Catkins

When I visited Yorkshire Sculpture Park last week, I noticed that there were lots of catkins out. Lambs-tails; catkins; words that evoke animals, they are particularly evocative of this time of year. The vulnerable, trembling growths, green with the promise of the coming Spring. The first real greening of the land. Catkins and Snowdrops are the heralds of the change in the seasons; and both are in full flower at present.

Gardeners are saying we should have a good show of Snowdrops, as the cold spell we had in winter last year will have encouraged them to flower more profusely. I hope so; nothing raises the spirit more than these tiny white flowers pushing through the cold earth.