Those figs are all a few years old now. Some of which are finally producing fruit so I can get a taste this year and decide if they should be replaced with something else, or kept.
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It is hard to imagine those picked pluots needing that much longer to ripen. The Geo-pride I cut up and ate was very good, no tartness at all. The Emerald Drop basically fell off the tree without any pressure at all. Two more were actually on the ground and super soft, almost too soft.
The vast majority that are on the tree do need a lot of time to ripen but it looks like there will be a handful that ripen every week and will be ready to eat until the majority catch up.
I ate a Lapins sweet cherry. It was fully red, hidden up under some leaves. Probably could have used a few more days, but still tasted excellent. The robins are attacking them…netting coming out shortly.
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Of course, we don’t. At least not if we live in the central part of the state. 
Your area is where we head to cool off. 
That’s only half a joke. I’m more likely to head to northern Florida or Virginia to cool down in the summer, or even the coast or upstate here. If I go all the way up to NoVa, I wind up needing to take a sweat shirt and long pants for June and July evenings. Plus, those places tend to get rain. (If I really had my druthers, I’d live in the mountains of Puerto Rico from July through Sept. for relief, and Dec. through Feb. to escape the cold snaps, but that’s not going to happen.)
Mine are planted on the northwest side of the house where they get more shade, but have some extra adverse conditions. The soil there is crummy, unamended, and doesn’t hold moisture, and it’s an area that I don’t give additional water unless the azaleas are in danger. The hostas have stayed alive for years, and they multiply, but they don’t grow large and lush. They just survive. Whereas, the ginger I planted on the other side of the walkway, which I’m supposed to be in too low of a zone for it to do well, just keeps getting thicker and hardier as the years go by. I’ve never tried planting hosta anywhere except that shadier area near the house. Maybe I should give them a go in an area with better soil some day. Perhaps under the crinum where they could get some protection.
It occurred to me after I smarted off that mine are thriving really only in my boggy areas with shade during the peak sun, which may not be a very fair comparison, and they are in the drainoff path from the garden so they ought to get all the fertilizer they can handle.
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Interesting creature in the plum tree (my son’s arm/not mine)…ichneumon wasp
Interesting to see because the rose chafer beetles are out thick…probably what it was after.
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You need some first aid cream and a band aid.
That sounds like some of my tomatoes!
Those trees look very nice! Your going to be in peach heaven.
I guess they don’t sting or something…i wasn’t risking it.
I bought some either Zee Fire or Honey Lite (both boxes were there) at Sam’s Club. Very good nectarines. 4lb bags for $6…found some that were semi soft…excellent flavor, sweet, juicy… I need to order a brix meter.
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Kevin,
Perchance were any of the roots near the surface exposed. You might have sprayed them inadvertantly and maybe not for the first time.
In my orchard which is heavily mulched with shredded wood chips, surface roots sometimes get exposed by strong wind ( I have a mini wind tunnel in one area when the wind blows just wrong)
Mike
It’s a fair question, Mike. But I went and looked just to be sure and there are definitely no roots exposed. And the grass is still alive right up against the trunk (you can’t tell that in the photo) which suggests my careful application worked and I didn’t get any on the trunk.
I think there is something going on with the trunk. Its good some deep cracks that don’t show up and I had a limb or two on the bottom of the tree die over the last few weeks and even last fall.
Oh well. We probably will never know. I really appreciate your interest and attempts to help, but if this is the only tree I loose then I can live with that. Its never been as strong or healthy or fast growing as the Methley right beside it which I bought and planted the same day, so it may have just been a weak tree for one reason or another.
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Rabbits keep eating my sunflower seedlings. I’m not happy.
Yes recently someone posted a link to an article about roundup causing damage to trees. I guess cracks from sun scald can allow the product to get in. I myself am going to stop using it around trees.
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I can’t grow sun flowers. the chipmunks dig them up and eat them!
And the squirrels
noticed today that my banana is blooming. Shocked because it is so young. Also, this is the earliest I have ever seen one bloom here. Not a big deal for people in zone 10 but in Alabama (where I live), this is an interesting sight.
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How tall is the banana?
It’s an Alabanana.
Sweet home Alabanana…
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I use to grow bananas, but storing the corms in the basement every winter got old. I’ve heard if you insulate the corm good enough you can get them to survive over winter.
There were several spots across the “frost” pocket of Wisconsin (central WI) that were in the 30Fs this morning. Sparta, WI 38F/// Black River Falls 36F… probably some frost in those areas. We should be low 90Fs and humid by Friday.