Come late spring the entire floral world is standing to attention as delphiniums and hollyhocks, verbascums and veronicas reach for the sky. But right now, the trend seems to be in the opposite direction, as if the garden is emptying its pockets as flowers and emerging leaves droop and dangle. This trapeze-like tendency is led by catkins, specialised flowers that decorate the branches of certain deciduous trees. Willows, poplars, hazelnuts and alders all have strange, pendulous clusters. They perform early so their pollen can free-fall and be carried by the wind to pollinate other flowers without a leafy cloak getting in the way.
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