19

The two American hardy pitcher plants with flower buds, are gradually starting to grow.  It's warm enough now that I replenish the water basins daily.

This will be the first time I see them develop flowers in my own yard.

I think all of the others survived the winter.  Some are awakening faster than others.

Plant source - carnivorousplants.com

Pollinating Pawpaw Flowers. 5.1.19

Pawpaw Flowers.  5.1.19

Sunflower Pawpaw Tree in Bloom.  5.1.19

 Of my pawpaw trees, only NC-1 and Sunflower look ready to bear a crop of fruit this year, which they also did last year.  They are in early bloom, which stretches out for a week or two.

This time I noticed, the flowers don't open all the way when they are receptive to pollen.  It's difficult to get a pollen loaded paint brush into them.  When the pollen ripens, and the stigma is no longer receptive, then they are easier to access.

I will get a smaller paint brush for flowers today.

These trees are small enough that I have to get onto my knees to pollinate the lower flowers.  Maybe my neighbors, driving past, think "he's praying to those trees!". 

NC-1 Pawpaw Tree in Bloom.  5.1.19