Country diary: Honeysuckle twines its way towards the light | Susie White

Allendale, Northumberland: It brings promise every winter at around this time, twisting around branches and becoming just as fatMy boots are clarty with mud by the time I get home. So many walks this winter have been trudges like that, straddling runnels, using field rush as stepping stones, feeling weighted down by sticky earth. In the relentless brown of the woods I yearn for greenery and seek out small dabs of colour. The emerald velvet of moss beneath a tree, fronds of hard fern, trefoils of wood sorrel high in the cleft of an ash sapling.It is honeysuckle leaves that have cheered me most. These delicate-looking shoots of floppy spring green first sprouted on tangled vines in December. It's the normal time for them to emerge and something that brings promise to every winter. They leaf up early, before the canopy spreads on the trees. Honeysuckle roots grow in the damp humus of woodlands, but the plant's twisting lianas climb using the trees for support, carrying their leaves and flowers closer to the light. Continue reading...