Well...we are currently getting snow, and I woke up to a white yard..AGAIN! We are seriously running out of hay for our horses and although the lawn is starting to green up, there isn't near enough growth for them to eat yet...

Ugh, I'm just so frustrated this spring. And last spring. The last couple of years have just been flat out crappy weather wise.

I took a walk around our "orchard" a couple of days ago, and most of my fruit trees still look pretty dormant as well. Only the Saskatoon's look like they are starting to wake up, they are getting fuzzy buds.

Sigh. I imagine the apricots will jump into action once the weather smartens up.

My Manitoba Maple (box elder) doesn't even have leaf bumps yet. Incredibly slow spring!

This is really good for fruit growers.
Those trees will probably make fruit again this year.
I just removed mulch around mine and ground is still frozen solid.
Now hopefully they dont wake up for few more weeks.

Nothing unusual, we had good snow cover and it has been cool.
I like it this way,..a late start is always better, less chance of flower kill in early mornings. Last year these trees flowered May 13, another two weeks or so. I don't expect much this year from these trees, after a good load of fruits one year, you'll see hardly any new growth and flower buds. My guess is that they flower around the same time but only a little.

I'm just impatient. I know late springs are good to avoid frost damage of flowers, but after almost 6 months of winter I'm eager to see green again. I did notice that the city has mulched the apricot trees heavily with wood chips sometime last autumn, so the thick mulch may be helping to keep the roots cool and the trees slow to bud out.

That I can see Don!
Green green green,..it's coming, actually, you have this nice
green blackberry cane,...not enough? For some reason, my brain tells me, the mulch was there last spring already, when looking for seeds around harvest, I was digging around in the heavy chips mulch for seeds.

Somebody asked me if I could collect some seeds and send them. I was going to sent them right away but he told me to wait till spring, was told to keep it in sand in the fridge,...low and behold, come spring and lots germinated, coulnt' send it anymore!

Those buds look very dark. Thats how mine look when they are winter damaged. This maybe why they have not popped open. Most of the apricot buds on my trees look like this but there are a few that survived starting to open. We had a brutal winter south of calgary. Was hot and cold like crazy

mattpf, I was actually wondering if the buds were damaged, but mostly because I expected them to be much further along than they were. I checked all 3 apricot trees, and even on the vigorous young sprouts the buds all looked fully dormant. So I'm thinking they are most likely just dormant, because if it is actually damaged/dead buds then those trees are in serious trouble. I'll have to check again in a week or two...

I wouldn't' be surprised if some flower buds are dead, but they still would leaf out,..another two weeks or so.
I should have posted green "and yellow" for Don, forgot to take picture of Dandelion in flower at the shop today.lol
I looked at my apples in flowers from the other year, it was May 30. We've got lots of time!

Break a few buds open. It's really easy to tell if they are damaged. Usually when my trees buds are dark brown they never flower but will still leaf out as Konrad has said. I will take some photos of mine. Only about 15-20% of the buds are opening on my apricots and we had a wicked winter in southern Alberta.

I visited a few city of calgary apricot plantings one of the capilano variety we have here was completely killed off by animals :(
The others were looking very good most buds were real healthy looking but these trees are nestled in close to down town behind a large hill a very sheltered micro climate. I will visit again soon and get some pictures for you guys.

Now I finally came to terms with a slow spring from another cold spill, [still in it!] will delay flowering for at least one to two weeks.
Another good year for fruit set, [if fruit buds are not winter killed] good for many other fruits also.

May 10 - Just checked the Capilano apricots again. Definitely some damage on the south tree on the reachable branches -- some flower buds forming but very few, and many twigs seem dead and brittle. A telephoto pic of the crown shows flower buds so it appears to be in okay shape. On the northern tree(s) almost all the branches are high up and I just can't really see too much from the ground.

This post was edited by don555 on Mon, May 19, 14 at 18:19

Lots of mine did very well. Starting to bloom very nicely just in time for the warm weather :)
Ill get pics this week when the flowers start to open.

Only problem is there is no bees in my area of calgary I will manually pollinate

Went back to the Capilano trees today. The south tree is in bloom, but I would call it a sparse bloom, certainly nothing like the sea of white blooms Konrad posted last May. The photo below is a bit washed out because the light was so harsh, but I think you can make out the scattered white blooms on the branches on the left-hand side and in the crown. BTW, this photo is taken from the opposite side of the tree from all the other pics, just because the light was so strong and everything was only in silhouette from the normal direction. The north tree(s) have nothing, not a single bloom. A telephoto pic of the crown shows lots of green leaf buds, but no flowers or buds. A nearby apricot on a private residence that was smothered in blossoms last year, this year has only two flowers on the entire tree.

South tree:
{{gwi:738608}}

North tree:
{{gwi:738610}}