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What happens the first year after planting?

Notes from Deb Shubat, greenhouse manager at the University of Minnesota Duluth and our fruit tree resource person

Fruits

• Apples flower the first year. Pull off fruit because there are not good roots yet.You want your apple tree to make roots the first year, not fruit. It may be three years before you get flowers again.
• Asparagus plants are 1–2 years old when they are planted.Wait two years to pick and eat the asparagus, just let the ferny tops grow those first two years.
• Blueberries will usually flower and form a few berries the first year—not very many—keep a few to taste. You don't want to allow a big crop first year while the roots are establishing.
• Cherries are of the Prunus genus. They produce some fruit the first year; lots of fruit the second year.
• Black and red currants produce at least a few the first year because they usually have flower buds when you get them. They produce fruit on one-year-old wood, “last year’s wood.”
• Elderberry will need to establish for two years before blooming.
• Grapes will be probably take two years before you get the first grapes that will mature on the vine. You don't want to keep grapes that show up the first year. Don't stress the vine.
• Juneberries will produce first year, and it does not seem to stress plant very much to leave fruit on the shrub.
• Pears about same as apples. Dwarf Ure may bloom the first year, but don’t expect pears to set fruit for 3–4 years.  
• Plums are Prunus. They produce some fruit the first year; lots of fruit the second year.
• Raspberries will probably produce the second year after you get them. They have to grow up from the ground the first year. If you have a fall bearer, it would produce the first year (in late August–September).
• When rhubarb blooms, take the flower off so you get better food storage in the root.
• Strawberries should make some fruit the first year.

Ornamentals

• Bleeding heart blooms the first year.
• Burning bush is not planted for flowers. You won't notice the flowers, which are really small. This is planted for foliage, and if you have planted them in full sun they will get very intense red fall color.
• Lilacs may have flower buds when you plant them. A flower bud is two or three times bigger than a leaf bud and is on the end of the branch. Trim off flowers after they bloom, which allows more energy go into more flower buds for next year.
• Peonies will probably not make a flower the first year. If they do, you are really lucky, but they will be establishing strong roots and crown for the next spring.
• Potentilla may bloom first year.
• Roses are going to probably bloom the first year toward end of summer. You don't have to pull the flowers off the roses