Buds and flowers are appearing in the forest. Male catkins are emerging on the california hazelnut (Corylus cornuta var. californica), above. And, more excitingly, so are the bright red styles of female slowers.
Yep, hazel is monoecious (separate male and female flowers on the same individual plant). Last fall I blogged about hazelnut here.
Western coltsfoot (Petasites palmatus) is also emerging. The inflorescences look like little wrapped bouquets, don't they? Each of these rosy buds will stretch away from the stalk forming an umbel-like spike. Then they'll each open as a white "daisy."
Western coltsfoot next to my foot, for scale. The leaves can grow at least twice as large as the leaf shown.
Ribes sangineum is nearly flowering. I never noticed that there were floral bracts just as pink as the flowers. 
And some of the willows (Salix spp.) are forming their silky catkins.
There are other things blooming in the forest. The Vaccinium ovatum has been at it for a while, and so has Claytonia sibirica.
5 comments:
Lovely photos--so far ahead of us in cold, snowy, icy Nova Scotia--and some different plants, too, of course. Beautiful.
Very enjoyable to join you in your walk in the woods. The petisites is very exotic, good idea to show your foot for sizing. We have darmera, a similar plant, I think and someone gave me a gunnera, I am a little frightened by the size of that one. And thanks for the mention over at Garden Rant, it is very much appreciated.
Frances at Faire Garden
I wish my Petasites would flower.
I guess I've never noticed the colored bracts on Ribes either. What I have noticed is that sometimes the flowers come before the leaves, sometimes after one leaf, sometimes two, sometimes after three or more, sometimes the stem drops from between the leaves, sometimes beneath the leaves... Very variable.
Great minds think alike! I'm going to post about witch hazel in just a few minutes. As for your Petasites...I grow a different species in my garden and was excited to eat it in Japan last spring, both the scapes and the flowers.
Jodi, good luck with the ice and snow. Nova scotia, wow, that is an awesome landscape.
Frances, We don't have any Darmera on the property, but it's been on my list for a long time (it's a native around here in northern CA)and I know just where to put it. So one of these days. You're very welcome for the mention.
Chuck, we have quite a bit of R. sanguineum on the property and that's absolutely true.
Ellen, when I saw the red styles on the hazel I thought, so this is why witch hazel is called witch HAZEL, even though they're in different families. I guess their leaves and forms are similar too. Interesting.
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