Winter Blooms of the Loquat

The loquats are in full bloom this time of year, and even more than last year if I recall. They must be digging these once weekly shots of rain juice. There are two great things about this. One, the flowers exude a very subtle sweet perfume, which is always welcome in the winter months. Second, blooms mean future fruits. The warmer temps this year are also encouraging honey bees to venture forth from the hives. I'm not sure if the loquats depend on them to set fruit, but it can't hurt.

Our loquats are still pretty full and growing up front. Someday they may be large beastly tree-hedges. And that's cool with me. They make a nice dark green wall to shield our view of the street (is there anything uglier than a street?).

These trees are from southern China, and I saw many of them wither during the drought over the past summer. They seem much like our native Wax Myrtle only in that they require more water than you might think. We didn't get any fruits last year, so I'm crossing my fingers for a bunch of the pale orange sweet fruits this year. They taste much like apricots and are great in granola. I'd love to make a loquat cobbler or something like that, but have never gotten enough of the fruits...maybe this year.