Green and brown needles

The snow is gone and I can see my outdoor trees again after the winter! The majority looks good.

But two of the pines are all brown, or should I say "rusty". I think they are dead and I will have to throw them away. I can not be sure of the cause, but I believe it is a pine-desease - I should probably worry for the rest of the pines (?)...

The large aspen behind our house is full of flowers! 

I have learned this about aspen: each tree is either male or female, both male and female trees produce catkins - and they look a little different. According to my flora-book the female catkins are 10-18 cm and male catkins 8-10 cm.

But it's impossible to see the size of the catkins when they are so high up in the air! 

Then there is still one thing I don't know. Must the tree reach a certain age before it starts flowering? For I can't remember having seen this tree flowering before. Or I have forgotten. (Does it happen one year now and then? - and not the years between?) The other aspen tree behind our house does not have any catkins - maybe because it's younger???

One other thing I have read about aspens is that they form "clones" - many trees growing from the same root system - genetically identical. Here is one,  for a bonsai enthusiast very interesting, aspen clone I walked by yesterday: heavily grazed by moose to shape these dwarfed trees!

I must go back to this place for yamadori...

My semi-hardy trees can come out in the sun now and then. The nights are still very cold (this night was -6 degrees C).

Here is seen zelkovas and japanese maples.