GARDENING:

Trusty catkins will soon be at their f luffy, brightest best

THERE’S a point in winter when things suddenly seem less grim. The sun creeps higher at noon, robins sing with more bravura ... and catkins appear in the hedgerows. Pussy willows will soon produce silverfurred catkins. Hazels will burst into life by roadsides and in woodlands. Both can be pretty in a garden. As spring arrives, catkins on male pussy willows expand, showing golden stamens. Pollen is airborne but early bees also feast on it giving flowers on female trees a double chance of being fertilised.

Hazels carry catkins and female flowers on the same plant. The latter are tiny red tufts, growing lower down on the branches. They make attractive garden shrubs. Hazel catkins lengthen as they mature, shedding pollen. Sometimes you’ll see puffs of the golden dust, carried off on the wind. Wild hazel is attractive but there are better-looking, more productive garden varieties.

Other plants bear catkins, too. These include alders, birches, certain poplars and even oaks – all substantial trees. But willows vary from tiny, craggy shrublets to creeping ground-cover plants or substantial trees. All are easy to grow and to manage.

GOING FOR GOLD

A GOLDEN alder tree, Alnus incana Aurea, in my garden gives several shows each year. Now reddish male catkins are beginning to extend. Those hang among last year’s ‘fruits’ which resemble tiny pine cones. The spring foliage will be golden, turning green for summer, then gold again for autumn.

Alders grow large. But you can prune hard to maintain a manageable size. Hazels can also be controlled by judicious pruning. They grow naturally as multi-stemmed coppices. New shoots come from the ground, so you can thin those out.

Hazels bear the earliest and prettiest catkins. They’re a joy in the woods or on country walks. But for a garden, selected varieties look better.

The finest, Corylus maxima Purpurea, is a tall shrub with large, beetroot-red leaves. Mine produces plump nuts each autumn but the squirrels usually beat me to those. Golden-leaved C. avellana Aurea also has fine autumn colour.

Corkscrew hazel, C. avellana Contorta, is quirky. I brutally prune mine every few years to prevent tangled branches.

TANTALISING TASSELS

THE longest catkins belong to Garrya elliptica, the evergreen silk tassel bush.

Males have the longest catkins. James Roof or Evie are both male, the latter having wavy leaf-margins. From midwinter, pale grey-green tassels appear, which can reach 20cm or 30cm by late spring.

Though happy as free-standing shrubs, Garrya performs well on a wall, especially in cold regions. If you find the summer foliage too dull, relieve it with nonrampant annual climbers such as Rhodochiton or black-eyed Susan, Thunbergia alata.

The compact black pussy willow, Salix gracilistyla Melanostachys, is a conversation stopper. Jet-black spring catkins contrast with red bark. Later, it sprouts bright red anthers.

For tiny spaces, plant groundhugging dwarf willows. Slow grower, Salix x boydii is compact with pewter-green leaves. In contrast, Salix nakamurana var yezoalpina, rapidly forms a silvery green carpet.