It may be to early to call, but I am prepared to bet that we don't get more than a couple of dozen apricots again this year off our enormous tree. The reason? Well, we are due to be gripped next week by a Moscow-Paris event. This is an easterly air stream direct from Russia, that sweeps through with a nice sharp wind to help the cold air on its way, and there isn't really much high ground between Moscow and Paris to stop it. Strasbourg is girding itself for will chill temperatures of around -20ºC, which is just not nice.
Apricot blossom is one of the most precocious after black thorn, and we already have the first flower open on our tree. It is frost hardy down to about -5°C if not too prolonged otherwise about -2 or -3°C. So that is looking iffy already. The fruitlets are not frost hardy at all, and if we lose a crop (which happens most years in fact), it is generally because there has been a sharp frost in late March.
Apricot blossom is one of the prettiest, it is just a pity we so rarely get fruit!
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