There’s nothing like getting 650-700 hours of chill!
All four varieties of mature cherry tree are in bloom this spring. From right to left:
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Royal Rainier (low chill, fruited deliciously two years ago; blooms but no fruit in the wet spring of 2006)
Stella (low chill, has fruited more than once, even in its former home at Carlsbad by the Sea; heavy bloom this year)
Craig’s Crimson (by reputation, one of the best cherries; bloomed last year for first time, but no fruit)
Bing (yes, the famous Bing, listed at 700-800 hours and showing a few blooms for the first time now; is fruit possible?)
A fifth variety, much younger and not shown, is White Gold. It has Stella in its parentage, and like all our varieties other than Bing, is self-fruitful (a feature that is claimed by some growers to favor low-chill fruit set). It is starting to wake up only in the last few days and it’s too early to know if it will bloom, too.
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Update: On 15 April, three flower buds on ‘White Gold’ opened!
And I thought spring was late…
I had been thinking that this year’s spring was late. Apparently not. I was just checking records of last year’s spring via this blog and saw that the cherry trees looked about the same in 2007 as they do right now–about three weeks earlier.
Scion grafted by Fruits and Votes — 28 March 2008 @ 20:27