More blooms

The return of flowers to the garden brings a hurry up and wait feeling. Plants are breaking dormancy and blooming, offering the possibility of future fruit. When I look at the flowers of the nanking cherries and the edible honeysuckle I wonder if they'll fruit this year and then I get hungry thinking about eating delicious fruit from the garden. That activity is still a few months away, but the promise is present in those blossoms.

Edible Honeysuckle - yellow flowers
I ordered these plants from Territorial Seeds and also Raintree Nursery, both in Washington state. The first plants I got are two years old now and one of them made a single fruit last year. It was a small, droopy purple thing, about the size of a single peanut. They like it a little less hot that this climate, so I have planted them in a microclimate in my garden that gives the idea of a long, cool spring. They grow near the raspberries and the currants, both of which dislike hot summers. It is worth trying to grow such things, though, for I love to eat fresh raspberries and currants. They grow in a place that gets only early morning sun.

Nanking cherry - soft pink flowers

I first saw nanking cherries at Mary Zemach's permaculture garden in Los Alamos, New Mexico while on a field trip during the permaculture course. They were big bushy things, laden with red tart fruit, about the size of a large blueberry, but with a pit inside. My climate is a little hot for them, so I planted them in a spot that gets some shade in the summer afternoons.