There seems to be slightly different definitions of showy vs. non showy. This is probably responsible for some of the confusion in bloom descriptions of various cultivars.
Most of the blooms are fairly straightforward on being either showy or non showy. That is, a typical non showy bloom will have smaller redder petals which don’t lay flat. Or a typical showy bloom will have large pinkish petals which lay flat.
I may have made a mistake on correctly identifying the blooms on busch83’s Reliance peach above because it’s not a close up photo. It’s hard to see from the pic, but it looks to me the the petals are big and pink (i.e. showy), which wouldn’t match Reliance.
I disagree with part of the Virginia Tech bulletin. Namely, I think it goes a bit far to say most commercial varieties have showy blooms. That may be true for some southern commercial growers, and perhaps CA varieties, but in the northern part of the nation (i.e. MI, NJ, etc.) it’s probably a pretty even split of showy vs. non showy, with perhaps a little more non showy.
For me, the non showy blooms tend to be more productive trees than showy ones.
I may have mixed up the Reliance and Majestic. I have the tree tagged but was labeling off of memory. One certainly is less “showy” than the others. The blooms have a less stunning color with stubby, more conical, flowers.
Wild plum, transplanted a couple years ago. The tree was buzzing with activity, although not a lot of honey bees, mostly bumblebees and smaller insects. The tree is quite fragrant, no wonder it’s attracting pollinators.
There seems to be enough interest in types of peach blossoms, I thought I’d try to take some close ups this evening.
I think I’ve sorted out all mislabels sent me over the years, so the pics should be pretty accurate. Everything bloomed out here real quick with the very quick warmup.
Your trees are at least a week ahead of mine. We have several cold, cloudy and rainy days. Even my daffodil blooms have not yet opened due to lack of sun.
I love these showy peach blossoms, just beautiful. Next time when I want to add more peach/nect variety I will select those have showy blossoms first. Thanks for sharing.
Looks like some very nice trees and orchard. It would be fun to taste test all those. Your limbs look nice and strong from proper pruning. Do they still need to be braced when the fruit gets heavy, or do you thin enough not to?
