FLIMBY: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

This is another installment in our Flowers in My Back Yard series, devoted to everything that blooms.

Is there anything prettier this time of year than a fruit tree in full bloom?

The orchards of almond trees in the Capay and San Joaquin valleys kick off the show in February, soon followed throughout the Central Valley by apricots, plums and other stone fruit, the navel orange trees, apples, pears and cherries. Warm weather can speed things up, but spring rains, freezes or winds can play havoc with a tree’s crop, knocking off or destroying blossoms before pollination.

Whether the blooming trees are in roadside orchards or in a home garden, they are a joyful site.

This series is focused on flowers, not about growing fruit, but it’s good to know some things about fruit tree blossoms:

— Flowers on deciduous fruit trees start forming as buds the previous late spring and summer. Whatever was going on with a tree last June and July can affect the size and vigor of the bloom. The summer of 2025 was a moderate one, so trees in the Sacramento area likely weren’t as stressed as in 2024, which had a three-week extreme heat wave. Adequate water and fertilizer also are part of this summer-before scenario.

— If the tree had a heavy fruit set the year before, it could be producing fewer blossoms this year, as a way to recover. Orange trees are famous for this alternate bearing cycle, but it also shows up in other fruit trees.

— Young blooming branches can be harvested for floral arrangements, in concert with pruning/shaping the tree. Fruit trees usually produce many more blossoms than needed for fruit, so losing a few on a mature tree shouldn’t cut into the eventual crop. Watch the timing, however, since the flowers typically are fully open for less than two weeks. Treat the pruned branches like any other flower by removing any foliage that will be below the water line in the vase. (For more information on training and pruning a deciduous fruit tree, open this link on the Sacramento County master gardeners’ website and scroll down to publication “ANR 8057” under External Resources.)

— Encourage pollinators by growing other flowering plants (especially California natives) near the fruit trees. Some types of fruit trees are self-pollinating, but even these can benefit from having bees and other insects visiting their flowers and moving pollen around. (The UC Davis Arboretum compiled this excellent list of 10 plants that support native bees.)

— If you have fruit trees in your back yard, take plenty of flower photos! The blossom period is fleeting and that fluffy beauty will be gone before you know it.

Note to fruit tree fans: The new second edition of  “The Home Orchard: Growing Your Own Deciduous Fruit and Nut Trees” is now available through the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources online catalog. It’s an expanded and revised version of a reference every California master gardener learns to use.