Apple buds at green tip stage

Prima apple buds at green tip stage, late April, 2014

The blog entry title is meant to invoke the slow growing season, not the slow food movement. Pictured above are Prima apple buds from my orchard here on this island, at the green tip stage, in late April. The season then was about 2-3 weeks behind where it's been for the past few years, though over the course of the last 30 years I'd say it was only a little later than normal. If you look closely at the tops of the reddish bud cases you'll see the green tips emerging. By now they have leafed out, and it's too early to judge whether this will be a good blossom year. The Prima seems to be my most photogenic tree, for some reason.