Nurture and nature

Those of you who have followed my journal for a while know that I am fascinated at this time of year with with one of the most attractive flowers of any tree - in my opinion. This is the flower of the female larch cone. Here it is beside one of last year's fully formed cones and in this shot, sitting beside the adult, you can see quite clearly how the layers of the cone are already developing. When i first noticed this a couple of year's ago - thanks to my new blip eyes - I thought it was a raspberry or some other fruit which had been left on the still leafless larch by a passing bird. Now i look for them each year and am still fascinated by them.