Flowers of Filbert

 

As far as cultivated plants go, the flowers of the Contorted Filbert (Corylus avellana) are my favourite. Those are millimeters showing on the ruler in front of the bright pink female blossoms. The catkins (dangly bits) are the males. If pollinated, the females will form a "hazelnut." In the past, I've managed to protect a few of them from the birds and squirrels until they were mature, and yes, they held tiny, rather flat nutmeats. There are some who claim they are edible and I do not doubt that, but at the same time, you'd be hard put to collect enough of them to fill a tablespoon. That's never an issue here. The varmints eat them long before they are fully formed, sometimes even when they're in the budding stage shown here. And that's what my yard is about, anyway: providing habitat and food for the critters who so amuse me.