Secret Bloomers

These trees don't really look like they are blooming...

but the ground around them tells the tale. 

These pretty catkins litter the ground some distance from the trees. These are Black Cottonwoods, Populus trichocarpa. From the Wiki description: P. trichocarpa has an extensive and aggressive root system, which can invade and damage drainage systems. Sometimes the roots can even damage the foundations of buildings by drying out the soil.

Well, that may be. I would hate to think what this area would look like without all the Cottonwoods sucking up water:

That lovely catkin in the water is actually in the middle of the road, not a stream bed. We are getting more than our fair share of water this year. As a local author wrote, Spring is the rinse cycle of the Northwest, but I think this year the shut-off valve broke.