In March and April you can admire them everywhere: the silvery, shimmering, fluffy willow blossoms, also known as willow catkins. The leaves are not visible at this point. When the catkins have withered, the willow is cut.
From March, the willow attracts bees with its sweet flowers
With its early flowering, which attracts with the pleasant scent of honey, the willow offers bees and butterflies a valuable source of food. The flowers appear as early as March, long before the first leaves appear. The willow bears either only male or only female flowers, which initially differ insignificantly from each other:
- male flowers: ovate, about 2-3 cm long, fall off in May/June,
- female flowers are initially smaller, but stretch to a length of approx. 6 cm by the time the fruit ripens, from which a capsule fruit develops.
tips
Due to the more attractive catkins, almost only male specimens are used for many breeds of willow.