We are having a soft wet Winter this time, we had a few mild frosty nights but that’s all so far, for tomorrow a severe storm is comming our way with lots of rain and very strong winds.
There are lots of plants budding as they think it’s Spring.
THIS SKIMMIA (SKIMMIA KEW GREEN) WILL SOON OPEN IT’S BUDS, AL LOT EARLIER THAN USUALAND THIS PASSIONFLOWER PLANT NORMALLY LOOSES MOST OF IT’S LEAFS IN WINTER BUT NOW IT STAYED TOTALLY GREEN AND IT IS ALREADY GETTING NEW LEAFSMY CORCKSCREW HAZEL (CORYLUS AVELLANA “CONTORTA”) IS COMPLETELY OVERGROWN BY ANOTHER PASSIONFLOWER AT THE MOMENT
 A SHOOT OF THE EUPHORBIA CARIACAS
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THIS BUTTERFLY BUSH SHOULD LOOK DEATH THIS TIME OF THE YEAR BUT IT IS FULL OF NEW GROWTH
As we had an extremely warm and sunny month of February everything started to grow and bloom.
THIS IS MY CORKSCREW HAZEL( corylus avellana contorta) AT THE END OF JANUARY
You can already see the small catkins here and there.
Exactly one month further (end of February) the SAME bush looked like this :
Above you can see the same tree and the catkins are already at the end of their bloom and loosing a lot of yellow pollen. Amazing don’t you think ? It never had so many catkins as it has this year.
The weather has changed a lot since last wednesday, it is a lot colder, windy and very wet but we need every drop we can get. Last Summer was the hottest and driest ever.
Have a great week all and I hope you can all see that Spring is underway.
For all of you who like to do some flower arranging with things from your own garden : Corylus avellana contorta, the cork screw hazel.
Do not confuse it with the Salix babylonica tortuosa, the curly willow.
So I bought a cork screw hazel because of its beautiful curly branches you can use all year round for your flower arrangements, they are beautiful in Spring with the long yellow catkins and all Winter long it looks like you have a sculpture in your garden. If I need them in Summer I remove the leafs.
HERE YOU CAN SEE HOW THEY CURL
AND HERE
This tree is very winterhardy, even in zone 4( that is down to 30 -40 ) F°in the US and you can plant it up to zone 8. Elsewhere it can take temperatures of -25 C° and even lower. It is happy in all sorts of soil, doesn’t mind sea wind and grows up to 3 to 5 meters (10-16 feet ) high and 3 to 5 meters ( 7-15 feet) wide, it is slow growing and you can keep it “small” by cutting off the branches regularly. It even gives you hazelnuts if you have another hazeltree nearby.
HERE YOU CAN SEE THE LONG YELLOWÂ MALE CATKINS AND THE FEMALE FLOWERS ARE THE TINY PINK DOTS .
For me this is a really good strong tree for my garden who gives me lots of branches I can use.
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