Fertilizer would be a waste of money. As to when is bud set, first some Sorbus do not have consistent bloom every year. Second, they set fls ~like azalea, in mid-summer to early fall. Dan

buyorsell could be right, what you're seeing could also be quite normal. i say wait and see, those whorls could very well turn into leaves, and then new growth shoots which develop buds that flower. no pictures to tell for sure, but your description sounds like a very normal thing i witness every spring (for my zone, this happened about a month ago - yours seem to be behind mine - but maybe due to your zone). what looks like buds forming from each node of previous year's wood actually are fuzzy whirls of leaves tightly packed together (presumably to protect them from spring snaps). these unfurl into leaves and then grow out into side shoots that eventually develop buds which flower. they are flowering for me right now. can you tell me if this is the first sign of growth you see on your clematis? if so, that tells me these could be normal whorls and somehow your clematis are way way behind mine.

msmisk: Yes, I totally thought the Tamora I had was a hybrid Tea last year. The leaves and grow reminded me of hybrid tea. The not yet flowering bud looked like a HT bud, and when fully opened the flower looked like a HT flower past it's prime with the petals just sort of exploded everywhere. I couldn't find a photo of the fully opened bloom, but here are the bud blooms I found from 2009: This year my Carding Mill is pretty much doing the same thing almost. I find DA flowers can be inconsistent during the first bloom of the season, but the 2nd and 3rd flushes often resemble more of what you see in the catalog. Also according to the DA catalog Tamora was one of his older varieties which may explain the different look from the rest of his roses. helpmefind.com is where I turn to for a variety of user photos that help me determine if I got the wrong rose, it got mislabeled or anything else. Here are some of my Carding Mill photos from last year that I came across, looks nothing like this year's first flush: --------------------- Some more photos of this year's roses - not so shy now with the recent warm weather this weekend: Carding Mill Charles Renne Mackintosh Crown Princess Margaretta St Swithun Clg (DA sent me a bunch of these old and unwanted looking bare roots the year they still couldn't provide me with a grafted Generous Gardener - guess they really screwed up the grafting on those guys badly) Tamora Teasing Georgia The Alnwick Rose Windermere Still waiting for the following to open up their buds: Jude the Obscure, Queen of Sweden, Lady Emma Hamilton, Mortimer Sackler, The Generous Gardener, Sharifa Asma, Christopher Marlowe (the only new rose this year)

It's not a cross. It's just an environmental effect of exposure to some condition(s) most likely when the primordial flower buds where forming (way before pollination/fertilization occurs). Something in the environment altered the shape of the carpels (tissue that turns into the fruit) as they developed. Generally this happens more on lower/first fruits during cooler weather, changes in nutrition or even when people are spraying weed killers (auxin based which causes cells to elongate). It can also be combinations of those factors. Sometimes pear shapes form as the fruit is developing (post pollination/fertilization). This occurs in irregular growth periods (too fast or too slow) when the base of the corolla (collective yellow parts), which forms a ring at the base, constricts the growth near the stem attachment and produces "necks" like you show in your picture. Usually that's a cool weather thing but it can happen when there is also a sudden uptake in nitrogen and the corolla doesn't break loose. Think of it as constricting part of a balloon when it is blow up with air. Where the balloon is the developing fruit and your hand constricting the balloon is the base of the corolla. It's nothing to worry about. If you pay attention and continue to grow tomatoes you will notice this happen again some time. Most often in years where it's cool in the next few weeks after setting out. This is what happened this year where I live. Usually the first fruits are deformed in other ways or "catfaced" rather than elongated necks. So it's better to see this than big cracks or scared tissue. Here examples of "early" fruit that was deformed from cooler conditions just after planting out this year. I saw elongated necks on a few cherries and this kind of cat-facing in mine. Below is a first cluster fruit on a plant that has otherwise produced all round cherries.