The tree was completely bare in the beginning of March, not a single leaf,  and yet I could not help but admire the graceful way in which it held its long branches and it’s dark grey fissured trunk.  Snow softly settled, hailstorms pelted, and wind and rain swayed its branches, but this dark grey graceful tree  stood steadfast and won my heart with it’s remarkable form and resilience.

A few weeks on, and it was as if it started coming back to life. Tiny buds sprouted, and shiny new leaves started making an appearance. It is completely covered with foliage now, with a beautiful wide canopy. The new leaves are light green, velvety, pinnate, with 5-13 leaflets. The male flowers are numerous, green, hanging in clusters with catkin-like inflorescences, borne on old branches.  The female flowers are small, few, greenish, borne at the end of fresh new branches. The tree will bear green husky fruit, and in autumn these fruits shall open and fall down,  revealing the wrinkly hard nut we all know so well! 🙂