Friday, March 9

Apricot flowers and an unwanted visitor returned

On Wednesday the birds and I were celebrating the fact that the snow had gone. Then on Thursday morning we woke up to this scene.

Neither the birds nor I were very happy.
Snow or not outside, inside our greenhouse the apricot tree - Flavourcot - was in full flower.
I'd already pollinated some of the early flowers and, snow or no snow, I wasn't going to miss my chance to pollinate the latest flowers to open. Fortunately the snow was melting quickly and after lunch much of the snow had disappeared so, soft paint brush in hand, I headed to the greenhouse to play bee. I think my paintbrush was the only bee likely to venture out.
The pollen was ripe and adhered to the paintbrush so the open flowers were just right for pollination. Not all the flower buds were open so I'll have to repeat the process when the rest of the buds open.

By later in the afternoon, the birds, flowers and I were happy that the snow had just about disappeared.


Message to snow - please don't come back.


18 comments:

  1. Oh, dear! I hope we don't get any more down here, we still haven't got properly stocked shops yet, and many are still without water. I am travelling to and from hospital daily, visiting, and don't want that to be hampered by yet more snow!

    I love how your palm looks like some sort of exotic bird with it's feathery covering of snow!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I notice the shelves of our shops had gaps, Deborah although my optician was telling me that he was getting things using next day delivery with no problems. Maybe some of the problem wea panic buying.

      Delete
  2. The apricot blossoms are a lovely reminder that spring will still come.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, lovely to see apricot blossom. We wrapped ours in fleece for the snow, and haven’t unwrapped it yet. Fingers crossed!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ali, I guess ours woukldn’t be in full flower if it was outside. Good luck with yours. Last year we only had a handful of fruit but it did well the previous year so it looks like it is a sort if biennial cropper.

      Delete
  4. More snow!? Spring can't come soon enough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It can’t Michelle. I’m hoping that was just the snow saying a final farewell.

      Delete
  5. Awesome update Sue thank you for sharing have a blessed week and Martyn

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow - what a glorious sight that apricot tree must be, especially with the background of snow. Yes, I'm jealous!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No snow now thankfully, Margaret

      Delete
    2. Just realised that I think the snow that you referred to in the background was the fleece covering the seed potatoes.

      Delete
  7. Woah, this is the Springy-ist lot of photos I've seen in ages! Yes for apricot flowers, flowering bulbs and blue sky!☺

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If only we had springy temperatures, Carrie

      Delete
  8. The snow on Thursday was quite a surprise, but it soon cleared over here

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well, I hope all your efforts with the paintbrush will be amply rewarded! We didn't get a second dose of snow here, thankfully.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment - it is great to hear from you and know that there are people out there actually reading what I write! Come back soon.
(By the way any comments just to promote a commercial site, or any comments not directly linked to the theme of my blog, will be deleted)
I am getting quite a lot of spam. It is not published and is just deleted. I have stopped sifting through it and just delete any that ends up in my spam folder in one go so I am sorry if one of your messages is deleted accidentally.
Comments to posts over five days old are all moderated.