Ranger column: Some spring-flowering plants to look out for this month

So let’s look at a couple of spring-flowering plants which should be in bloom by the end of March. Not just any old plants either, but actual trees.

Many tree species will have leaf buds opening or indeed open, but some, including hazels and elms, will be flowering this month. These tree species are easy to spot as the flowers emerge before the leaves, giving the tree a very distinctive appearance.

The wych elm is our only native species in its genus (Ulmus, if you’re interested in taxonomy) and is the one you’re most likely to see in this area. Despite the name, the English elm is now widely regarded as not native to the UK.

Wych elms in the wild can reach heights of over 20 metres and often have a broad, spreading crown. When young, the bark is grey and smooth but will crack and darken with age. The leaves (pictured below) are rough to the touch – feeling rather like sandpaper in extreme cases.

However, it’s the flowers we’re most interested in here.

These grow in clusters of 10 to 20 reddish-purple blooms, spaced out along the twigs.

When first opening, they appear almost as small starbursts of colour, but as they develop they become more spreading and drooping.

The flowers will develop into bright green winged seeds, which are also very distinctive, but you’ll have to wait for later in spring to see these.

Wych elm flowers

Blackthorn is a member of the rose family and is often found in hedgerows alongside its relative hawthorn. In this heavily managed form, it usually appears as a dense spiny shrub, but if left to its own devices it can grow up to about seven or eight metres.

Much like the elm, the flowers appear before the leaves. This can make the blackthorn relatively easy to spot in a mixed hedge in spring.

During March, hawthorn (and other species) will be greening up, as the leaves gradually open. However, blackthorn will be devoid of leaves but covered in creamy white blossom (pictured below), making it stand out from the crowd.

Later in the year, blackthorn produces fruits known as sloes, which, as most of you will know, can be used to make sloe gin.

We can argue the merits of this beverage (there are better uses of gin in my opinion), but more important is the blackthorn’s value to wildlife. The flowers provide nectar and pollen for early flying bees, while the buds and leaves are food for a number of butterfly and moth caterpillars. The dense, thorny branches provide excellent cover for nesting birds, who will also feed on the sloes later in the year.

In folklore, blackthorn was used to make witches’ wands and wizards’ staffs. Unsurprisingly, it became viewed as a bit sinister or downright evil. In Scotland, it was linked to war and mortality, and was associated with the Cailleach – the Queen of Winter, or Crone of Death. Blimey.