Where Do Apple Blossom Flowers Grow?

Each apple blossom has the potential to produce fruit.

Every spring, apple trees hail the return of light and warmth by producing masses of pink or white blossoms. Proper care for your tree requires understanding where and how these blossoms grow.

Types of Buds

Apple trees produce buds both at the tips and along the sides of twigs and branches. Buds have the potential to develop into either leaves, flowers or, sometimes, a mixture of both. Buds at the end of short twigs tend to develop into blossoms, although some apple varieties also produce blossoms at the ends of longer branches. Buds emerging from the sides of twigs and branches, called lateral buds, produce leaves.

Time Frame

By late summer, the following year's buds have already begun to develop into leaf or flower buds.

Flower Clusters

Apple flower buds produce blossoms in clusters of five or six. Although this can result in abundant fruit, producing so many apples generates smaller fruits that taste less sweet. To produce large, tasty fruit, thin the small apples until only one fruit every 4 to 6 inches remains.

References

• Virginia Cooperative Extension: Training and Pruning Apple Trees
• North Carolina Cooperative Extension: Growing Apple Trees in the Home Garden