Following my rowan tree towards midsummer
My little rowan tree took a long time to get going in spring but now it is full of leaf and going-over flower. It stands protectively just behind the shepherd's hut. There it is, just behind the chimney, growing up out of the hedge. To the left of the hut the boundary is holly trees, somehow with an elder growing amongst them. You can just see the white of the elder flowers in the tree. The tree is multistemmed. I imagine that might be as a result of the young tree being cut down with the rest of the hedge when it was smaller so that it has branched out like coppiced hazel. There are two other rowans in the field but the others are single stemmed. They are graceful trees like that but I also like the gently spreading shape of the multi stemmed one. If anything for me that increases the protective nature of its presence. Look up into the canopy between the two largest trunks and you can see why rowan leaves appear in designs for fabric o...