The hardy kiwis are finally blooming, and the bumblebees found them before I did! For those of you keeping track at home and waiting for your own vines to fruit, our kiwis have been in the ground for nine long years. So the report that hardy kiwis bear in two years from cuttings didn't quite pan out in our neck of the woods.

One of our female vines flowered two years ago, actually, but without a male flower no fruit was set. That's despite the stamens clearly visible in the female flower (shown at the top of the image on the right).

Now that we have male flowers (one of which I'm holding near the bottom of the photo), I can see the difference --- the males definitely go all-out on the pollen-production front. Fingers crossed this is the year we taste homegrown kiwi fruits!