Salix discolor

So my parents were here this last weekend to see my sister's play (the hilarious and French "Tartuffe") and they bought us BOTH flowers because they love me too.

Actually, I should say that they bought us bouquets, because mine was definitely not flowers. I didn't even know these were available, but my mom chose a bouquet of pussy willow branches for me. And it is GORGEOUS.

I tried to get a good picture of it but the lighting in my room is pretty bad and my camera sometimes doesn't like to cooperate. Basically, it's very elegant because of the slender branches and the silvery catkins (apparently that's what the fuzzy buds are actually called). And they are SO soft.

Here are some of the best photographs I took:

Not the best lighting, but it gives you an idea of what the catkins look like:

Somehow my camera managed to take this very haunting picture: