Blueberry: I confess to largely ignoring Granny Smith, since it doesn’t get enough time to ripen around here. Had not known it can bloom early.
Bardsey is an interesting tree: very light crops from its third leaf until full bloom in its eighth; bloom time heavily pushed around by weather. Last year it bloomed with Hunt Russet - mid-late; this year with Redfield - first in line.
Bardsey can be ripe anywhere from September 10-30, depending on the summer, & can vary from lumpy & russeted by the stem with little color to beautifully formed, pink to brick red.
It is always juicy, lemony & good-sized without being large. Stems typically are very short, so I must thin 'em or they’ll push each other off the branch.
A downside: it’s a codling moth magnet. Bardsey is drought tolerant; displays no disease problems at all in its sixth leaf growing here. It grew upright at first, is beginning to spread with fruit & leaf load.
Hunt has a lovely pink bloom. Since Rosemary Russet is reputed to have showy pink flowers & one is now standing on Geneva 30 in its permanent position (thanks again, Jolene), I should have a comparison of the two blooms in a few more years.
Redfield has the strongest bloom color around here - pink & purple - which fades very little, and is ornamental in my neighbor’s front yard even when no longer flowering, as the foliage is so dark. The richness of Winekist bloom is next: a deep pink fading to lilac.
Don’t get me wrong - I like white apple blossoms, too. Good thing!
