Tuesday 19 February 2008

Spring

Last week we had four beautiful days of sunshine: almost as many as we could expect in a whole Donegal summer. This week we've had four consecutive nights of frost, including the coldest night of the winter so far (-5 Celsius). Imagine my surprise when I looked outside my window today and saw:I usually expect to see Willow catkins around the first week of March. In that case I need to get out and look for Blackthorn and other Prunus flowers: they are usually out at the same time as the first catkins. This is proving to be a very early year (Daffodils are out in a few locations, too.)

4 comments:

Gill said...

I love pussy willow - is this goat willow?

Anonymous said...

near my house in Belfast there is a damson (or wild plum) which has been in bloom for a week or more. The bloom is just "going over" now, with the tell-tale shimmer of the green leaves following. There is another one in the corner of the walled garden at Lady Dixon Park, Belfast, which flowers at the same time as ours every February. That one usaully manges to keep some fruit, prob due to its shelter.

Stuart said...

Goat would be the closest, although they're all hybrids.

Gill said...

Goat would be the closest, although they're all hybrids. Of course :-). I should have said "Is this 'goat' willow?"