With the weather so nice, I’ve been out in my yard looking for signs of life, especially in the plants I added in the late summer and fall. I fear that the fall and early winter drought may have killed some of them. I’m not giving up yet, though.

One of the surprises I found in my garden this week was catkins on a water birch I planted three years ago. I purchased the birch at the Idaho Native Plant Society plant sale when it was just a little stick with buds. Now it’s about 6 feet tall and has catkins for the first time.

What are catkins? They’re a mass of flowers on a spike. In some species of trees and shrubs, those flowers have no petals, just the reproductive parts of the flower. A catkin holds flowers of only one sex.

Birches, alders, poplars, hazels, beeches, oaks, chestnuts, mulberries, and willows are a few of the trees and shrubs that produce catkins.

Some species will have only its male flowers on catkins while the female flowers are individuals more like the flowers we’re used to seeing. Some species have both male and female catkins, but never on the same spike. The different sexes of catkins will look different.

Trees and shrubs with catkins are usually wind pollinated. Only a few are insect pollinated.

Over the winter, catkins remain small — one to two inches long — and tightly bound so that they look and feel smooth. When spring arrives, they start to mature by elongating and fluffing out. When fully mature, they release pollen. The catkins eventually fall to the ground and can make a mess if planted near a sidewalk.

Planting a tree or shrub with catkins will give your yard added winter interest. I chose a Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick which not only has catkins, but twisted limbs that also create winter interest.

If you have particular questions about gardening you’d like to see addressed in this column, send them to highprairielandscapedesign@yahoo.com.