Wow so beautifull flowers! Thanks to show them, i didn’t know them!
wow that is early, when do blueberries ripen by you? maybe i do need to add this…
My Climax rabbiteye blueberries start ripening late May.
Strawberries started ripening about a week ago… now goumi.. next will be raspberries then mulberries.. then blueberries… then blackberries start around June 15.
does this look like a persimmon flower bud to you? purchased and planted 2 miss kim persimmon trees in late summer of 2023. last year both of my tress sent shoot straight up in the air. it looked very odd. If these are fruit buds, maybe we will get some fruit this season. I’ve heard Asian persimmons have a tendency to drop fruit in the first year or 2. keeping up some hope though that I will finally get to taste a miss kim persimmon.
flowers are falling and fruits are forming on the tilamook goumi.
My temporary scion storage might get to stay. I had been grafting Bastion Orange apple scions and I had 1 left. I remembered that I did the same thing earlier with a Bud 9 scion which was grafted onto a small pear limb. The Bastion Orange leafed out but only grew a few inches for 2 years. Last year 2025 it suddenly started growing about 3’. This year it had several blooms and now it has several apple fruits. The 2nd picture is of Korean Giant pears on a higher up limb.
Bastian Orange apple
Korean Giant
The dwarf twinberry and the muscadine are about to go crazy.
Wurtz Avocado holding onto a half dozen or so fruit. Wouldn’t be surprised if it drops some more or all of them before maturity. It’s still a very small tree.
Dwarf orinoco banana flower.
Black sapote flowers on all branches. If it tries to hold any fruit I will remove them. It is only about a foot and a half tall.
The strawberries are about done for the year but I may get a few more handfuls out of them before they peter out.
Darrow’s blueberry
Scorpion tail flowers are so cool looking.
Yes those are persimmon flower buds. They look kinda scrunched until they are open.
Safflower starting to bloom. Very pretty flower.
Partial tip-bearers and tip-bearers do that. Tip bearers bloom only at the ends of new growth. They are rare and require special handling when pruned. Spokane Beauty is one. Most others that bloom at tips also bloom at spurs, known as partial tip bearers (PTB). Maiden Blush and Twenty Ounce grow here and are both PTB.
This is very cool! Are you just growing it for the blooms or planning to make oil (however one does that)?
Drying the blooms mostly. Its a saffron replacement. I do like safflower oil, but I have no idea how to make cooking oils.
@Bigmike1116 .. yes.. those are persimmon blossoms. Once fully developed yellow blossoms.
That is what they look like now on my JT02 and Nikitas Gift.
TNHunter
Saffron replacement? Since saffron seems to do well around the Mediterranean, it might be worth attempting in Florida. I have grown and enjoyed it for over a decade. It requires a patch dedicated to it to produce best, but that is a small matter in my mind. The fall flowers are lovely and its pollen is spicy, but the styles are what you want. You might want to dry them more carefully than I, since humidity is so low here.
The Mediterranean and Florida are very different climates. It doesn’t like our heavy rains and humidity in the summer. However, I do have a large pot of saffron that grows well, I just have to bring it under my overhang for 7 months out of the year. Hasn’t flower yet, but it had some good growth this year, so hopefully the croms have sized up well. Since saffron has such a short season though, it doesn’t produce alot. Safflower has a longer season, has more blooms per plant, and is grown from seed, so I don’t have to have a dedicated pot for it and can have seeds saved. I also like the thistle look better than the dainty grass look.
Saffron needs a couple years to get to blooming size in my conditions. When I did a proper job of care it yielded nearly 300 styles in October. It pushes leaves both spring and fall, dying back for summer and winter.
I know nothing about safflower; you pose an intriguing idea.