January Sunshine

Today was a glorious January day. The sky was a clear, bright blue, and the temperature hit somewhere in the mid-fifties. It was very hard to imagine all of the cold & sub-zero temperatures that the rest of the country is battling right now. In fact, it was very hard to imagine that Spring is still 2 months away! Of course, I had to get out of the house and go for a walk. The wild Filberts on the property are just now beginning to "bloom".  The male flowers are represented by catkins. In Winter the catkins are short, sausage shaped tubes in a dull brown tone. As the weeks progress they lengthen to up to two inches and turn a pale green/yellow color as the pollen is released.

Above is a shot of some branches and the male catkins. Below, the young catkins and their bract-like scales.

I also found some interesting moss on my walk. The intricate patterns really popped in the bright sunshine.