First blossom, first shoots

Our Orchard. It might not look like much from a distance as in the picture below:

But if you look a bit more closely, the orchard is actually doing something already:

I noticed the first signs of life on one of the plums...

Buds...

Blossom...

And even the first green shoots.

One of the apricots is giving it a red-hot go...

With leaf shoots waiting in the wings.

The other plum is the most noticeable...

Shoots...

Blossom...

More shoots...

And more blossom!

As I said, it's not exactly knock-you-down amazing but we're pretty happy to see the growth. 

So far we've put in:

a couple of apricots, "Trevatt"; 

plums, "Japanese Mariposa" & "Japanese Narrabeen"; 

apples "Pink Lady" & "Fuji"; 

cherries, "Stella" and "Lapins"; 

a pear, "Beurre Bosc";

a nashi, "Nijisseiki"; 

and down the hill a bit further where it (hopefully) won't wreak any havoc, a mulberry, "Hick's Fancy".

We also have two more apples to go in. They're an unknown heritage variety and are grafts taken from trees planted by Jan van Koesveld (my first Australian ancestor).

So, in the coming years look forward to getting sick receiving homemade jam as birthday and Xmas gifts! At this point I'll refer you to my other blog & a jammy poem I wrote a while ago now, perhaps it was prescience! :)

Cheers,

Deb