Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica) on December 8, 2020
This has been a very satisfying month for the Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica) in my garden.
The big success has been calling in our tree surgeon to cut back the big branches of the sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) growing through the ironwood and obscuring its loveliness.
As I have said before, I have no idea where the ironwood tree came from. It seems to be self-seeded, as is the sycamore. We have lived here for 40 years, since the house was built, and only now have I bothered to identify the Persica.
Autumn leaves of the Persica on November 15
Stumps of sycamore branches on December 1
Ironwood branches revealed, December 8…
…and in rain on December 11
Pimpled tree trunk on December 1
Leaves and twigs
One of those strange twisty twigs I have noticed previously
Holly next to the ironwood…
…and Mahonia
Under foot on the bank where the ironwood grows were assorted dead leaves – I expect the oak is high up in the park nearby. I realised when I got back to the house that I had very smelly fox poo all over my shoes and it was a great hassle to wash it off. So I haven’t returned for a close-up look at the tree since then.
Assorted dead leaves
Annoyingly on my closer visit I somehow missed the little crimson flowers of the ironwood – I had no idea they appeared in winter and I had never seen them before. I just spotted something red when taking photographs from my study desk and zoomed in for this great surprise.
Flowers on the ironwood, photographed from my study window, zooming in with my Panasonic Lumix compact camera
I remember when I first saw the fruits of the ironwood in early May I was disappointed I had never spotted any flowers but now I realise how many months it takes for the flowers to develop into the fruits.
Ironwood fruit in early May 2020
Unable to get closer to the tree at the moment I took out my old Nikon DSLR with its long 300mm zoom lens but was amazed to find that it nowhere achieves the results of the much cheaper, newer Lumix compact, below…
A closer look at the flowers
This has been a pleasing end to an at-home tree following experience enforced by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021 I must get out more…
You can see my earlier Parrotia posts here.
The Squirrelbasket 
My favourite out of all these wonderful plants is the Mahonia,I have one growing in my garden here in Crete. Hope all is well with and you are managing to cope with this awful Covid virus. Stay safe and have a good X,mas
Thanks for that – yes the Mahonia is glorious and so useful for birds and bees and butterflies.
As I am probably telling everyone, my husband finally had his VERY overdue hip replacement last week so I hope I will have slightly more time for the blog, which I have neglected these last few months.
You take care, too – and I hope we eventually beat this Covid.
Merry Christmas 🙂
The red flowers gives a nice Christmas feeling to the tree. But December seems like an odd time for a tree to flower in the northern hemisphere. I hope it’s wind pollinated since there are probably not a lot of pollinators around now.
I expect that’s it, wind pollination.
It is, I think a close relative of the Hamamelis, also a winter flowering treat, and used to be classified as a Hamamelis…
Merry Christmas 🙂
What a nice surprise 🙂
Although I am sure I saw the squirrel nibbling at them this morning! It must be missing the sycamore it loved to strip the bark from…
All the best 🙂
Lovely update! The ironwood flowers are beautiful
Juliet
http://craftygreenpoet.blogspot.com
How wonderful to close out your treefollowing year with unexpected winter flowers!
Indeed, it sort of brings it full circle even though I didn’t start following until late March.
Have a lovely festive season and I hope everyone’s Covid battle is successful as we go into 2021 🙂