ORANGE BLOSSOMS are a favorite part of spring at the Florida Garden. This year looks to be special for several reasons. First, the usual citrus trees blooming have been joined by several varieties that don’t bloom every year. The Hamlin orange is heavily weighted with many blooms; last year with only a couple. The blood orange is blooming for the first time in three years. The Valencia orange, just planted last year, has a couple of blossoms for the first time. Second, the volume of blooms is tremendous this year, especially the ruby red grapefruit, the tangerines, and the Meyer lemon. I will likely need to thin the grapefruit so the fruit will not pull down the tree. The pruning and fertilizer looks like it paid off. Finally, it appears that the pollination is successful with many small buttons of new fruit forming. The honey bees have been especially active. This of course results in the back and side yards smelling heavenly. I hope we can plan for a bountiful harvest next fall.
TAProots
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