Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Pussy Willows?

At the end of winter/start of spring some willows are among the earliest bloomers, providing nectar for the "early bird" - or should I say the early bee and other insects hunting for food seemingly long before any flowers are around.
For many people "Pussy Willows" are a sure sign of spring and a few branches with the fuzzy little catkins are picked for a vase.
What is a "Pussy Willow"? Some sources name the North American native willow Salix discolor and Salix caprea (Goat Willow, native to Europe and parts of Asia) as being pussy willows while other sources ad other Salix species under the title. In your mind, do you think "Salix discolor" when you hear pussy willow? or just any willow, blooming with catkins?
When you grow willows for basketry and/or cuttings, you most often harvest the rods before any catkins are visible, but this winter we had lots of snow in the field, so when spring "suddenly" came a few of my willows started to show their beautiful catkins.

These are from some "wild" willows that I have, maybe one of them is Salix discolor.

Salix dasyclados

Salix 'Americana'

Salix koriyanagi 'Rubykins'

Salix sachaliensis 'Sekka'
 
Salix viminalis
My Salix acutifolia doesn't show any catkins, but take a look at the blogpost about them at my blogger friend Vivian (Piletossen) - they almost look unreal.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

4 comments:

  1. Hi there. A shame you don't have catkins on your acutifolia. They are so pretty, when you take them inside in a vase.
    In my part of Denmark they grow along the roads and are full of catkins now. (btw same part of Denmark as you if I recall)
    A tiny detail - my name is Vivian :-)

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  2. Hi Vivian
    I am so sorry - giving you a new name is no tiny detail. There's no excuse (I know how it happened, writing late and just commenting on Vibeke's blog)and I have made a correction to the post. I apoligize.
    Lene

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  3. Hi Vivian
    I am so sorry - giving you a new name is no tiny detail. There's no excuse (I know how it happened, writing late and just commenting on Vibeke's blog) and I have made a correction to the post. I apologize.
    Lene

    ReplyDelete
  4. We have quite a few native willows here. I noticed they started blooming in February: the only show in town, literally.

    Christine in Alaska

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