The King's Fruit

The King’s Fruit White apple blossom petals fall like castle fairy snow Their sweet perfume replaced by tiny green clustered globes Vying for the knighted honor as the one royal King’s Fruit When ladybugs arrive in polkadot armor as handmaids resolute To do battle with pests that leave their sticky stain on virgin leaves Till the chosen reach autumnal monarch maturity. 5-18-21 Contest: Bite Size Poem 3 Sponsor: Line Gauthier Apple blossoms come in clusters of five or six flowers. Many turn into a tiny globe that could become an apple. As each globe starts to grow they need to be thinned leaving only the largest and healthiest apple. This apple is called “the King’s Fruit.” Ladybugs are the natural predators of aphids that damaging the foliage and developing apples leaving a sticky residue on leaves. Ladybugs arrive in the spring all on their own. Little miracles.