Hubby has nice legs!
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Heh, heh! Actually - he does. He’s a retired amateur bodybuilder. Just tryin’ to keep up with him (and, it was my leg day today in the gym, so thank you!) 
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Did you really just do that? Did you really post photos of you relaxing IN THE POOL and cooking outside surrounded by lush greenery and 85 degree sunshine while I’ve been out in 37 degree weather trying to protect a single tree from the coming FREEZE and SNOW? You used to be one of my favorite people on this site. Used to be!
(kidding of course…I’d do the same if I could!)
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I did, and I have to say, not ashamed because I lived in N. Indiana for 10 years, and shoveled my fair share of snow, broke the ice on the horse water buckets and troughs, slogged 300’ of hose from the garage to the barn because the (&^%3 barn water pipes froze (again, for the umpteenth time), and drove on skinny, scary, non-plowed county roads to the hospital, only to be told to go back out in my big A* truck (my 350 dually crew cab diesel Ford, the 2nd love of my life), to pick up stranded nurses and get them to the hospital. So, I deserve to make the rest of you all just a wee bit miserable, lol!!! Seriously, you’re all welcome to come out and visit anytime you’re done with that snow stuff. 
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Hoosierquilt,
Lol I’m covered in mud and ice but I’ve got to admit I laughed very hard out loud when I saw that! Hard work deserves a float in the pool and your pears are just as hard to take care of as ours. Enjoy :0)
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The forecast keeps fluctuating but at the moment, we’re supposed to get down to 25 Wednesday night. I have a few plums/pluots that already have fruitlets. Luckily I have a number of trees in pots so they’ll be coming in to the garage. Hopefully for everyone on the east coast, the temps are a little warmer than predicted.
The official Yahoo temp when I got up was 8 degrees here, with subzero windchill. I went for a 2-mile walk to try to get in shape for the garden season, and I about froze my face. I would take 37 degrees!
Brad,
Thanks for the well wish. Right now, WUisays, it is 15F but feel ilke 5 F.
The lowest tonight will be 5 F. If the wind does not die down, it would feel like -10F.
One apricot graft broke off. I dissected the buds. Actually, I did not have to. Dead as a door nail. I really think J. plums, pluots, nects and peaches are all gone since last week’s single digit temp for 3 nights.
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I think stonefruit here in Atlanta are also at risk. My plums/pluots have already formed fruitlets and the peaches are full bloom or post bloom. My Contender Peach hasn’t bloomed yet though and would likely be fine outdoors. East coast growers who don’t have it might want to consider it given these spring temperature swings and the delayed bloom.
I agree that after two years in a row of peach buds got wiped out by fluctuating temp in late winter, I need to look for peach varieties that have delayed blooms. Early blooming has been too risky these days.
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My stone fruit are at about the same stage, forecast Wednesday night is for 25, my place is in a low area and will probably hit 22. I have pretty much written off my plum crop, my Clayton and Challenger peach trees are the only ones not currently in full bloom. I planted new Contender and Intrepid last month and will probably be adding only late bloomers in the future.
@mamuang I’m especially sorry to hear you think you’ve lost most all of your stone fruit. You lost almost everything last year too. I’m extremely upset at the prospect of loosing mine just this one year, so I can’t imagine how frustrated you are.
I’ll go ahead and be the first to say what someone else always does when we loose all our fruit: This will be a good year to let our trees put all their energy into growth, so let’s take this opportunity to size up our small ones, prune/tie/shape them into better, healthier trees for the future, and especially let any new grafts get a very strong start.
@hoosierquilt - OK, sounds like you have earned your life in CA so I’m happy for you. I also must say that even though I knew you were into horses, nothing else I knew about you would have made me think you’d have such love for 350 Dually crew cab diesel Ford!!! You go girl. I definitely saw you as more of a European sedan or at most a nice SUV. But there is certainly no reason a classy lady can’t enjoy a big 'ole Truck. Good for you.
