A nice surprise! The weather has been so warm the last few days that some of the Prunus mume buds opened up.
I grew 5 Japanese flowering apricots from seed; I have 2 and gave 3 to my MIL. This one is my favorite. The flowers are clear pink, with a wonderful fragrance, like spicy cotton candy. The other three have smaller flowers that are a dark rose pink, and the fifth is a very pale pink with large almost single flowers. The fragrance of all 5 are distinct from each other.
Sweet Bay - those are great pictures and the blooms are beautiful -- so delicate. I love the look of blooms on branches like that - Japanese flowering quince is one of my very favorite plants to bloom in the Spring.
ReplyDeleteHiya,
ReplyDeleteHow lovely!
Never even heard of the flowering apricot, let alone seen it.
And grown from seed, no less. I take my hat off. (Chapeau!!)
Have a pleasant Xmas.
Just lovely. To think they have a scent too. How nice.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely Christmas ~ FlowerLady
Oh, how pretty. What I wouldn't give to see a sign of spring here.
ReplyDeleteMarnie
Hi Diana and thank you. Prunums mume is my favorite winter-blooming plant. It's a treat to have flowers like this in the winter landscape.
ReplyDeleteHi Joco, it's true that a lot of people haven't heard of this plant. I found out about it in Elizabeth Lawrence's A Southern Garden. She had a special passion for winter bloom. As far as growing P. mume from seed -- that was easy! I buried the fruits in the compost pile and the next spring they sprouted like crazy.
Hi Flower Lady, it seems a lot of winter-blooming plants have fragrance -- perhaps to better draw the few pollinators that are out? Have a Merry Christmas!
Hi Marnie I know your garden is wrapped up in a white blanket now! Stay warm and have a good Christmas!
Oh Sweetbay...what a beautiful bloom!
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely sweet pink! How exciting to know they were grown from seed! Gail
Hiya sweetbay,
ReplyDeleteOn the compost heap? I'm surprised you recognized it at the seedling stage. i must try that with my chaenomeles.
Best wishes for the season.
Your Christmas Card is here.
Hi Gail! This is my favorite of the seedlings -- I'm happy it turned out as it did. Have a warm and merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteHi joco, it was pretty easy to tell the Prunus mume seedlings -- the fruit is rather large (walnut-sized), so the baby leaves were large and the second leaves were unmistakeably Prunus. Plus, I also tried wintersowing in pots, so I had something to compare it to! Interesting, the seeds had a much higher germination rate in the compost heap than they did in the pots. I only got one seedling in the pots, versus 4 in the compost heap.
The Christmas Card is gorgeous. What beautiful photography.
Merry Christmas!