Reproduction in action

Here was our apple tree a week ago. Growing a few nice buds, see.










Here it was today. Look at the lovely blossom!!











A few weeks ago I was reading my gardening book when I stumbled upon the fact that apple trees need pollinating by similar trees. I teach pollination to my 6 year old pupils, this really shouldn't have been such a shocking revelation! But when planting the trees I hadn't really given much thought to fact that we would need other trees near by for reproductive purposes. A brief chat to Charlotte and Jon revealed that the other trees that came with the apple (see my previous post about trees) would be suitable for pollination.
For a second I thought my problem had been solved, until I remembered that our pear tree wasn't doing quite so well...

Not a bud in sight, as you can see. Poor old pear. No chance of that pear reproducing this year. (We're leaving it in to see if it does any better next year). I began to think that our poor old apple tree would be without progeny too. Two barren fruit trees, how sad.




Luckily, today I realised that I had no need to worry. There are a couple of apple trees in nearby allotments which should do the job fine.


And to prove the point, I even spotted a big fat bee getting down to the job in question: