Late Blooming Fruit Trees
- Springtime fruit tree blossoms become a bountiful harvest.Apple blossoms image by Gail Ranney from Fotolia.com
There is nothing more satisfying than harvesting fruit from your own tree. Yet, in many areas, a late spring frost and freeze will destroy the fruit tree blossoms and any hope of fruit production. Fortunately, there are varieties of almost every type of fruit tree that will bloom later in the spring, after the threat of frost has passed. - Apples ripening on the treeapples image by Dina from Fotolia.com
One of the reasons apple trees are a favorite with home gardeners is because of their cold hardiness. Most apple tree varieties bloom in mid- to late spring, with a few, like Anna and Golden, being early blooming. Late blooming benefits the fruit later because, for sugar to develop in the apple, the fruit must experience cool temperatures in the latter stages of maturity. According to New Mexico State University, apple varieties that have later bloom times are Spur Rome, Braeburn, Gala, and most varieties of Delicious. - Harvest pears when they just begin to turn yellow for best flavor.Pears on a tree image by walentyna from Fotolia.com
Like apple trees, pear trees are known for their cold hardiness and most bloom in mid- to late spring. Bosc and Asian pear varieties are generally late blooming in spring, with the 20th Century Asian pear being the very last to bloom in the spring and last to harvest in the fall. - Peaches, ready to harvestGroup Of Peaches image by LynWatanabe.com from Fotolia.com
For gardeners in USDA zones 5-7, an unexpected mid-spring freeze can dash any hope of harvesting fruit from their peach trees later in the summer. Peach trees are often considered to be difficult to grow in these zones because so many varieties bloom early to mid-spring. There are several peach varieties that have been cold hardy developed with a later bloom time, making the tree ideal for colder regions. Reliance, Redhaven, and Veteran are three frost-hardy, late blooming peach tree varieties grown in colder climates. - Apricots, plump and juicyapricots on the tree image by Ashley Djuricin from Fotolia.com
Apricots have traditionally grown in regions that do not experience mid- to late spring frost because of the trees' early bloom time. That has changed with the development of several late blooming apricot varieties. The Tilton variety is often grown in frost-sensitive regions because of its late bloom, but the Chinese and Goldensweet will bloom even later than the Tilton. - Sour cherries mature at varying stages.cherries image by Alison Bowden from Fotolia.com
Gardeners often consider cherry trees in two different categories, sweet cherries and sour cherries. Sour cherries are widely grown in colder climates like Michigan, with Montmorency Sour (pie cherry) a longtime favorite. It is the sweet cherry, like Bing, that was believed to bloom too early in the season to be successfully grown in colder regions. Newer sweet cherry varieties have been developed that are cold hardy with a later bloom. The Lambert, Van and Utah Giant are three sweet cherry varieties that have a later blooming time and will give you a tasty fruit similar to the Bing cherry.
