The winter colors along this section of the lower Deschutes River (just below Rattlesnake Canyon) can seem like a return to fall at first glance. However, the ruddy hues that light up the river this time of year aren’t leaves, they’re catkins emerging from the White alder groves that line the shore.
Though they favor life along the water here, White alders are a unique, drought-tolerant species among the alders, mostly growing east of the Cascades and on the floor of the Willamette Valley, where summers are hot and dry. Their Red alder cousins only grow in Oregon’s wettest forests, along the coast, in the Coast Range and on the west slope of Cascade mountains, rarely overlapping White alder. Both alder species are important nitrogen-fixers, with an ability to enrich soil with this essential element for all plant growth.
Alders have male and female catkins. Both start as green nubs in fall, turning ruddy-red in winter, as seen in the above image. Their colors shift to red and yellow when the male catkins emerge as dramatic 1-4” tassels. These eventually fall from the tree at the end of the spring bloom. The female catkins are tiny and hard to spot during the early bloom, though they continue to develop into a green, bean-sized fruit in spring. These ripen over summer into the distinctive dark brown, seed-bearing cones that are so familiar.
In this image, last year’s cones form a backdrop for a spring display of male catkins. The tiny female catkins are here, too (circled), preparing to grow into another crop of cones.
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Image Description: The top image shows a desert river scene under a pale blue sky, with high, stair-stepped cliffs in the background, each tier topped with a carpet of moss, green grasses and sagebrush. A gnarled, mature White alder grows in the foreground, its smooth gray-white bark contrasting against emerging, rust-colored catkins.
The bottom image slows White alder catkins in full bloom. Hundreds of these long, yellow tassels hang from gray limbs tipped with red buds.
Photo © WyEast Images (2026)
WyEast Images 
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