We've gotten a reprieve from the cold temperatures in the last couple of weeks: a lot of rain, but also some warm beautiful sunny days. Good thing, since we're expecting a winter storm tomorrow.
The warmth drew out the Prunus mume blooms. These will likely be stricken by temps in the middle teens in a couple of days, but that happens to winter bloomers. There may still be buds left to continue the show into February. This is the tree in the big perennial bed
and this is my favorite P. mume, near the mailbox.
The weather was so warm it even drew out the Honeybees. It's not unusual to see them foraging in the middle of the winter if we get some warm days.
I love this tree. The flowers are lovely in every stage -- there are flowers in many shades of pink on the tree at once -- and the fragrance is so sweet.
Thank you to Katarina at roses and stuff for hosting Blooming Friday.
Ohhhhhhh look at your beautiful bloomin' trees. Now those are a sight for winter depressed eyes! Wonderful pictures you took of them too. Now I want some!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAmazing and cheery to see blooms and bees out in January. Hope the freeze leaves some blooms to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteWhat cheerful photos! So nice to see the promise of spring this early in the year. :)
ReplyDeleteI love seeing all of those pink buds on the bare branches, I hope they don't get zapped by the cold. It's interesting to see a honeybee on one of the flowers. I noticed a bumblebee here today which seemed really early.
ReplyDeleteI could feel my breath intake when I saw these beautiful photos! I love to see a bee snuggling into a flower. Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteOh! what lovely delicate blooms Sweet bay!! Do you ever pick any to bring inside? You might paint them!! ;>) So sweet to see the honey bee and I hope it finds its way back to the hive each day before the cold sets in! Your photos are beautiful as always. Delightful to see for here we had snow showers all day and it is going down into the single digits tonight with wind chills of -8 ... so they say.
ReplyDeleteHi SB~~ Lovely photos. I had a small bonsai-sized Prunus mume but it died. I was sick. Your trees are fabulous and all the nicer with the happy honeybees. I hope the buds will be safe from the storm.
ReplyDeleteHi Sweetbay, i am new here, just saw yours in BF of Katarina's. These flowers are so marvelous, are these the plums? Even the whites of this kind are endearing. True, they are splendid at all stages, thank you. Also as an alternate for your temperate flowers please view my tropical ones. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWow, that looks really nice!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to be able to see that every day. Love your pictures and long for spring, which is aboout two - three months away. Enjoy your week end, Sweet bay. Love!
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful tree!
ReplyDeleteAnd petals!
Have a nice Blooming Friday!!
Hugs..Luna
Åååå what lovely. Lena/isis
ReplyDeleteThey sure are a lovely shade of pink!
ReplyDeleteYou are living up to your name... that truly is SWEET! I love this shade of pink, I am smitten!
ReplyDeleteRosey
What a lovely color! Thank you for the bright spot in an otherwise dreary time. :-)--Randy
ReplyDeleteHow can the bees resist coming out in winter with the fragrance of that tree. When they are in full bloom, you smell them before you see them.
ReplyDeleteIt seems awfully early. The blooms are so delicate, it will be a shame to see them freeze.
ReplyDeleteMarnei
Beautiful blooms and so full of expectation for spring when...
ReplyDeleteThis winter storm, is it happening now I wonder?
Honey bees along with everyone else must be confused.
Winter flowering plants must be so precious. I love Almond blossoms, they look similar the pink is gorgeous. I hope they stay around for a while and Mr Frost is gentle with them.
ReplyDeleteSo lovely, Sweet Bay! Blooms like these would surely get me through the winter. And you have honeybees! Wow, it's much too cold here in the winter for the bees to come out.
ReplyDeleteI'm taking the Master Gardener class this spring and just had my first session this week on botany. Your last photo could go in a textbook--all the anthers and other parts of the flower are so clear! (And I impressed myself that I knew what they were:))
Amazing, lovely pink!!! Love//Eva
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments everybody!
ReplyDeleteCarol, I have not picked these, although I should tonight. Elizabeth Lawrence (I learned about these trees from her books) used to cut branches to bring inside. The flowers would make wonderful subjects for painting.
Andrea, these trees are Japanese Flowering Apricots. The fruits look just like small apricots but are not edible.
Rob the snow is almost here. The temp was 63 degrees yesterday and we may be looking at lows of 10 this weekend.
What a gorgeous flower!!!! BTW, I DID get add your blog added to the list of them that I follow. Some people have a place on their blog to click on if you want to "follow this blog" and tha't what I was looking for. Thanks! Your blog is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYou've made my day! How utterly delightful!
ReplyDeleteThey are amazing your small pink flowers, small survivers. I can very well imagen the sweet smell. Japanese apricots, already that name itself appeals to me. Lovely shoots :)
ReplyDeleteSweetbay,
ReplyDeleteBack from Belize and now we have 6 inches of snow! Lovely prunus I have never heard of. Do the butterflies attract to it like Chickasaw Plum? Or is it just too early for the butterflies.
