A bit of quince, cherry, walnut and lime

This afternoon went for a wander round our patch with the camera . It was glorious; warm enough that you could actually smell our scots pine trees. Even better this weather looks set to continue for the next few days.

Everything is growing at the gallop and with it being so warm we've had to make sure our little fruit trees get enough water but they seem to be coming along fine. 

quince

The quince is about to burst into flower--it is an aged tree which we 'resuced' from underneath a hazel bush. Although spindly and grown so lanky we've had to prop it up it seems to have responded to getting some proper sunlight and is full of buds. Next winter we'll try and cut it back as you would an apple and see if we can gradually get it back into shape. For now the number of buds looks very promising and if we get a good crop we'll be able to make a nice supply of quince jelly & jam.

glorious cherry blossom

The cherry tree from which I cut a number of small branches to put in a vase, and wrote about in March, is now in full flower. On the tree its blooms are a much more intense pink than when it flowered in the vase. 

male walnut flower

 

We've never been in France at this time of year, so consequently never seen a walnut tree flower--so it has been interesting to see what these look like. The male flowers look rather like catkins and the tree has both male and female flowers.

new lime tree leaves

Our large lime [or linden] tree is leafing out nicely and is already casting a good bit of shade. Over the winter we did debate pollarding it  but decided against it as it is such a source of food for the bees and other insects. When we were here last year in May on a brief visit to see the house and sort out what works needed doing it was in flower and we're really looking forward to that next month.