March 7, 2012 -- black pussy willow

I like this, because it's just so simple: black pussy willow in a row of cylindrical tubes. They key to this, of course is having the container, which is a truly wonderful invention, because you can detach the tubes to make the line of cylinders as long or short as you want. I'm thrilled to have the black pussy willow, too. This is the first year I've allowed myself to harvest from it, because, in previous years, the deer were eating it down to a nub and there really wasn't much to cut. Last fall, I put a fishing line fence around it and now it's big enough to harvest a few sprigs.

The other great thing about using this container for the black pussy willow is that it allows you to see that both the stems and catkins are black.