Sparse post-drought plum bloom

[Frederick W. Schueler]

Everyone,

At - https://ngtimes.ca/plums-being-pocketed/ - I reported dates of
blooming of our Canada Plums, Prunus nigra, as "over a whole month from
18 May in 2003 to 17 April in the pre-polar vortex spring of 2012." Last
year the bloom was on 6 May, and in the early spring of 2024 on 27 April.

Today the thicket is in full bloom, but the bloom is very sparse - as in
the photo. During the drought last August the foliage of the thicket was
wilted, and I suppose the stress of the drought decreased the number of
flower buds that could be formed. There was also some debarking of the
stems by Cottontails over the winter (the first time we've noticed this
on this species), but there's no difference in flowering between the
intact and nibbled shrubs.

fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
---------Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad ------------
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------