Lambstails and Pussy Willow

Our hazel trees fight for space among other trees in our garden, and have not all produced many catkins this spring. But those that have appeared are really pretty, and the bees have been buzzing round them the last few days.

Hazel (Corylus avellana)

We hope we will be granted some nuts for ourselves again this year; last year, with no single squirrel in the garden, was the first autumn we even SAW a ripe nut! However, a small – but very pretty – red squirrel has moved in this spring…

We also have a pussy willow growing just behind our house.

Pussy Willow/Goat Willow (Salix caprea)

The bees absolutely adore it! I love to just stand and listen to all that buzzy, noisy activity!

A few twigs look lovely in a big vase with some forsythia, which soon opens once brought inside. (I’ve been tempted again and again to bring in some flowering currant too, but remember my sister warning me that it smells terrible!)

These last two catkins are not actually in my garden, but down near the river, where they grow in profusion.

Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa)

European Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)