@olpea I have 1 peach tree that has swollen buds but none open. All my other trees have all or most bloom. That unbloomed tree is always the last to bloom and was labeled an Elberta. I’ve had other reasons to suspect it may not be an Elberta. Does its “late” (comparatively speaking) bloom suggest to you that it is or is not an Elberta? Thanks
Hmm,
I don’t grow Elberta, but one of my neighbors does. Although I prune it for him, I haven’t paid nearly as much attention to the blooming as I have my own trees. As I recall the blossoms are showy and bloom about midway. Probably doesn’t help much. Sorry. I don’t think my neighbor’s tree has bloomed yet, but I will make a mental note to pay more attention in the next few days.
I know @mrsg47 grows Elberta. Mrs. G thoughts?
Thank-you. I’m a little surprised that with all the peaches you grow or have grown that elberta isn’t one. I say that because its one of the more common varieties around here. I suspect you may have some reason for not growing it? If so, I’d be interested in hearing it. From what I know it has a reputation as being more hardy than a lot of peaches and produces a heavy crop of good fruit. I’m very happy with my tree-if indeed it is an elberta then perhaps I could actually recommend a peach for YOU to grow! (Me “teaching” you about a good peach is a little like a kid who just learned to use a calculator teaching Bill Gates how to use a computer, but it does seem like a good peach to me!)
Good points Cityman.
Actually one of the main reasons I haven’t grown Elberta myself is that it is pretty susc. to bac. spot. Bac. spot is a pretty big deal to me. With all the wind and dust blowing at the farm, I need peaches fairly tolerant of it.
Elberta is a widely respected peach. My wife’s Grandfather had a high enough opinion of the peach, he once drove to Arkansas to get some trees. My neighbor’s Elberta produces some pretty small peaches, but like many home growers, they don’t manage sod or fruit thinning much.
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I am not that experienced but this year Elberta and Contender were tied for the late bloomers, Reliance was by far first followed by Belle of Georgia, Hale Haven, Desiree, Coralstar, Red Haven.
It was looking OK for us, but now the models are putting 6" of snow on the ground here for Monday. Now we have 6F in the forecast for Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. So long plum blossoms.
Heck, I have some apples at silver tip. Those temperatures are right in the range of 90% kill even for apples.
That was extremely helpful! It also pretty much agrees with my own experience this year. I have everything you named except “Desiree” and mine bloomed in the same order as yours. EXACTLY. Well, my contender bloomed just a little ahead of Elberta. But thanks for that…it makes me think my Elberta is an Elberta, which is good. My blooms are the “showy” ones. yours too? I still hope we eventually get a little bloom/leaf identification page/thread like @mamuang suggested.
BTW, SD, my reliance also bloomed early but that sort of surprised me because I thought it had a reputation of being one of the more hardy peaches. If it blooms early, hard to see how it can be very hardy? Thanks
Hopefully it doesn’t get that cold for you @Chris_in_GA. Fruitnut’s greenhouse looks better and better every crazy spring, although our conditions here would make it almost impossible to grow in year round. I’ve thought about a temporary structure but for now, container trees do well for me and can just be moved to the garage. As my number of trees grows though, I’ll have to come up with a different solution or just take some losses on the earlier blooming varieties.
Hi Cityman. I agree, I was surprised by Reliance. It supposed to be cold hardy and require 1000 chill hours. It blooms a good week to 10 days before the others. Can’t recommend this peach. Cold Hardy in the peach industry has different meanings - the most common one is the ability of the plant to survive extreme cold temperatures. Blooming late and the blooms surviving cold temperatures is not the same. I specifically picked Reliance and Contender because I thought they would be late bloomers - got Reliance wrong. I am going to plant PF24C this year although looking through old posts Olpea (spelling?) did not seem to think highly of it, hopefully I will have a better experience. Thinking about trying Fingerlakes Super Hardy or Intrepid next year. The Elberta is by far the most robust tree I have in 2 to 3 years they are 2 to 3 times bigger than my other trees. I wish I knew the rootstock but they were grown on but they were Walmart $5 clearance specials. Here is a link to a related discussion - Further Evaluation of Winter Damage of Peach Buds .