The Cupertino Courier

Gardening

Flowering stonefruit is the pits when it comes to fruit

By Tony Tomeo

Stonefruit are fruit of the genus Prunus that have pits or "stones" in them, including cherry, nectarine, peach, plum, prune, apricot and the apricot and plum hybrids; pluot, plumcot and aprium. Almonds are actually the stones of relatively small leathery fruit that forms the hulls. Except for pluot, plumcot and aprium, stonefruit have "flowering" counterparts that are grown for their showy flowers but produce little or no fruit.

Apple, pear and quince also have relatives that are more ornamental than fruitful. Ornamental apples are known as flowering crabapples, probably because the very small fruit of those that produce fruit is no bigger than the smallest of crabapples. Ornamental pears and quinces respectively are known simply as flowering pears and flowering quinces, probably because there are no crabpears or crabquince to compare them to.

Since flowering is a euphemism for fruitless relatives of stonefruit, apples, pears and quince, the process of forcing their dormant stems into bloom should have an equally appealing euphemism such as persuading bloom. Forcing implies that the stems do not want to cooperate, as if blooming is unnatural for them. However, the stems have been waiting all winter to bloom in spring. Forcing only accelerates the process, persuading the flowers to bloom a bit early.

The process is actually simpler than the name implies. The stems need only to be convinced that it is already spring. It may seem a bit deceitful, but it works. The stems are now dormant, or asleep. They will not know if they are awoken a bit early. After the unusually cold frosts earlier this winter, they certainly have had enough chilling hours for productive bloom. (Just as many plants need warmth to bloom, many need a particular duration below a particular temperature to bloom.)

If buds are swollen and the fattest are just beginning to show flower color, they should be ready to be forced. The stems should be cut like cut flowers and immediately placed in water. They should then be put in a garage or on a porch where they will be warmer than they would be in the garden, but not quite as warm as in the home. The humidity will also keep them a bit happier. After a few days, they are ready to be brought into the home.

Since most home interiors lack humidity, the stems like to be misted until the first flowers open. Since most home interiors also lack cold weather, this should not be long. If the stems are ready and can be collected immediately after rain, they will be well hydrated and should bloom even faster.

Any of the related fruit trees, as well as forsythia, witch hazel, hawthorn (later) and certain acacias can also be persuaded to bloom by forcing procedures. Stems of fruit trees are less commonly forced to bloom than their flowering relatives only because fruit trees are so meticulously pruned earlier in winter that cutting a few stems now may interfere with fruit production or branch development. When pruning my peach and apple trees, I sometimes leave a few stems that should be pruned away so that they can be cut and forced later.

Tree of the Week:
Flowering apricot

Flowering apricot, Prunus mume, is an old-fashioned tree that is regaining popularity, probably because it is proportionate to the smaller gardens of modern homes. The largest trees are less than 20 feet tall and wide. The pink, white or red inch-wide flowers bloom on bare stems in late winter or very early spring. Deciduous 3- or 4-inch-long leaves replace bloom as it finishes. The inch-wide green or yellow fruit that sometimes develops later is unpalatable unless pickled. Dawn flowering apricot, with ruffled double pink flowers, is the most popular. Red and white blooming flowering types may be hard to find.

Aggressive pruning will maximize bloom. After growing unpruned through the first growing season, all new branches can be pruned back to 6- to 12-inch stubs after bloom. This will cause vigorous shoot growth that will bloom profusely the following winter. About half of these shoots likewise should be pruned back to stubs after bloom, leaving the other half for the following year so that the process can be repeated annually.

Listen to Tony Tomeo's 'New Image Garden Report' Friday mornings at 8:10 a.m. on KSCO-1080 AM (or online at www.ksco.com). He can be reached at www.ttomeo@newimagelandscape.com or 408.358.2574.