This past March, we were lucky enough to receive a Scarlet Prince dwarf peach tree from the MillionTrees NYC project, an initiative aiming to plant one million new trees in New York City. 

I was beyond excited to be able to watch a real live fruit tree in action, and here are a few shots of the tree as it has changed over the spring, first blossoming and then fruiting.

from April 2 - these guys flower early! 

from mid-April, close-ish to full bloom

Peach fruits mature in three stages. Stage 1 lasts for about 50 days after the tree reaches full bloom (mid to late April, in our case). This is when most of the cells in the fruit divide, but the peach itself remains pretty small. 

peaches in stage 1, from late May

Stage 2, where I'm estimating we are now (June 11), is when the pit hardens. It can last for only a couple days, or it can stretch on for weeks and weeks, depending on what kind of tree you have. Our tree is a relatively early producer, so this stage should be on the shorter side. 

stage 2, as of June 11 the peaches are still pretttty small

Lastly, in stage 3, the fruit grows large through cell expansion, as the cells fill with water and sugar. I'm hoping our peaches will be ready to go in late July - stay tuned!