In bloom this week: Feb. 2, 2016

Contorted hazelnut in the park

The groundhog would have seen his shadow here today, but apparently Pennsylvania is what counts. I won't complain if we do have an early spring this year, even if I am still hoping for snow.

The first spring after we moved in, 13 years ago, we planted a lot of edibles including four native hazelnuts (corylus cornuta) along the bottom of the south fence line. They grew slowly but eventually took off and are now exactly what we had imagined - for once!
The male catkins on the hazelnuts have been out for months, which is always a nice bit of winter interest, along with the red branches. I've never watched for the female flowers, I didn't even know what to look for. But I do now, and found them in bloom on a different variety of hazelnut in the park just down the street (picture above). I'm watching my trees closely now!.

Hazelnut catkin in my yard

Some years later, we got sick of mowing the hillside next to the hazelnuts and planted Oregon grape and flowering currant bushes. They could use some pruning now, they've grown far larger than I expected, but these are two of my favorite types of flowering bushes. I love how vivid the flowers are when not much else is growing yet. It's too early for the currant to bloom, but the Oregon grape are so very close - see the hint of petals opening on the right side?

Oregon grape, buds just starting to open

The wintersweet and rosemary continue to bloom, as discussed last week.