Now about real apple flowers. The first one is a cultivated form and hasn't a single flower yet; this one probably will need another week before being in flower:
The wild forest apple however, shown on the next two pictures, is already flowering though still not in full blossom: about a fourth to two thirds of all buds have blossomed already. My guess would be that in a couple of days these trees will be in full blossom. So as expected (and as usual) apple trees are a little bit behind pear trees with the latter already being in full blossom in and around Vienna.
This leaves us with a date to take down: today is the 4th of april, let us give it another two or probably three days until full blossom then on 6th or 7th of april we are speaking of apple flowering, and the vegetation period, beginning in Vienna.
This would be about 2-3 weeks early, compared to the average of the last decades. And even if you take in account that some cultivated forms like the one from the first picture still will take some time to flower it is obvious that this year everything begins to grow extremely early. (There even are already dandelions around, here in Vienna, which usually only appear nearer to the end of april and in may; around about the same time apple trees are supposed to flower, by the way.)
Look out for my next post on the apple flower approximately one year from now: I am really curious if next year probably even might beat this year's record.
