Winter Catkins A writer on winter flowering shrubs, a most
prolific subject, expresses an almost venomous dislike of Garrya elliptica. It
has not, of course, the quaint freshness of the witch hazel, but it has long seemed to me one of the very best of the early catkin bearers. Miss Christina Rossetti in a notorious passage found some uncomplimentary comparisons for this type of flower : In the wind of windy March The catkins drop down, Curly, caterpillar-like, Curious green and brown.
But the Garrya catkins hang so very straight and long, subdued colours, that the caterpillar-like quality is eliminated. They may attain this longitude as early as December. Perhaps the most insect-like of the catkins, and one of the biggest, belongs to the balsam poplar ; and when they fall in early spring may cover the ground like leaves in autumn. In regard to the Garrya the male bush is much superior to the female.
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