{"id":6440,"date":"2015-01-28T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T17:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=6440"},"modified":"2014-09-26T14:52:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T18:52:52","slug":"winter-blooming-flowering-apricot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/01\/28\/winter-blooming-flowering-apricot\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Blooming Flowering Apricot"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Prunus<\/a>

Prunus mume on ETSU campus in Johnson City, TN<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Upright<\/a>

Upright tree form<\/p><\/div>\n

Flowering apricot (Prunus mume<\/em>) is native to southeastern Asia(USDA hardiness zones 6-8). It is primarily grown for its mid to late winter bloom of pink flowers.<\/p>\n

This small 15-20 feet tall\u00a0tree\u00a0grows in average\u00a0well-drained, acidic soils in full sun to partial shade. Avoid planting in heavy or wet soils. Most abundant flowering\u00a0occurs in full sun.\u00a0In the deep South leaves may scorch in full day sun. Prune, if needed, immediately after flowering.<\/p>\n

A young tree tends to be branched upright.\u00a0Spicily scented pink flowers\u00a0bloom anytime\u00a0– during a warm\u00a0winter respite or in early spring. Flowers\u00a0display red calyxes and yellow stamens. Flowers are followed by small 1-inch\u00a0diameter,\u00a0fuzzy-skinned, green to yellow apricot fruits. The ripe clingstone\u00a0fruits are harvested in mid-summer and made into\u00a0jams and preserves.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, cold winter and spring temps\u00a0damage flowers and subsequent fruits.\u00a0Bloom buds have a staggered dormancy so that only\u00a0the open flowers and swollen buds are damaged. This ensures a long period of flowering. If left unpicked, fruits may cause a mess\u00a0on lawns and sidewalks. Birds help in the cleanup. Potential insect pests include aphids, scale and borers. Bacterial canker and brown rot on fruits are probable disease problems.<\/p>\n

Flower buds are set in\u00a0fall; fall-winter pruning\u00a0removes some flower buds.\u00a0Flowering apricot\u00a0should be\u00a0prune within\u00a04-6 weeks\u00a0after flowering. Annual pruning encourages\u00a0new vigorous\u00a0shoots\u00a0that\u00a0eventually bear the future flower buds. Flowering apricots are short-lived, around 15-20 years\u00a0in the\u00a0U.S.<\/p>\n

Numerous cultivars are available from on-line nurseries. ‘Peggy Clarke’ struts\u00a0rose-pink double flowers; ‘Rosemary Clarke’, early white petalled double-flowered form; ‘W.B. Clarke’\u00a0has double pink flowers, and\u00a0graceful weeping form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flowering apricot (Prunus mume) is native to southeastern Asia(USDA hardiness zones 6-8). It is primarily grown for its mid to late winter bloom of pink flowers. This small 15-20 feet tall\u00a0tree\u00a0grows in average\u00a0well-drained, acidic soils in full sun to partial shade. Avoid planting in heavy or wet soils. Most abundant flowering\u00a0occurs in full sun.\u00a0In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,747,440,650,806,1144,10,1143,1012,917,774,843,601,729,933,777,630,705,646,7,708,250,455,642],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6440"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6718,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6440\/revisions\/6718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}