Week of February 21, 2021

Sure signs of spring in North Florida are the blossoms on the fruit trees in lien backyard orchard. Right now, we have four different trees in bloom: Chickasaw plums, edible plums (Chiro, Santa Rosa), peaches (four UF varieties), and avocadoes (subject of a later blog). Unlike last year when we had little cool weather and no frost, this year had at least six frosty mornings and many nights with temperatures below the fifty degrees. Most fruit trees, certainly peaches and plums, require a minimum of chill units, defined as hours with temperatures between 37-48 degrees, in order to set blossoms and develop fruit. Most of our UF peach hybrids require 300-400 chill units. We almost certainly exceeded this winter. As a consequence and due to aggressive pruning, a nice set of blossoms decorates the Florida orchard. The Chickasaw plums are a native tree and two clumps of them live in the back near the property line. They provide a cloud of small white petals as well as food for the birds later on. The Chiro and Santa Rosa plums are heavy bloomers even if they tend to over-crop and require fruit thinning later. The peach trees range from early to late varieties with their flowering similarly timed. Cutting them back should reduce the number of fruit blossoms but enhance the number of ripened fruit. The trees with their white, pink, and red blossoms announce the blooming of many fruit trees and many other reasons to stroll in the Florida Garden