Spring Arrivals

Mahonia aquifolium - Oregon Grape

Following the appearance of the colstfoot and lesser celandine featured in my earlier post, I have been alert to other new flower arrivals along the canal bank.  You don't have to look too hard to spot this  - one of the first to flower in the hedgerow.   And once I have spotted that I know to expect this too:   

Ribes sanguineum - Flowering Currant 
I have mixed feelings about this because whenever I have tried to grow this in my garden it has succumbed to a fatal shrivelling disease. 

Another plant I have grown in the garden - as an early source of nectar for the bees is willow.  It was only after planting two Kilmarnock willows that I noticed this resident of the canal bank right across the road, doing the job in the wild already!  It is a large sprawling specimen - quite the opposite of the vertically curtailed Kilmarnock. 

Salix caprea - Goat Willow

And while I was on the lookout I spotted this early flowering prunus. I don't think it is a thorny sloe or a wild plum (prunus domestica).  Given the early flowering I think it is a Cherry Plum.  I may revisit that once the leaves have fully emerged.

Prunus cerasifera - Cherry-Plum

It looks like spring is underway - with a little help from our imported species.