Spring is upon us, or at least I think it is. The calendar says we are in mid-April; however, the weather has a lot to be desired, with rain every other day and at times mixed with snow.

April showers bring May flowers. With all the April showers, the May flower show should be spectacular.

Looking back, March was a wet, cold month, yet the Pussy Willow gave us the hint spring is on the way.

Pussy Willow (Salix discolor) is known for its late winter display of gray catkins. What’s a catkin you might ask? A catkin is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, without petals.

Before the foliage emerges in the spring, male trees produce a showy display of catkins in late winter, about 1-1.5 inches long and are pearl gray and silky. The female trees produce smaller, less attractive, greenish catkins.

This plant is a dioecious species, meaning that male and female catkins appear on separate shrubs. Insect activity is minimal during late winter, and pollination occurs between the female and male shrubs primarily by wind. The male catkins are said to resemble the pads on a cat’s paw, hence the common name. If you are growing Pussy Willow for this ornamental feature, then be sure you’re planting a male tree.

Pussy Willow is most often seen as a large multi-stemmed shrub that gets to about 6-15’ tall. If you wanted to keep it as a smaller plant, the shrub could be cut to the ground every three to five years to maintain a smaller shrub shape. Pussy Willows like other willows, in the Salix genus, are susceptible to numerous disease problems including blights, powdery mildew, leaf spots, gray scab and cankers. It also is visited by many insect pests including aphids, scale, borers and yellow jacket wasps. The wood is weak and may crack. Branches may be damaged by ice and snow. Litter from leaves, twigs, and branches may be a problem. Shallow roots may clog sewers or drains and make gardening underneath the plants difficult.

If you can overcome those issues, then I think Pussy Willow can be an interesting shrub to add to the landscape. Branches cut in mid-February and forced indoors add interest to the home on a cold, wintry day.

Another more promising hint of spring is the Forsythia shrub. Forsythia is both the common and genus name of a group of deciduous flowering shrubs in the olive family (Oleaceae) named after William Forsyth, a Scottish botanist who was at that time Director of the Royal Garden at Kensington and a founding member of England’s Royal Horticultural Society.

The flower buds open normally in April, before the leaves emerge, for a welcome show of bright yellow blooms. The bell-shaped flowers are produced in small clusters or groups along the stems. Each flower has four petals joined only at the base. In rainy weather, the flowers, hang downward. Flowers unless hit by spring frosts or freezes, last approximately two weeks.

Forsythia blooms on old wood – the flower buds develop during the autumn on the previous year’s growth. These are vigorous plants that require regular pruning to remain attractive and flower well. They should be pruned soon after flowering, as later pruning will remove flower buds for the following year. Remove one-fourth to one-third of the oldest (largest) stems at ground level every other year once they are established. Neglected, overgrown plants can be severely cut back to within 3 to 4 inches of the ground in late winter or early spring and should regrow quickly to bloom within two years.

Grow forsythia in full sun and almost any type of soil except wet soils as root rot may develop. Plants in partial shade will not flower as well and may have more straggly growth. Forsythia can be used as a specimen, in a mixed border, as a background for a perennial bed, or planted together as a hedge. With their fast growth and dense foliage once they fully leaf out, they are suitable as a seasonal privacy fence. Low-growing cultivars can be used as groundcovers. Forsythia has few pest problems and is not favored by deer or Japanese beetles.