While it manifests separate male and female plants, the pendant male catkins are much more showy and are grey-green and up to  long; the female ones are shorter and silver-grey. Although the flowers bloom in late winter and early spring, dried bracts remain on the plant well into summer as light gray decorations.
This passage describes a plant that has both male and female flowers, with the male flowers being more prominent and lasting longer than the female ones.  The flowers bloom in late winter and early spring, but the plant retains its light gray bracts throughout the summer.