Received one of two rootstock orders yesterday, the second should be here in the next couple of weeks. These will supplement the root stocks I already have in the nursery bed. And I was going to cut back on grafting this year and concentrate on getting the nursery bed planted out… 
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good haul! i have a few scions i got from wild growing trees that tasted good. curious how they do for you.
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Did rounds in the yard to see how everything is doing. Everything is fully dormant. Seem late this year.
I started a pomegranate cutting last year. One of the Russian varieties that I bought from Baker Creek. It grew to about a foot last year. I wasn’t in the mood to protect anything last year so I let it fend for itself. This morning I was happy and surprised to notice that it was green down to the very top. It was a very snowy but mild winter. If the pomegranate made it through my Chicago hardy fig and persimmon must’ve made it through too.
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The old pear could be ‘special’… but it could also be a KIEFFER, which is late, edible, but has a lot of grit cells in the middle. (And is very disease resistant). (And probably self fruitful.)
(I’ve ‘rescued’ a pear for an old farmer this year myself and will graft a couple new ones for him when rootstocks arrive. BUT, from looks of the scions, it is a Bartlett. Woop-t-do.)
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The weather is warming in the panhandle
Of Texas. I took a few shots of my bees coming back covered in pollen.
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What c’ha think they’re working on?
(I’m not much up on Texas bee forage.)
Witch hazels?
Wild plums?
Bradford pears are blooming. Daffodils, jonquils, forsythia, and lots of weeds. My pears are close and a few blooms open on my plums. I’m a bit south of him though.
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I am not sure. There isn’t much blooming. Compared to Athens this part of Texas is the moon. I have several plums blooming but that’s about it. Not sure what my neighbors all have in their yards. We are pretty late this year. Thankfully.
Second leaf Fan-Stil pear going off today and noticed many of my grafts taking…happy camper!
Also potted bonanza dwarf starting to show its double blossom action…
Hope you all had a nice day
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The daffodils in my yard have started to bloom. This seems a tad earlier than usual for us. The plums, peaches, and pears have started to swell their flower buds, as I see a bit of green. The pawpaw flower buds look like they started to enlarge somewhat too. Luckily they are not very far along. All of my persimmons and figs are fully dormant with no apparent winter injury. @Susu I’m surprised your trees haven’t started to move given the heatwave last week.
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We have cedar (juniper) and maple pollen…and the daffodils have started. Crocus for past week or more. Bud swell on callery pears, but no blooms…although another week and that might change. I saw the pollen on the bee…and was trying to guess what the bee had been working on. No biggie. I used to have bees and when the oak trees began to bloom would start catching pollen. I learned to tell what the bees were collecting from just by looking at the pollen on them.
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Yes everything seems fully dormant except apricots are starting to show a bit of pink and Lavinia plum is showing a very slight pink. I think it’s the lack of rain. If we got rain maybe things will come out of dormancy faster?
I haven’t been doing much out in the yard. But today I got a yard of mushroom soil delivered. Have to prep the beds for spring veggies soon.
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Hey everyone…happy almost spring…
I was able to get out this weekend and spray. I sprayed dormant oil on the apples and pears, and NuFilm, Sulphur, and Copper on the peaches and plums. I bought a Drippin’ Honey pear tree and planted that. Last year, my neighbor asked if she could have some peach seeds to try and grow her own peach tree. I explained that this was difficult, so surprised her with a Contender peach tree. She was so excited! I think I have an OrangeRed apricot being delivered today, which is a replacement from ACN for the tree that arrived dead last year. My Tomcot which I planted last year has buds on it already… anyone know if I can hand pollinate with peach or plum pollen? The timing may not line up.
Here is a picture of some of my seedlings I’ve started…Keeping busy.
We have kales, cabbages, broccoli, lettuces, beets, spinach, onions, and for the first time, I tried starting flowers… asters, cosmos, poppies, and statices. Will start zinnias and sunflowers next week.
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Jim,
I don’t think plums can pollinate apricots. Even pluots, with apricot genes, do not cross pollinate apricots. Apricot is supposed to be self fertile. However, my young apricot grafts do not set fruit well and, at times, not at all.
I will see how well my Orangered will set fruit this year. I only have Orangered and a small graft of Florilege left.
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Thanks Mamuang,
By the way, the Korean Giant graphs you sent me several years back look like they have buds on them. I actually cut some wood off of them to use on other branches of the Hosui tree… Thanks again!
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I believe you will like the fruit. If you thin them, you can get 1lb pears 
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mamuang,
Orangered is not self fruitful,so hopefully your Florilege can help.
Orangered is a stingy setter. Most other apricots set and fruit profusely here. Of course, not sure if that applies to NE as well. Have you tried other varieties (haven’t heard of Florilege before)?
How about apriums? Do plums or apricots pollinate them?
I had about 10 varietiesuntil last fall when I removed my multi grafted tree. So went my 6-7 varieties of apricots. Only have young Tomcot, a 6 ft Orangered graft and a 2 ft Florilege graft (Scott Smith likes this one)
Tomcot is a very good producer. Orangered is good but not as good as Tomcot. That could be because I had several varieties to help out.
Don’t know if apriums will pollinate apricots. It seems plum is a more dominant gene.
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