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Grafted plants sometimes bear very young because of mature scion. The scion is taken from a sexually mature tree. But, even though young plants can bear fruit it’s not recommended, in most cases to allow fruit to develop until 3 to 4 years.

I have a current situation where my Bouea macrophylla (Maprang tree) has flower spikes. It’s a seedling tree which is only 2 1/2 years old approximately, and typically doesn’t flower until 8 or 9 years old. It typically grows very slowly in Southern California, but my tree went from 11 inches to 6 1/2 ft in two years. Which is insanely fast! I’m not sure if I will cut the flower spikes off or leave them, yet.

That rhododendron is flowering so early.

Beautiful colour there Karen and so early too....

That's a real beauty of a flower....

Is Hummingbird juice made from honey Klahanie? Just a thought.....

They really are incredible, Andy!

Looks so lovely there. Such Christmassy colours!

That is a nice colour Shirley.
Pittosporum is not hard enough for growing them here (unfortunately). I bought couple of them and they did not survive. Our temperatures are very unpredictable lately.

There are various causes of lesions on young apple trees like this. The most serious is Fireblight. You would see this later when the leaves appear, blackened and looking as if they have been scorched. If that happens then destroy the tree before it spreads to any other trees.
OR. It could be insect damage. There are plenty of wood boring insects which cause the tree to protect itself by developing these scars. There is usually sawdust either down the trunk or on the surrounding soil, if it is an insect.
Finally there is mechanical damage. Something may have knocked off baby branches and this is the trees way of protecting the wound.

This is just down the road from us. The large mill that stands beside the river was driven by water power.

Thank you, I’ll try that.

We had 4 or 5 hours of rain but it wasn't heavy. Temps have taken a tumble again but even so it didn't feel particularly cold.

Just yesterday I saw my first Grape Hyacinth beginning to open on the balcony! Seems very early - at least it does for the balcony!

I thought perhaps 10-15 years might be the time it needed to reach a mature state that would permit it to bear fruit.

Hi! I love your photo of Green Ice. I would like to put it on the first page of the March 2025 North Bay Rosarian. That's a newsletter I edit for the North Bay Rose Society. If it's OK, should I credit you as PianoLady or something else?

Thank you,

Charlie Malarkey (malarkeyus@yahoo.com)

Ha, have I even managed to see them is more to the point! The one in the raised bed may still be alive, the others seem to have died.

Forgot to say have you checked your Alstromerias from last year? Here the green shoots are just emerging. I've mulched them well.

Agastache, Aquilegia, Digitalis x 2, Echinops x 2, Eryngium and Lychnis.

Good day all round it sounds!..What pollinators did you buy?

Thanks Julia, I also bough some pollinator friendly plants that were on my list, and a nest box, a trug and some solar lights. Breakfast at the GC was good too! :o)))

How lovely Shirley..I do hope it grows well for you.:0))

Julia, I bought myself one of these today! Thanks for showing the photo of this lovely shrub ... :o)

Thanks David, we have torrential rain this morning and it's gone back to being cold.

Nice to see you back Homebird. The painting of the blue tit is lovely.
I hope your husband gets on ok and is not waiting long for his op.
This winter has just gone on and on and I for one will be glad to see the back of it!
Not much happening in my garden at the moment.

I will try that. Thanks Linda.

I just typed in Goliath runner beans and lots of seed sellers come up. Not sure if it's the same in U.S.

Thank you Hywel for updating me.It must be a rogue seed from here.
Thank you Eileen!

The seller says because it’s grafted, most likely 3 or 4 years. Seedlings can take 7 to 12 years in the deep tropics, but a seedling if it ever bears fruit here would probably take 10 to 15 years, easily (if it lives that long 😂).

It makes a difference.

I can’t believe how large all those Rhopalostylis have gotten over the last 20 yers. The Howeas have gotten big, also.

Lovely to see these 2 together! :)

When I saw the thumbnail version I thought it was a Rubber Tree! :D How long would you expect it to take before you get any fruit on it? Perhaps 10-15 years???

:)

Hywel, that's exactly it, 'hibernating' for about 3 months as the weather has been so cold for walking. Even wrapped up in coat, gloves etc. does not make me think 'Let's go for a walk' so now I can enjoy the better weather and do a little every day outdoors. I'm sure we will both be more toned before long ... :o)))

Thank you both for your lovely comment.

I'm glad you're feeling well Shirley and I hope the coming seasons will help you get more active.
I must say I've become rather podgy lately and must do something about it, so I'm hoping some time in the garden will help. I tend to hibernate in the winter :D

That made me laugh, about the Panda, not the invasive Bamboo!

Thanks David, it was such a tonic to see them open at last.

Julia, sunny again today so the Bees are in them again.

Oh Eileen, those flippin' Pigeons get on my nerves, they're such clumsy birds and always seem to be looking for a mate ... :o(

Thanks Rose, I have been scraping out weeds in the block paving of the sunny front garden for an hour, boring job, but needs must!

Hywel, I love to see and hear the waves crashing too. I only have myself to blame for the high blood sugars, hence the exercise and change of foods for a while. I actually do feel very well!

He's so sweet.

That's strange Rose. All I can do is suggest giving them a feed and perhaps next year the flowers will come. Perhaps they've put all their energy into multiplying their corms for this year.

What's in the cage ?

I love the sea when it's rough and the waves are high and crashing on to rocks ! :)
Your spring flowers are lovely, I always feel a relief when I see signs of spring.
I'm sorry to hear about your health problem, I hope it can be sorted.

I seem to have lots of leaves but no flowers!

Definitely spring in your garden Shirley and to see bees as well so early in the year is a bonus.

What a cutie!

It isn't with the seeds I sent you Meadowland, I collected those from a pod on the plant, which is in a pot in my garden. I put the pod in a container and shook the seeds out and those are what I sent you.
There's no Salad Burnet growing in the hedgerow at the bottom of my garden anyway, they're in more open areas :)

There's Silverweed in my garden but it stays in the same place. I pull the runners out but I wouldn't say it was invasive at all, although if I left the runners alone it would spread a bit.

lovely blog. the sun opened my crocus yesterday too.
pigeons nibbled my yellow ones, and then slugs finished them off.

i'd cut 1/3 down to about 2ft and see if the stems produce new shoots. mine responds to this treatment. if it does regrow then you can do the same to the rest of it.

it also reminds me of silverweed. but i think it is also salad burnet. the leaves smell and taste like cucumber if that helps with id.

I'll take a look Shirley....

Thank you Klahanie and Homebird2. The cyclamen have multiplied well in this flowerbed.

Fabulous display.