It’s blossom time on the Old Mission Peninsula. That means the sweet cherry blossoms are blooming right now, and a few tart cherry blossoms are starting to bloom, too.
The photos of sweet cherry blossoms in this story were taken yesterday – Monday, May 3 – on Carpenter Hill in near town. It’s the first hill out of town where you can see the blossoms with the beautiful red barn in the background and East Bay beyond that. I’ve also heard it called Herkner Hill, because back in the day, the Herkners lived in the house where the red barn is located.
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Pretty soon, we’ll have apple blossoms, which are that lovely pink color. Hard for me to choose a favorite, being a farm girl and all, but I do love the apple blossoms with their beautiful hues.
My cherry-farmer brother, Dean Johnson, says everything is about two weeks ahead of schedule in the farming world, and my blossom postings from last year confirm that. Last year, I posted my first photo here of sweet cherry blossoms on May 20, 2020 (about two weeks later than this year).
And by June 1 of last year, all the blossoms were pretty much done. Here’s the usual progression: sweet cherry blossoms, followed by tart cherry blossoms a few days later, followed by apple blossoms a few days after that.
So basically, we’ll have blossoms for the next week or so, ending with apples. Here are my best guesses for blossom times:
- Sweet cherry blossoms: Right now through May 6
- Tart cherry blossoms: Starting in the next day or two, say May 5 – 8
- Apple blossoms: Next week, say May 9 – 12
We’ll see how accurate I am by next week!
By the way, I’ve had a few requests for these blossom photos on wrapped canvas wall art, so I’m working on that for the OMP Store and hope to re-open the store within the next couple of weeks.
I’ll have many of the same products I’ve had – OMP tees, hats, mugs, car stickers, but will be ramping up more of the photo wall art, since I seem to get a lot of requests for that. I’ll keep you posted here on the Gazette.
A couple more pics of yesterday’s sweet cherry blossoms below. It’s interesting how the landscape has changed here over the last few years. There used to be a block of cherries farther down towards the red barn, but those have been taken out and re-planted with grapes.
So basically, if we’re driving north on Center Road, we don’t get the panorama of blossoms on that hill that we’ve had in previous years. I take photos here every year, so we can see how the landscape changes over time.
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I have a friend that is proposing on Friday. Any suggestions for a good blossom background?