Whitebeam

What a difference a fortnight makes!  Before we went away I looked at the buds starting to swell and thought I will have missed a blip.  The leaves of the Whitebeam emerge as very silvery furry little tufts.  They stay that colour and the down shows until the first rain after they open (usually).  By some chance they have grown a lot but still have kept the lovely texture.

Although Whitebeam is native to the Southern UK it is planted quite a lot all over the country.  This one was in the garden when we moved here 34 years ago.  It is a member of the Sorbus genus - the same group as the Rowan but the berries are no where near as eye catching being a yellowish colour and quite large.