New and Unread Tree-Mails
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Eastern Massachusetts (Zone 5b)  jsf67 Apr 10, 2017 12:17 PM CST |
| This plant has been in our front yard, in a place where a shrub fits well, for many years. Maybe it is one of the many shrubs my wife purchased over the years. More likely it is a volunteer that looked right, so I didn't pull it. Last few years, I have pruned it aggressively to get it down each year to about 5 feet high in late December or early January when its leaves drop. It is the last deciduous plant in the area to drop its leaves each year. I probably never paid attention to it before in early spring, so I don't recall seeing these things emerge before the leaves. I don't have any idea what these structures are (I assume some reproductive role similar to flowers).  Is it a shrub? Is it a tree that I forced to stay shrub size with pruning? Without leaves, a photo wouldn't show the whole plant very well. It is just thin branches with a few of these things on them. So I just provided this close up of the unusual (so far as I know) structures. |
Name: Deb Pacific NW (Zone 8b)              Bonehead Apr 10, 2017 12:21 PM CST |
| Looks like catkins of some sort - perhaps a pussy willow? Pussy Willow (Salix discolor) I want to live in a world where the chicken can cross the road without its motives being questioned. |
Perthshire. SCOTLAND. UK    Silversurfer Apr 10, 2017 12:48 PM CST |
Agree Salix sp...common name willow. Those structures are the flowers...commonly called catkins. By pruning it hard in Dec/Jan you have in effect cut all the growing tip off where these would normally be. There are 2 different types of catkins...male catkins that produce yellow pollen and female catkins. http://68.media.tumblr.com/e47... https://www.google.co.uk/searc... Some willows have interesting black catkins. https://www.baumschule-horstma... Other willows have beautiful coloured twigs...red, yellow black. https://www.google.co.uk/searc... |
Name: Suzanne/Sue Sebastopol, CA (Zone 9a) Sunset Zone 15             |
| Parent entry in our database Salix Salix entries https://garden.org/plants/brow... |
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