Blossoms in orchards make landscape look like cotton candy

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Peach blossoms pop out in the fruit orchards at Watt Farms on Route 98 in Gaines.

Watt’s has a mix of many apple trees with their white flowers and peach trees with their pink blossoms.

This is one of the most striking times to take a drive around Orleans County, with the orchards in bloom.

I like the looks of the orchard at Watt’s, where there are still many of the older-style fruit trees with the limbs in wild angles. It is quite a sight when the trees are blooming.

Many of the local orchards are now high-density plantings with the trees in perfect alignment and the branches trimmed nice and short. The fruit growers can pack in the trees and maximum the output with the high-density plantings. It’s easier too on the farmworkers who didn’t need to get as high on ladders.

Orleans County should promote the blossom season. This is one of the best times of the year.

These geese hang out and enjoy the spring day at Watt’s on Sunday evening.

It’s going to chilly on Wednesday and Thursday nights. It could drop to 27 on Wednesday night and 32 on Thursday. The colder temperatures could hurt the blossoms, diminishing the fruit crop. Chris Watt, the orchard owner, admitted he is a bit anxious about the chill.

He would like it to be warmer at night and to see the bees buzzing in the orchard, pollinating the flowers.