March 2, 2013 -- fasciated willow and cryptomeria

What I like about this is the source of the materials. Today was sort of a cold, gray day on average, but this morning I was outside when the air was relatively warm for a while and the sun almost peeked out. I was enjoying being outside, and gardening! Some things that had seemed impossible to do suddenly seemed possible--like cutting down an overgrown fasciated willow and cleaning out part of the shed. From the shed (an old bucket of greens) came these very small sprigs of cryptomeria (the feathery evergreen foliage). And from the tips of the fasciated willow (pussy willow with flattened stems) came these pussy-willow-like twigs. I actually harvests lots of twigs--a bucketful--from the fasciated willow, because they were way too pretty to throw away, and I'm hoping they'll root.