{"id":33642,"date":"2025-04-10T10:59:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T08:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/?p=33642"},"modified":"2025-04-10T10:59:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T08:59:49","slug":"a-blessing-in-disguise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/?p=33642","title":{"rendered":"A Blessing in Disguise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During a powerful wind storm earlier in the year one of my oldest sallow \/ selje trees on the edge of the wild part of the garden was wind thrown and fell over the part of my garden most resembling a forest garden where my impressive 20-year old udo (Aralia cordata<\/em>) is located. Luckily, it did no damage to my apple trees and the trunk is hanging horizontally over this area with part of the root still attached and what was the top of the tree now in full flower right next to the pathway down the garden. Salix caprea <\/em>is dioecious with male and female flowers on separate trees. This one is female. I have over the years become more and more aware of the incredible importance of Salix caprea<\/em> in providing food in early spring to a myriad of insects – wild bees, bumble bees, moths etc., all programmed to emerge at this time. In addition, it is host in Norway to 260 moth and butterfly species at the larval stage! This then leads to this tree being an important source of food to a range of birds and some like the chiffchaff (gransanger) are also programmed to return at sallow flowering time. During visits to my mum in Southern England in March \/ early April I visit other fallen sallows to look for interesting insects and I’ve noticed that they can continue flowering for several years after falling and resprout from the part of the root in the soil. So, although I was initially saddened bye the loss, this is just one of several large sallow trees in this part of the garden and now I have the top of a sallow at eye level right next to a path in the garden and can now study visiting insects closely. Just now, I saw an early bumblebee \/ markhumle (Bombus pratorum<\/em>) feeding on the catkins. It’s also a perfect place to hang my moth trap (picture)!\u00a0
Hence “A blessing in disguise” (Norwegian: hell i uhell).
See also https:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/?p=32035<\/a><\/p>\n