"Did you paint them?"

Sometimes teenagers and "flowers" are an hilarious combination. I put "flowers" in brackets as my flowers this week are again a bunch of twigs. 

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One of our neighbour's tree produces really nice catkins in early spring so I cut a few overhanging branches in the hope that they -in the warmth of the house- will open in a few days. I combined them with dogwood (cornus) from a friend's garden and of course I have promised the friend at least one nice bunch this summer in return. For now though, things are pretty cold and this morning even covered in snow (which doesn't help capturing the colours of the stems, by the way.)

Inside the house the vase became a bit of a talking point, with one of the teenagers wondering if this was really nature. "Did you paint them?". I strongly denied that I got the toddler's paint out. Honestly, dogwood really produces these bright yellow-orange and red stems!