We’ve lived in our house for five springs now, and only twice have we had a full bloom on the tree wisteria in the side yard. Usually frost gets the young blossoms, whose flowering coincides with that of the apricots and plums; when the wisteria blossoms die, so too does the hope for a big harvest (or any harvest at all) from these lovely stone fruits. This year, we have blooms.
This picture doesn’t do it justice. The smell is delicately sweet.
And of course the blossoms are gorgeous.
Here’s hoping this turns out to be a fruitful year! I *adore* apricot jam, don’t you? Or plum jam, or dried apricots AND plums, and clafoutis, and dicing them up in salads, and and and…
Glad you came to visit!
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fast grow the weeds 
I have always wanted one of these. Thanks for sharing!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
How are things with the grapes this year?
So pretty — ours out front is just recovering after a few years of great neglect.
The apricots here have on/off year cycles. I don’t know if it’s a regional or varietal thing or if it’s just apricots.
Yay. Happy harvesting.
My pears are already as big as ice cubes. (Just groping for a metaphor.)
They are so beautiful. The is one blooming in town. I drive by it every year and sit and look. It is a wonder they havent called the sheriff yet!! But you know, lovely plants should be gazed at.
What a beautiful bush, I wish we could grow wisteria in our area. Apricot jam IS my favorite, I have never had any that was homeade though. Perhaps within the next couple years our apricots will produce enough for fresh jam.
I hope you have the best fruit harvest ever, this year just has a good feel to it.
Once I lived in an apartment with a wisteria growing up the fire escape just outside my window. I worried about all the problems that might cause until the spring it bloomed!
I second the good wishes for apricots and plums.
Your posts are very enjoyable. You appreciate all the wonders of growing things and share them with us. Thank you.
That wisteria is breathtakingly beautiful. I wish I had smell-o-vision!
Good thoughts for a bountiful harvest of apricots and plums 🙂 Putting them together, well, yes please!
We have a wisteria pergola in the backyard; we have for years and still, every year when it blossoms ti takes my breath away. Simply beautiful! Did you know that Wisteria is a member of the Pea family?
El, now I’m jealous not only of your greenhouses, but the fact that your wisteria actually BLOOMS!! I’ve got one that is ages old (or so it seems) and it has never bloomed. Of course, that could be my own fault because I have to keep moving it from spot to spot because it seems to be forever in the way. I adore wisteria! While in Ireland in 2004 I visited the Bantry House gardens in Bantry Bay…gorgeous wisterias there in the garden, and they were in full bloom and it was intoxicating:
Some day when I grow up my property will look like this, too:
I adore apricot jam too – and baking with them. I need to plant my own tree – although fruiting is very chancy here due to unpredictable spring frost. I have not been able to convince the one orchard that I know have apricot to PLEASE let them ripened on the tree before they pick them! If they are not fully ripe, they don’t open off the tree – unlike peaches – they only get soft.
What cultivar(s) of apricots do you grow, El?
I have you blog bookmarked and every time I come to read, I look at this glorious picture!!
I am going to the nursery this week and see if I can find one to plant.
Thanks, Linda. They do want to take over, so make sure you give them room if you get one!
WF: Grapes are great so far. All leafed out and fruit is set.
Stefaneer, it could be a varietal thing: most of the old fruit trees on our place are every-other-year trees. But yeah even when it’s an “on” year things are touch and go with fussy things like apricots. But wisteria? Sometimes if you scare the heck out of it by cutting it back, it freaks out and produces the next year.
CC, ice cubes! Our plums are the size of calamata olives, and that same great shade of green, too.
Grandmabecker, sounds like you were stalking, not gazing! Hah. Yeah, it’s pretty. A neighbor down the road has a big one climbing the telephone pole in his front yard. I slow down to see it.
I agree with you, Mike: maybe it’s not hubris to claim that this year has a good harvest feel to it all around? I sure hope so as our jam stores are getting shockingly low. Though we did harvest our first strawberries this weekend…
Aw, Anita, thanks! Wisteria can get quite heavy and does need strong support; sounds like your fire escape fit the bill quite well!
Laurene, smell-o-vision! I think I will spare you a whiff of the chicken coop right now…
MC, thanks. Yeah, I like combining things too but when things are perfectly in season I like tasting their individual greatness. Until, like now, you get a bit tired of the (asparagus) harvest.
LGG, yeah, I did know. Lovely when you make those connections, and even lovelier when the blossoms point you in the right direction. They sure look like they’re in the pea family.
Blaithin, stop moving that poor plant! Ah but you should see the sad state of my own perennial beds; I should talk about moving things as many plants are horribly overgrown right now. Sink or swim. Maybe when *I* grow up I will tend to them properly. But thank you for sharing the photos. Ireland is a magical place, and talk about green!
Ah Sylvie as a French woman you would appreciate this: as you know, most French folks needn’t bake their own croissants etc. because of the fabulous patisserie found in any town. Here, same thing: fruit farms galore. Some things I do leave to the experts, like persnickety stone fruits. Excepting a couple of beat-up old plum trees, it’s just apples and cherries and grapes here.
Grandmabecker, thanks! I hope your trip to the store was successful: they are quite beautiful.