Now is the time to start watching out for flowering Aspen trees. The early signs of flowering are the fattening flower-buds. Unlike leaf-buds, which are pointed, flower-buds are rather round and occur in clusters of 2-4 together. As March progresses, buds open out to form catkins. Sometimes there are just a few catkins on one branch, occasionally the whole clone flowers.If you see any signs of flowering, please take photos and a note of the location, and send us an e-mail.
Hello John,
ReplyDeleteVery encouraging to see your 2020 vision being rolled out. I have an aspen, partly in flower, in my garden at Holydean, Melrose NT 536303. This was grown from a root cutting from Gordon Moss SSSI NT631426 taken in 1995 and now a towering tree. This is the second time I have had catkins, last time was in 2005. However, the catkins appear to have shrivelled up and dropped off now (14.4.11). In my work with Tweed Forum, I have a few riparian sites where we could plant aspen - are you active in the Borders - we need to get this project off the ground - can you encourage Borders Forest Trust to partner you? I have previously collected aspen roots in the Borders and D&G for the Carrifran Wildwood, which now has c. 20 clones, and planted c. 5000 aspen - we now have our own suckers and groves of aspen.
Best Wishes
Hugh Chalmers