I'm ready for my close-up, the follow up

So yesterday afternoon I posted some of the pics I'd taken on April 23, 2014 of the various fruit trees in the yard. I wanted to document some of their progress this year, especially since we had such a harsh winter. Now let's jump ahead to pics I took May 5, 2014 and see what's changed with some of the trees.  I realize now I didn't get so many pictures of the fruit trees as I did other flowers around the garden (see tomorrow's posting!)...I'll have to get some more pictures soon.

Here's the 4-in-1 cherry tree.  There's definitely not a ton of flowers opening on this tree - even if I DO get cherries from it, you're definitely not going to be making any pies from just this one tree!

Now check out one of the two Asian pear trees!

Wow, that's a lot of blooms!  Unfortunately, what I'm not seeing out in the yard right now are pollinators - where have they all gone!?  I know a few weeks ago anything that was flowering (such as the willows) was COVERED in bees and flies.  Now - next to nothing.  The neighbor is speculating it's because the insects were lured out with warm weather after a long, rough winter, and then we had some really chilly coldsnaps that killed them off.  I know I've noticed gaps in our insects in previous springs - I don't know if there's been big die-offs and then they repopulate, or perhaps they're staying in because it was still chilly weather (40s and 50s) when I was taking these pictures.  Let's hope we see more bees and flies out as the weather warms up later this week!

And here's a new one!  I've been working on the weedly, neglected spot at the back of our property, digging out forsythia I planted there years ago, covering the area with newspapers, grass clippings, and leaves from last fall's donations, fertilizing, and planting with a couple more fruit trees, magnolia, freebie tulip bulbs (probably won't make it), and gifted ditch lilies (thank you Ashley!).  For fruit trees I added a Blushingstar peach from Donzells, and a semi-dwarf Gala apple from Lowes.  Now I don't have many years experience with fruit trees at this point, but just from looking at the following picture, I would've assumed it was a peach because it's got pink blossoms about to open!

Nope, that's the Gala apple!  I'm curious to see if these petals turn white as they open (or are hiding white petals under the pink ones), or if apples can have pink blooms.  Maybe most apples bloom pink?  Since most of my apple trees have struggled the last few years, I haven't really seen them covered in blooms yet.  This could be the year that teaches me about apple blossoms!  (Hunh, then again, I have an Apple Blossom amaryllis and it DOES have both pink and white on it's petals!)

Check back soon and I'll try to remember to keep posting more fruit tree progress....