the king of catkins

because our spring arrived almost two weeks late this year, the usual sequence of spring awakening is all happening at one time. typically, catkin season precedes the fiddleheads which precedes the blooming of the  woodland spring ephemerals. but not this year. it is an explosion of generative activity right now. these cottonwood catkins were half this size only yesterday. in a day or two those buds will burst and white cottonwood fluff will fill the air and make it look like snow in may. which will cause a few people to shudder, considering how we were still having real snow only a few weeks ago.

cottonwood catkins