Amazing Peaches

I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph a peach orchard near Yuba City full of ripe peaches last week.

Let me start by saying that peaches are my favorite fruit, bar none. I look forward to July, August, and September so that I can sink my teeth into juicy, delicious peaches. For me, there's nothing like it.

This particular orchard was full of amazingly ripe fruit, and it took all of my willpower to not grab a peach off a tree and devour it. But I was there to capture the beauty of the fruit, not steal, so as tempted as I was, I didn't touch a thing.

But I did manage to steal a number of wonderful images of peaches on the tree... and I stopped at a fruit stand along Highway 70 on the way back and bought two bags of yellow and white freestones, as well as a few nectarines for my wife.

Almond Orchards in the Summer

My typical almond orchard post comes in February or March and showcases the incredible winter almond bloom that can cover miles of the valley with white flowers. Once the bloom is over, the leaves emerge on the almond trees, and the orchards become drab green tunnels until the leaves unceremoniously fall off in the fall.

But I thought I'd shake things up a bit by posting some images of the orchards as they look in the heart of the summer.

The orchards themselves are fairly difficult to photograph well because the deep shade contrasts so harshly with the bright sun.

But it is possible to get some nice shots of the almonds themselves, which at this time of year are covered with green fuzz.

I will post more as the nuts mature.

Hi-Res Panorama of the Almond Bloom

Though I don't do it too often, I really enjoy making super high resolution images using Microsoft ICE to stitch images together.

My most recent hi-res image is a 48 image stitch of an almond orchard in bloom in the Sacramento Valley.

A 48 image, 300 megapixel stitched image.

The stitched image is 26,253 x 11,443 pixels, or about 300 megapixels - easily big enough to print mural size.

100% blowup of a small section of the image.

When do the Almond Trees Bloom?

I was recently talking to a agricultural finance company about working with them on some images of their farm clients, and they wanted to know when the almond trees in the Sacramento Valley bloom. "Mid- to late-February," was my off-the-cuff response.

But I actually have better data than that. I've been photographing the almond bloom virtually every year since 2002 (see the chart below), and have an extensive library of images - complete with the exact date each image was taken.

Over that decade plus, I have nearly 140 almond bloom images in my library. The earliest I've ever taken a photo of the almond bloom was February 12th (in 2011 - a particularly early year). The latest was on March 8th. Of course, the orchards probably begin to bloom a bit earlier and last a bit later, because I try to shoot at the peak of the bloom.

You can see in the chart below that the peak of the almond bloom typically falls in the last week of February or occasionally in the first week of March.

Peaches in Bloom

As you can tell by the past few posts, the Sacramento Valley is a wonderful and colorful place to be in the spring.

Perhaps my favorite bloom of all is the peach bloom, which typically takes place about the same time as the prune bloom, a couple of weeks after the end of the almond bloom.

These photos were taken in an orchard near Marysville. Click on each image to enlarge.

Almond Bloom in Full Bloom

This year's almond bloom was late starting, but came and went very quickly.

Fortunately, I was able to get out during the peak of the bloom in the orchards near Durham and captured some wonderful images. Click on the images to view larger.

Enjoy!

Almond orchard south of Durhan

Almond orchard south of Durham

Almond orchard south of Durham

Almond orchard near Dayton

Almond orchard near Durham

Almond orchard near Durham

It's That Time of Year Again

If you live in California's Central Valley, you know exactly what I'm referring to: the annual almond bloom - that time of year when the valley becomes an endless fragrant sea of white (click on images to enlarge).

Rows of almond trees in bloom.

Almonds in bloom, Glenn Coutny

Almond blossom at sunset.

Almond flower

I spent several busy days out among the blossoms, and over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting the results of my efforts at dodging clouds of bees.

February - Almond Blossom Month

Mid-February is special and particularly beautiful time in the Sacramento Valley; the time when the hundreds of thousands of acres of almond trees bloom.

California produces 80% of the world's almonds, and winter wouldn't be complete without the endless sea of white flowers that appear for two weeks every year.

Here is a sample of what the orchards look like during the bloom (you can see my full set of almond orchard images on my main website):

Walnut Orchards in the Fall

The autumn leaf colors in the Sacramento Valley this year have lasted longer than most years. I've gotten several sets of great images of fall color from Chico's Bidwell Park. In addition, this has been a great year for color in the walnut orchards around the valley.

In many years, the leaves on the walnut trees just turn splotchy brown, but this year we've seen a lot of great color - mixes of greens and yellows - and even some golds - in the tree leaves. And the color is lasting longer than in most years. As a result, I've made several shooting trips this season just to photograph the walnut orchards as they change color.

Here are a few images from walnut orchards near Corning and Chico taken in the past week or so. I think you'll agree that walnut orchards can be amazingly beautiful at this time of year. (you can view the full set of recent orchard photos on my main Website).