I'm sorry folks--I just saw the comments about Goldensweet. I'm not that great at describing food--I guess I would say is they are really sweet with a hint of tart. Sweet like a Blenheim without the "candied" flavor an overripe Blenheim can get. (Is that what they mean by "vinous"?) Or maybe sweet like a Cot-N-Candy aprium but with more complexity and a little tartness. All I can say is every year I wait for the only grower who has them at the Farmer's Market to get them in (they are among the latest) and the first one I taste I always say: "They ARE as yummy as I remember!" (OK, now you all have me dying for an apricot!) Oh and to correct my above post, my Tardirouge has NOT bloomed yet--it is way later than Robada or Orangered, which now have fading blooms. And for those of you looking for late bloomers, one of my newest apricots, an Autumn Royal, still has not bloomed yet either! Carla in Sac

Ginny: Apricots in CA are susceptible to a fairly serious disease called Eutypa dieback. It is more likely to occur in coastal climates than inland but can be serious even in the central valleys. Control includes limiting pruning to July and August inland and August only near the coast. These are good times to prune for shaping or to control vigor. My only concern is that major pruning that time of yr can leave the tree susceptible to sunburn. What I'd probably do is moderate pruning to open the center of the tree. Also shorten some branches by cutting to a less vigorous side shoot heading in the direction you desire. Do this every yr and you will have the tree under control. Don't worry about making the wrong cut. The tree will survive and grow another branch. Then you will have another chance to get it right. In most places in CA at lower elevations apricots bear nearly every yr. The rest of the country can only dream of such. So don't worry about getting the perfect shape...you will get fruit on any shape tree in the good locations. You also might paint any freshly exposed branches with white latex paint to help avoid sunburn. The Fruitnut

FP, it varies greatly from one spot of the country to another how hard different types of apricots are to grow. The people that were having the problems above were not in Maryland, and I doubt that will be the problem here. Usually the apricots have already been harvested by the time the big heat hits in Maryland (this year was an exception to that). Generally in Maryland the problem with apricots is they split and rot. Many of the California apricots do that. Hopefully Jellyman will see this post and tell you about the dozen varieties of apricot that failed for him in Virginia, before he found Tomcot. I don't know if he ever tried Blenheim but he may have. I myself have three orange apricots I got from California and all three have been splitting and rotting like crazy, basically they are useless. I am going to remove them soon. I have a couple white apricots from California and they seem to be doing better. I don't know with certainty Blenheim will fail for you, but it is going to be very hard to grow. See below for an article discussing which apricots have worked in different parts of the US, outside of California. Scott Here is a link that might be useful: Apricots in the US

Your member page does not show your location, but most of zone 9 gets enough chilling, unless you are near the coast. Apricots, because of their early bloom time,can not be expected to be a dependable bearer every year. Don't worry about your blooming now, it won't affect next years bloom. The fact your trees have not started turning color would indicate you are in a reasonable location. Al