This is a wonderful tree, Sweet Bay, blooming when it does especially. Seeing the bee is a delight, but we do worry for them when the cold comes back. Snow and ice here, very unusual. Hope our bees are safe and dry somewhere. :-)
ReplyDeleteFrances
Sweetbay,
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful shades of pink on these delicate looking blooms. I just love the early blooms on bare branches. You have captured them just beautifully. :)
Randy, P. mume blooms too early for the butterflies. Probably too early for anything but Honeybees. It's truly a winter bloomer.
ReplyDeleteFrances the bees are hopfeully snug in their hives today. We didn't get as much snow as you -- a couple of inches and then the snow turned to sleet. It's blowing and sleeting now. I don't know if anyone around here keeps bees or if these are from wild hives. I've seen a wild hive in a dead tree on the farm before, but with the mite problem and pop. fluctuations, I don't know if we have any wild hives right now.
I am speechless! Well not quite - obviously :) But almost. Your pictures are breath-taking. I love them.
ReplyDeleteBravo, Sweet Bay!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos Sweet Bay. Can I just say how jealous I am of your taste of spring? Blooms and bees?? and pink ones at that! My favorite. If we had a warm up here the poor bees would find absolutely nothing to forage one. Best for them to stay in hibernation! I hope your latest storm isn't too brutal. It would be a terrible shame to have all these buds & blooms frozen back.
ReplyDeleteHello SweetBay,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love that dusty pink shade of color. I bet the bees are excited to see some flowers during the winter so they can collect some pollen.
Oh my! How very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteFantastic photos, and what a delight to see the bees feasting in the flower centres. I'm such a long way from bees or outdoor blooms, so I'm a wee bit envious. But also happy for you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment in my current post. Glad that blogging is such a positive experience for you. I know I enjoy when I visit, even if I don't always have time to comment.
Wow, I had to look back and make sure I landed on your blog in January. Pretty pink blooms. Course today I'm looking at them as we are covered in snow. I'm sure they are gone now.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Sweet Bay!
ReplyDeleteOh, you are sending us in the cold North alot of promises of a new spring.
I love your photos of the pruneblooming in pink!
Have a nice Sunday,
AnnA
The flowers are beautiful - so delicate, yet so hardy to bloom at this time of year. Great to see the bees out and about too!
ReplyDeleteSweetbay,
ReplyDeleteI just started blogging about my garden in Mississippi at www.yardflower.com
My latest post is about my own Prunus mume which is in full glorious bloom right now. Your pictures are great. The only thing that could make our posts better is if we could add a scratch and sniff option to the pictures. I love the scent. It's a sweet spicy cinnamon fragrance. Like most winter bloomers it has to be kind of loud to attract the few pollinators out there.
If Prunus mume was growing/blooming out by our mailbox, I'd make it my official job to go out and get the mail every day. So very pretty.
ReplyDeleteThose Honeybees know a good thing when they see it.
donna
wonderful wonderful blooms. I can almost hear the buzz of bees and the feel of spring on the air. I thought that was happening here last week and now it is like winter again.
ReplyDelete'Sooooo pretty in pink' are my thoughts. It brings us a little closer to spring as it did yesterday; low 50's and sunshine all day yesterday had us raking and trimming fruit trees, preparing the raised vegetable beds.... the work is ahead. ;) Beautiful photos sweetbay.
ReplyDeleteI so want this tree/shrub in my garden~The blooms are wonderful and pink! This has to get checked off the list and soon. Thank you for the lovely blooms on this cold day! gail
ReplyDeleteHi Sweetbay--wow, I love that Prunus mume! Are the bees really on it NOW? By the way, I finally did my first set of winter sowing, including the Rosa Setigera you sent me! I will let you know when it sprouts. Yay! :)
ReplyDeleteMonica, I'm sure the bees have not ventured out in the last few days. These pictures were taken last Thursday, when it was warm and sunny and in the low '60's. Then we had snow and sleet Friday and Saturday.
ReplyDeleteThe buds on one of the P. mume have survived. There were still flowers on the one by the mailbox yesterday. We had a very cold night last night though, so it'll be interesting to see if there's anything left on that one later today.
Seeing your beautiful blooms and bees has made me long for Spring!
ReplyDeleteYour warm up must have been delight!
I bring branches in for forcing every year. I have forced tulips in bloom right now. I NEED flowers when it is cold and gray.
Stay warm.
Sherry
So pretty! So, so, pretty! I can almost smell their fragrance and I don't blame the bees one bit for burying their faces in those flowers!
ReplyDeleteI love your array of early blossoms. They are beautiful, especially with the bees. We've got a few out on warm days, too. Thank you for your well wishes.
ReplyDeleteWhat gorgeous blooms! How lucky you are to have such wonderful colour this time of year.
ReplyDeleteHi there sweetbay, this posting has really made me smile… great photos of wonderful blossom… but to see the honey bee out again… what a treat :-D
ReplyDelete