I'm Following a Tree | May 2015
At last ... my silver birch has finally woken up and realised it is spring! I've kept a close eye on it since last month as a few people had warned me that the changes seem to happen overnight, and they were right.
The first changes were evident when I checked the tree on April 20th. The male catkins have doubled in length and turned yellow with their pollen.
There are new leaves, still quite small and strangely only on one side of the tree so far.
A week later on the 27th April, there are only a few male catkins left on the tree and all the pollen has been dispersed on the wind. The female catkins have appeared on all of the branches and will have been pollinated - these will remain on the tree gradually maturing and developing the seeds which will be dispersed in the autumn.
and the leaves I saw the week before have almost grown to their full size.
These last photos were taken a few days ago. The entire tree is now covered in leaves.
Although the tree is covered in leaves, there are still plenty of new ones waiting their turn.
Linking with Lucy at Loose and Leafy.
It is a pretty tree! I don't think we have them here. How cool the way you followed its sprouting.
ReplyDeletebetty
How young and fresh and full of life your tree is!
ReplyDeleteIt's only in the last few years I realised that birches had catkins (lambs' tails). As a child I always associated them with hazel hedgerows.
Enjoy Spring while it lasts...
All the best :)
My garden always seems to be at least two weeks behind everybody else's. Everywhere I go at the moment I see Laburnum in bloom, but not mine but this is not unusual it's always about two weeks behind everybody else's. D got a little scissor happy last year and cut it back so I'm not sure whether it will flower this year. It seems to have lots of leaves but can't see any of the lovely dangley blooms coming.
ReplyDeleteThe catkins are beautiful! I love the ribbing on the leaves, also.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful close-ups. Heart-lifting.
ReplyDeleteWhat a serene post with such stunning pictures, just perfect!
ReplyDelete