concerned - apple tree blooming mid-August zone 6

DH rescued this apple tree from an orchard that was going to be turned into houses. She was originally planted in mostly clay, age and variety unknown, although she looks to be fairly old. She survived a several hundred mile trip from the CA San Joaquin valley floor at near 100*F temps to go up through the Sierra Nevada where it was in the high 30's and then "down" to 4,200 feet to more 100*F temps and lots of sand (although we tried to ammend a large hole for her). Her root ball was about 5 ft in diameter, though her branches spread about 10 feet. The temps did not come down under 100 for the next two months. Of course, she lost all of her leaves and had major transplant shock. In fact, although I watered her faithfully, until last month, I figured she was dead. Then two weeks ago, when the day temps dropped to the low to mid 90's and the night temps dropped to the low 60's, she burst into leaf - not full leaf, but some. She's been gaining more leaves each day, but still isn't what I would call fully leafed out. Then, this weekend, I noticed that she has 5 flowers (which the bees were all too happy to investigate)... does she think it is spring since she finally came out of dormancy? I am just starting to slow down on the watering from 3 times a week to twice a week and next week will be the first once a week week if the temps will drop to under 90*F. So the questions being, will the tree go back to sleep in a few months now that it's finally awaken? Should I continue watering this particular tree twice a week for another few weeks so that it can get some leaf out and food into itself before shutdown time? Since it's hormones are all messed up, will she survive winter? She was slated to be bulldozed, so if we loose her and she becomes a snag for the mocking bird to sing in, it will be OK, but if I can save her and have her be something else green in this sand patch, I'd much prefer that. (I'd be overly lucky to think that one of the two other apple trees I have would just happen to be a good pollinator for her, so I won't expect any apples...however, if I did get apples next spring, I think I'd pull them all when tiny so she could spend the season getting stronger and established) Any suggestions, encouragement or comments welcomed. I DO so love battling the odds :-)

kmom,
It's not uncommon for apples to throw some late summer blooms, especially if they're stressed; doesn't necessarily portend oncoming death. I noticed one of my crabs last week had a couple of blooms open, and I've seen a tree or two around town with a smattering of blossoms here and there. No biggie.
Keep watering your tree, as needed, until it goes dormant for the winter - and even into the winter, if your ground is unfrozen and you don't have sufficient rain/snowfall..

Thanks for putting my mind at ease, Lucky. Don't know how these things become like children...

Here in the high desert, we water 12 months out of the year if we expect anything to survive :-) Any time it warms up enough for the smattering of snow to melt, we add a dose of water from the well to coinside with it. Only problem is that in the winter all the drip irrigation stuff has been put away, and it's dragging hoses around and using the water tank on the back of my ATV (at least I'm not watering by filling up the bucket in the tracktor any more!).

Thanks again. K

Ahhh, K, what the dedicated gardener will do to have plants around her! ;0)

What too many people call "a green thumb" is to me just being willing to do the work necessary to keep things alive and looking good.

CJ

Well, CarolJeanie, we shall see who is the more determined - Mother Nature and her allies in the High Desert: desicating winds, day time temps in the mid 90s, night time temps in the high 50s, alkali sand with no organic matter, and alkali water or me and my DH. We're winning on the tree front right now, but loosing sorely on the vegetable garden side. All in all, we're holding our own -- for the moment :-) Thanks for the encouragement in this folly. Don't know why I just can't let The Desert be. I seem to like hitting my head against brick walls! ...mulch, mulch, mulch... mulch, mulch, mulch...