February 10, 2012 -- pussy willow

The other day, when I used alder in an arrangement, the male catkins kept developing in the house and dropped a shadow of yellow pollen under each catkin. The pussy willow I've brought in today will do the same thing, but I don't care! (See yellow pollen already developing on biggest catkin below.)

Here are some pussy willow twigs in a black gin bottle. The catkins on these twigs are bigger than most, because this is some sort of hybrid pussy willow I grew from a cutting collected at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. (I promise I didn't steal it; the cutting was one given me to use in an arranging workshop there. It rooted and has grown like wildfire.)