I left Michigan March 30th for China, right after most of the cherries were gone and pears were still blooming. I did not check the apples but they must be blooming since some crabapples were blooming. I was lucky this year since Michigan was about 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule, while they were 2-3 weeks behind here in China. This allowed me to see cherries and pears blooming all over again (although I tried to shoot peach flowers in Michigan and missed them), while normally I would have missed both (too early when I left Michigan and too late when I got here).
I was working day and night on manuscripts but I did manage to escape, after lunch, to visit a peach garden and a pear one, both part of the Jiangxi Agricultural University.
April 2, 12:40 (I forgot to adjust my camera time, so it shows the old Michigan time before the clock was “sprung ahead” (i.e. shown as April 1, 23:40). Nanchang, Jiangxi, China (28.46º N, 115.49 º E) .

1. Peaches seems to be in peak bloom.

2. Part of a tree, the “bokeh” of defocused background flowers make it nicer looking.

3. Closeup of two flowers. Some are more pink, others whiter. Not sure if it is age of the flowers or different varieties. But the color variation among these two flowers (left one is whiter).

4. Apis cerana (the Eastern hive bee, or the Asian honey bee) foraging on peach flowers.

5. Apis cerana working on peach flowers. It seems to be working for pollen.

6. Another shot.

7. Apis mellifera (the Western hive bee, or the Western honey bee), also working on peach flowers.

Best,

Zachary Huang, in Jiangxi, China (11:35 pm, April 7, 2012)