In the Pink

It's a peach of a tree, but it isn't a peach. 

It's a nectarine, a close variety of the peach--the result of a genetic mutation.

In between the rain storms, honey bees are nectaring the nectarines and packing pollen, getting ready for the spring hive build-ups.

Like peaches, nectarines originated in ancient China, and not in Persia, as the botanical names, Prunus persica (peach) and Prunus persica var. nucipersica (nectarine), might suggest.

European colonists began growing nectarines in America as early as 1616, historical documents show. That's the same decade that the colonists brought the honey bee to America. So non-native honey bees have been nectaring the non-native nectarines in what is now the United States for almost 400 years.

Two things haven't changed much in four centuries: the beauty of the delicate pink blossoms and the beauty of the industrious bees.

A sure sign of spring...