March: Pusekätzchen

[bookscorpion]

I went out for a little walk this morning and found the first willow catkins - Pusekätzchen! They are an important flower for bees at this time of year, not just for honey bees but for solitary bees, bumblebees and solitary wasps.





dogwood



and a dwarf quince

Comments

[lilysea]

Today I learned that solitary wasps exist!

[bookscorpion]

There are so many species of them, and they are absolutely gorgeous. A lot of them are brood parasites on bees, bumblebees or other wasps - some wasps parasitise on wasps that parasitise on yet other wasps, it's wild. They're big predators on aphids and caterpillars for their brood.

[kaishin108]

Those are all so pretty. Spring, yippee! :)

[autobotscoutriella]

Ooh, those are so pretty!

[full_metal_ox]

I love how the name Pusekätzchen is perfectly intelligible to English-speakers; our prevalent term for the downy gray buds of Salix caprea is “pussy willow”.

[unicourtney]

Thank you for this!

[bookscorpion]

I thought about translating it but then I was like, no. People will figure it out :D

[liriaen]

Pusekätzchen, how cute is that? :) I only know them as Weidenkätzchen.

[bookscorpion]

:D I don't know how widespread it is but it was/is the common name where I grew up in the Sauerland, near the Ruhrgebiet.

[unicourtney]

How lovely! Thank you for sharing. :)

[yourlibrarian]

They look like little koosh balls!

[puddleshark]

Gorgeous! Thank you for these signs of Spring!

[shirebound]

Hooray for spring, and almost-spring! We wore short sleeves yesterday, and today snow is forecast. Crazy March!

[bookscorpion]

Temperatures dropped like 10°C by now, but at least it's not snowing

[linky]

Gorgeous photos!

[ranunculus]

What a lot of pollen on those catkins! Very nice pics.

[turlough]

Lovely photos of lovely flowers! I just saw our first salix kittens, all tiny and silvery so it's going to be weeks before they're yellow with pollen.

[scytale]

Ooh. What pretty flowers. Thank you for sharing!

And aww for the bees and wasps! I'm quite fond of the wild bees so I'm glad they have something to eat!

[adafrog]

Neat. :)

[pilottttt]

Beautiful! You have the most spring beauty there now.

[semielliptical]

Great close-ups! I love seeing the spring colors.