Look what I found growing in the driveway! H calls it a mountain ash. I found online that it is also and probably more accurately called the rowan tree, as mountain ash refers to three distinct tree species.
Rowan grows throughout northern Europe (Sorbus Aucuparia) as well as in the northeast part of North America (Sorbus Americanus). It has lovely white flowers in May, as you can see from my shot. It has berries that turn bright red in winter.
I have always been interested in the rowan tree, having read about it for years. Apparently it has been revered for hundreds or years by many cultures, and its name could be related to the Norse word for rune, which means secret or magic. In Britain, it is also known as the witchen tree, witch wood, or wiggen tree and it's famous for giving protection against witches! This is just too magical. Here's more about the rowan.
Witches aside, it would be interesting to make rowan jelly when the fruits come. In the UK rowan berries are around from July/August through to November - I'll let you know when ours bear fruit. The berries are generally too bitter to be eaten raw but once transmogrified into jelly you can serve it, as the British have traditionally done, as an accompaniment to game and venison. I found a recipe for a rowan-and-crab apple jelly here.
Traditional Celtic ballad
"Laidley Wood"
The spells were vain
The hag returned
To the Queen in a sorrowful mood
Crying that witches have no power
Where there is Rowan tree wood.
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