Wednesday 13 June 2012

Fruit For Thought

Or should I say the lack of it.
I'll explain later.


This is Clematis Rebecca, purchased about five years ago, and growing atop an apple tree. It was bred by Raymond Evison, and named after his eldest daughter. This year it has produced its best display ever, and as you can see there are lots of buds to follow.

It was whilst taking this photo that I noticed the apples, or should I say lack of them. The apple tree is Bolero, and it has only a few apples on it this year. Normally it is a prolific cropper. So I decided to check my other apple trees. Three of them have no apples at all, despite producing plenty of blossom earlier. Obviously this is the result of the crazy weather we have had this spring and the lack of pollinators. Ironically, my Polka apple tree is laden with fruit despite not having had much blossom, but it bloomed later than the others, when there must have been more bees around.

I then decided to check my gooseberry bush; two fruits, just two, hardly worth getting the cream out. On a more positive note, the blueberry plants are full of fruit, and the raspberries and strawberries seem to be doing well also. The blackbirds must be licking their beaks in anticipation.

You may recall I mentioned in my last post that I had been nominated for the Sunshine Blog award by Mary at Muse, and that I had to answer some questions. Please feel free to stop reading at this point. Normal service will be resumed next post. Anyway here goes:

Favourite colour:      Blue, I'm sure I've answered that one before.

Favourite animal:      Dog, Joey would never forgive me if I had chosen anything else.

Favourite number:    A winning lottery number. Although I'd need to know it before the lottery was drawn, not much use finding it out afterwards.

Favourite non-alcholic drink;    Tea, there's nothing like a nice cuppa tea.

Facebook or Twitter:     Twitter, I love the dawn chorus.

My passion:      Music, if music be the food of love. Do you know, I'm sure I've heard that before.

Getting or Giving Presents:    Tis far better to give than to receive. And I've heard that one before too.

Favourite Pattern:   A mackerel sky, one of Nature's magnificent paintings.

Favourite Day of the week:   All my working life it was always Saturday, but now I quite like Mondays.

Favourite Flower:    Difficult this one, there are so many that I like. Anyway I'll go back to the Fuchsia, see what I did there. It was one of the first flowers that I grew.

And finally I'm supposed to choose five blogs I like. As I explained previously, this I find impossible because there are so many excellent blogs out there, so I'll just direct you to my blog roll for some excellent reading. And thanks again to Mary for nominating me, please check out her blog, it's brill.


19 comments:

  1. A to Ci pięknie powojnik obrósł jabłoń. U mnie też nie będzie nadmiaru owoców niestety. Lubię też niebieski kolor i psy, ale nie lubię też typować blogów do nagród. Każdy ma w sobie "coś" . Pozdrawiam.
    And you are beautiful clematis overgrown apple tree. For me it will not be an excess of fruit, unfortunately. I also like the blue color and dogs, but I also like to bet on blogs for awards. Everyone has the "something". Yours.

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  2. Your clematis is really super, one of the best photos of clematis I've seen. Strange about your applies and fruit not developing. I was looking at my apple tree and I can see some very tiny fruit developing but I'll have to have a closer look now. I had trouble with moths and caterpillers but am hopeful.

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    1. I've not had any moths or caterpillars, but not many bees either.

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  3. Thank you for the evidence on how bad weather affects pollination. I'm facilitating a workshop on Saturday on attracting pollinators to your garden with native plants and I will use your piece of information. As a gardener there is a lot out of our control, isn't there.

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    1. Couldn't agree more. We are just starting to get bees in the garden now, too late for most of my apple trees, but there's still no sign of hoverflies which usually come here in abundance.

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  4. That is a beautiful Clematis, and lots of flowers still to look forward to I see,

    This dreadful weather has been devastating in so many ways. A two hour walk early yesterday evening did not produce even one butterfly :-(

    It's always interesting to learn a little more about my blogland friends. Dog would definitely be my answer, I adore them.

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    1. I've not had many butterflies lately, but a very interesting moth today. Will feature it in a future post when I've picked the best photo of it.

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  5. Lovely is your Clematis.
    Color is baeautiful.
    Winter has destroyed the shrubs, plants...
    I will not have fruit...

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  6. Your clematis is gorgeous!! Maybe your fruiting plants just need more time or perhaps a pollinator. I much prefer birdsong to an alarm. :o)

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    1. So do I, but they sing a little bit early at this time of year.

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  7. The fantastic photograph and beautiful flowers. I am greeting

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  8. Only this morning Mr TG & I were commenting that the blueberries ought to perform this year after all the perfect rainwater thay've had. Our Cooking apple tree blossomed beautifully this year, holding onto its flowers for longer than we've ever noticed before. Now, however, I'm off to check if we actually have apples...got me wondering now. hmmmmmmm.......

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  9. me again...sorry...forgot to congratulate you on your well deserved award. xx

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    1. Thank you very much. But what about your apples ?

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  10. Hi Crystal,

    I do not have any apples, plums or pears. I can honestly say my trees are usually heavy with crops, I cannot believe there no fruits. I am hoping they may be way up high and I just cannot see them......

    Love your clematis :)

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    1. I wonder how long it will take the media to cotton on to the lack of fruit this year.

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  11. Beautiful clematis. I'm with you on the cuppa tea.

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