In that case go ahead and enjoy the blossom, then pick the fruitlets off afterwards. The reason that I don't think you have to worry about the blossom distracting the tree from growing is that many apple trees will naturally drop some fruitlets in June if they realise they have set too many - so you are just helping the natural process. MM111 has a reputation for being the opposite of precocious so you are doing well to get blossom at this age.

whoops sorry petzold but I forgot to leave an important detail in that the tree rose is up high on an elevated deck... No deer would ever dare come close...and hurray for human decks scaring away rabbit fiends from my baby rose bands... Only an elevated deck is ever a safe haven from Bambi and Monster Rabbit... I am still thinking either a voracious big insect but I thought grasshoppers don't come out yet, and I'm not sure if a leafhopper can consume an entire bud within 4 hours time?, my BF thinks it must be a bird and that no leafcutter bee can fly off with a 2/3" bud, that it is too heavy, unlike a quarter-sized leaf cutting... And why those two small buds? I don't see any other leave "stalks" besides those 2 flower stalks being "cut"...Has anyone ever witnessed a leafcutter bee in action? what could be stealing my baby buds? P.S. I am finding a new bug problem as well... I found a spiral cluster of very black crusty looking too tiny to photograph type of bugs on some leaves of my tree rose... (color of black sesame seeds but a fraction of the size)... I tried wiping and squishing them into a napkin, eeeeew, I could feel their brittle shells smushing, IIIIICK! What are those? I am assuming that the other slight brown markings on the tips of my leaves are from thripes. AAAGH! my organic insectide which I sprayed 3x today! no thanks to rain, does not seem to be doing a very good job... Help!

Anna: There are two types of bloomage that an arborescens hydrangea can have: lacecap or mophead. The mopheads produce round white balls and the most famous of those is called Annabelle. The hydrangea in the above picture has a lacecap bloom instead. There are many arborescens varieties available for sale that are lacecaps but none should have the name Annabelle. It is possible that when you bought the plant, it was mislabeled. Or the nursery employee may have erred when giving this one to you. In this case of a lacecap bloom, the inner part of the flower is THE flowers. Pollinators are attracted to the sepals and pollinate the flower in the middle. Yes, the "things" in the periphery of the flower, what looks like white petals, are not flowers and are called sepals instead. Here are a few pictures or several types of lacecap Annabelles, all of which have proper names that do not include the word Annabelle in the name. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E5i-p5Gc3qs/TDYc8E5Q0cI/AAAAAAAAAu4/0ccBt7gv11k/s1600/5+hydrangea+white+dome.jpg http://hoosiergardener.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Hydrangea-Haas-plantsnouveau-edit.jpg https://wildridgeplants.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Hydrangea-arborescens-catalog-2013.jpg This is what a mophead Annabelle (a true Annabelle) looks like: http://plantinfo.co.za/userfiles/Hydrangea%20arborescence.jpg In some cases, an arborescens mophead plant can revert to an arborescens lacecap. That is what NHBabs is talking about. HU: Regarding the browning flower buds... one possibility is that the shrub is not getting evenly moist soil. That means it likes the soil is to be moist at almost all times. No periods of moist soil, dry soil, moist soil again, etc. Annabelle is very picky in this regard and I have managed to kill one during winter when winter was dry and I turned the automated drip "off" and forgot to turn it back "on". If you let the soil get a little too dry for its taste, the shrub aborts the blooms (all blooms, some blooms, just a few...). While the soil may be moist now, it probably was not moist enough before. Another possibility: a late frost in your area may have zapped the opening blooms.

simply looking at the plant ... i think you have a pretty good hold on how to care for this plant .... so dont go trying to love it to death ... it is never good to move or divide a plant when it is in flower ... if you can avoid such.. usually the worse that happens.. is that you ruin that years flowering ... [also try to avoid moving things in or near.. the heat of summer .. if it can be avoided ... less stress] when its ready .. you should definitely divide it ... i always do that with memory plants ... figuring the more i have.. the higher the odds that they all wont die for whatever reason ... it obviously like this spot.. so if you can just get a piece out of there.. to move to the front.. and leave part intact .... then you might be further ahead .... anyone???... can this be divided in situ???? never grew these.. so i defer to others on how and when to properly divide ... ken