Happy Arbor Day from the pussy willow I just discovered growing on the boulevard a few blocks down the street from my house. Yesterday morning, the sky was intense blue and the sun was shining through the plant's yellow pollen. It was quite a sight.
I stopped to try and capture it, but was not very successful.
This is what its shape looks like overall:
And these are my attempts to make my phone camera show what the colors were like:
Pussy willows (Salix discolor), as you may know, are native to most of the northern United States and most of Canada, and are excellent for early pollinators. That yellow pollen is food for a range of bees, and the plant itself is the larval host to almost 20 species of butterflies and moths.
Once the catkins and pollen subside in the spring, the pussy willow becomes a fairly plain green shrubby tree thing, which I think explains why I hadn't noticed this fairly young one before. But I'll be watching for it next spring as Arbor Day approaches.
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