Tree Tuesday: Pollard Willow in Spring

Very Dutch scene, this; Van Gogh^* painted quite a few of these before he went to France:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 35m, ISO100, f8, 1/180s}

The willows are cut back (pollarded) every few years and grow new twigs that are used for plaiting baskets and other wickerwork.

These old, gnarled willows sometimes host other life, like this one with ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea), hondsdraf in Dutch, growing on it:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 35m, ISO100, f5.6, 1/180s}

Thanks for watching!

^{* No, those last two letters in "Van Gogh" are not pronounced as "f", you silly Anglo-Saxons. And no, Van Gogh was a Dutch painter, not a French painter, you silly Frenchies.}