We woke up to snow this morning, yet despite that and the 60 F days we had a week or so ago, today is the first day it’s really felt like spring to me. I think it started last evening on a walk. It was cold, dark and broody; I could tell it was snowing on the surrounding mountains and that it would probably soon start snowing on me. I had had a bad day and had gone on a walk after the kids were in bed to clear my mind and burn off some steam. My mood perfectly matched the weather.
And then I saw them - daffodils!
My neighborhood is oddly bereft of those many harbingers of spring: snow drops, winter aconite, crocus. But, suddenly, there in the the darkening twilight was a bright spot of daffodils. My mood instantly lifted. I knew spring was here.
Then today, I noticed more signs of spring: greater variety and number of birds, green grass poking through the brown thatch, weeds (bur buttercup, shepherdspurse, poison hemlock) sprouting along the path.
I started looking up at the trees. Were any of them starting to flower? You have to look closely to find those first tree flowers of spring - they’re not going to be showy. But they’re there. And I found some! Catkins.
Catkins are a curious type of flower. Curious, as in the “strange, unusual” definition. Seeing them reminded me of a blog post I wrote a year ago, so I thought I’d share a version of that here today, in honor of these first signs of spring.
catkin: a spike-like, usually – though not always – pendulous, inflorescence of unisexual, apetalous flowers.
Each catkin is either a group of only male or only female flowers. Some types of trees have both male and female catkins on the same plant (monoecious = one house), others have only one or the other (dioecious = two houses) on a particular plant.
Catkins, as you can imagine from their homely, non-descript appearance, are generally pollinated by the wind. If you happen to suffer from early spring allergies and are wondering which tree to blame, look for the ones with the catkins and you might find your culprit.
The photo above is an aspen catkin. In the following photo, you can see the two different types of catkins found on an alder tree. Other trees that have catkins include: birches, willows, hazel, hickory, and mulberry.
I’d love to hear what is making you grow curious this week. You can let me know by leaving a comment below.
I will keep my eyes peeled for catkins! We have seen some fattening buds lately. And dandelions are blooming in our yard! Spring is like a surprise.