Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Pluot "Dapple Dandy" (February 23, 2013)

The first blossoms on the pluot called "Dapple Dandy" opened a couple days ago, on February 23. With no rain in the forecast, I'm hoping the tree will set some fruit this year. In recent years it has had almost none--but it  has mostly rained during flowering. The beehive has died, unfortunately, so the usual pollinators won't be around, but I'm hoping for the best. This post is, in fact, late because for the past few days I've been struggling to get the honey harvested from the hive; without the bees to attend it, it can't be left to sit (details of the honey harvest to follow).

Also, the first of the Tulipa bakeri tulips in the garden opened today (February 25). These have gradually dwindled in number and the number of blossoms on each plant has lessened as well. Probably time to plant new ones, or to fertilize the ones in the ground.