Cottonwood Bursting Green

This week marks the week where the cottonwood trees (Populus trichocarpa) which tend to form fairly uniform stands in some areas are really developing their leaves.  Some of the stands of cottonwood are quite extensive in the Bella Coola Valley bottom and this time of year when the leaves are in the early young tender stage like the ones in this photo, viewing the stands at distance shows a nice  lime green hue.  If you can get above the canopy of stand and overlook a cotton wood stand from a road, plane or one of the trails that leads you higher up it can be a really nice view, the tops of the stands tend to all be at the same height and are often formed and shaped by the steady gentle summer westerlies.  Right now the leaves are very thin and delicate with a shiny waxy coating of the same resin that was on the buds earlier.   

It's been a few days of mixed weather in the valley, some showers, some cool raw winds, low clouds and fresh snow in the mountains.  Any day now we should see a turn towards something more typical of a warm spring day.  Grizzly