Is this an apple tree? And how come... (flowers, landscaping, flowering trees)
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The attachment is a picture I just took of some flowers that have appeared for the first time on an unknown-type tree that I planted (*) probably around 20+ years ago. Using Google Image Search the hits I'm getting suggest the tree is an apple tree after I refined the flower image with a text description something like "white flowers serrated leaves".
So...is this an apple tree?
And...
Does it take THAT long for flowers to start appearing for the first time!?
BTW - this tree has never had any fruit either, of course. At least, up to now. Is that next?
Addendum - should have noted, very importantly, that the flowers are restricted to no more than a few thin foot-long new branches coming off the same "parent branch", itself about an inch in diameter. That is, about a one cubic foot volume out of this massive tree is showing flowers for the first time in the 20+ years and all those flowers are from the same very-small part of the tree, about 10 foot up.
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(*) In exchange for helping a landscaper find the property markers of a nearby neighbor's yard, the landscaper gave me a pencil-thin almost-stick that I planted in my yard almost as a joke. That "stick" grew into a 20-foot wide by at least 20-foot tall intertwined-branches behemoth (the trunk is about a foot and half in diameter at, say, one foot off the ground measuring point) . The leaves - the ONLY foliage it has ever had over the 20+ years since - are finely-serrated and appear to be VERY tasty both to birds and the random deer that occasionally meander through our Northern Virginia suburban streets.
Last edited by sullyguy; 04-11-2013 at 09:35 AM..
Reason: Added addendum
The flower and the branches and bark look like an apple to me. It usually doesn't take that long for an apple tree to flower.
Some apple tree's never bear fruit and it sounds like the landscaper gave you a tree that he was going to cull out of his stock. If there are other apple tree's in your vicinity and there are bee's or other insects to pollinate the flowers, I would say it is possible to get some fruit this year.
The flower and the branches and bark look like an apple to me.
I suspect it, too, but simply do not know - BTW, the "branches" in the image above are actually twigs no wider than a quarter inch with the flowers themselves no larger than a half to three-quarters inch in diameter. The image was taken from below handheld with absolute-maximum zoom, including the booster digital zooming, that my camera can do, then cropped significantly right after copying it to my PC to reduce the size and to make the Google Image Search (*) key into the flowers rather than general greenery in the overall image.
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(*) Google Image Search =by image= has got to be the neatest thing in the whole universe...I've used it multiple times over the last few months to actually successfully find answers to some questions - way cool.
It might be an apple. It looks a bit more like a pear to me, but without seeing mature leaves, that's a hard call to make. I'm basing my guess on the gray color of the wood.
In both apples and pears there are varieties that are flowering only and don't produce fruit. There are also a lot of varieties that won't produce fruit without a different variety close by to pollinate.
The bark on those twigs sure looks like crabapple to me. The blooms, too. It's odd that it would take all this time to bloom. Blame the decline in pollinators, maybe?
It might be an apple. It looks a bit more like a pear to me, but without seeing mature leaves, that's a hard call to make.
It could be an "ornamental" pear or apple for sure, if such beasts exist - that term vibrates a small bell somewhere in my ancient synapses (doesn't quite ring it...).
The leaves, when full size, have saw-tooth ragged edges. When I do a simple image search for "apple tree leaf" and "pear tree leaf", the apple tree leaf images that show up for sure have edges closer to what the subject tree has in the images I took today near the flowers - in other locations of the tree the leaves are quite small (immature) and have smooth edges. Right now, of course, the leaves are JUST starting to come out of buds so I can't run outside and take a picture of a mature one to post.
In any case, your and all replies are appreciated.
If this leaf is what you have, then you have a Callery Pear, or Bradford Pear. These are flowering trees that are often planted as landscape trees. I am surprised that it took so long to flower.
These pear trees often have a lollipop shape, that is straight trunk and a solid roundish mass of leaves. They are susceptible to storm damage.
Thanks for the reply but that particular image shows a leaf much rounder than the subject tree. Unfortunately, I've switched computers to one without access to the images I took, otherwise I'd find a leaf in one of the pictures and post it! Maybe in the initial image you can see an immature leaf peeking out from behind one of the lower right petals of a flower - that leaf, though not mature, has the same shape as the mature leaves.
Since there are all or near white cherry tree varieties here's a sample of the longer leaf some have ( Yoshino cherry variety) as well as the flower and bark. The Official Website of Central Park - Yoshino Cherry
Given the types of trees my neighbor has (dating from the OP orginal landscaper), I'm going to have to consider a number of different fruit trees - they do indeed have apples and plums. Maybe I'll walk over there and see if their flowers are out - what a concept, comparing flowers of trees from the same landscaper and landscaping event!
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