Predicting Bloom Time

Bloom times change from year to year. In the Kittitas Valley, pear trees always bloom earlier than apple trees. Sometimes pollinator limbs burst into bloom before the parent tree buds have opened. Unless a fruit tree is self-pollinating, you really want to be sure that the pollinating varieties bloom simultaneously with the producing tree to get the best possible crop.

Predicting bloom times can sometimes be more art than science. In early spring, at Eberhart Orchards, the trees are watched very closely for signs of change. A sudden shift in the weather patterns, a few days of unseasonably warm weather can bring trees into bloom very quickly.

Predicting bloom time is also a problem for the National Park Service each year. The Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. is scheduled so far in advance of the actual flowering of the trees, that a great deal of time and effort is spent in order to be as sure as possible, that the festival will run while the trees are in peak bloom. For the mathematically inclined, the National Park Service has prepared a formula which is the basis upon which the year's cherry blossom festival prediction is made.