This European species is what is sold by the nursery industry called the "Pussy Willow". It is very fast growing and cheap. It usually ge...Read Morets about 10 to15 feet high by itself, but can even get to 20 feet high. It needs a lot of proper pruning each year to stay decent and not messy. It can easily be cut to the ground to drastically rejuvenate it. There is a very similar American Pussy Willow, Salix discolor, that is native to North America and would be nicer to use in that the native species provides more benefit for native beneficial insects.
If you go to a nursery and ask for a pussy willow, you'll most likely be sold a male of this species.
It's a fast-growing ...Read Moreupright tree reaching 25-30' tall. As with other willows, its shallow, thirsty roots spread far and wide and tend to bully its neighbors in the garden. To hold it to a manageable size and keep the flowers near eye level, it needs to be cut back close to the ground every year after blooming.
The male plants have showier flowers than the females. The pollen is severely allergenic.
A much showier and easier plant is rose-gold pussy willow, Salix gracilistyla---not the widely hyped cultivar 'Melanostachys', but the plain species, which covers its branches with big silver-pink catkins in mid-January. It's a shrub that won't get much over 10' tall even if you don't prune it.
(bestest fairy)Temperance, MI (Zone 5b) | October 2007 | positive
I have had this for about 2 mos. and have not encountered the problems the other person here mentioned. Maybe it is because of zonal diff...Read Moreerence-I don't know, but I appreciate the height mine has added and enjoy the contrast it gives to my garden.
First I have to warn anyone who has well nursed or small garden consider not to plant s. caprea. It's all true the gardener here above wr...Read Moreites down. In dry garden aphids are more than nuisage.
My point of view is little bit different: you see I'm living in/under cold climate. S. carpea is part of the natural ecosystem in Nordic nature. It's one of the very first plant to flower in spring, and the beautiful male flowers are food to bees, bumble-bees and a wild range of other insects.
Male and female are two different scrubs. They both spread by root and female plant products flurry seeds as much as poplar! Female plant's flowers are quite modest.
Spring honey with s. caprea has slight taste of caramel. S. carpea suits better for open wood land than to "english garden" - this is a personal opinion, of cource :)
Referring to the spieces and not the weeping cultivar, it grows like a weed and seeds itself in cracks in paving etc.
Left to gro...Read Morew to a tree, in summer it is infested with aphids, which cause honey dew and in turn sootymould. Anything growing underneath becomes covered in a black deposit.
This European species is what is sold by the nursery industry called the "Pussy Willow". It is very fast growing and cheap. It usually ge...Read More
If you go to a nursery and ask for a pussy willow, you'll most likely be sold a male of this species.
It's a fast-growing ...Read More
It's a common species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia.
I have had this for about 2 mos. and have not encountered the problems the other person here mentioned. Maybe it is because of zonal diff...Read More
First I have to warn anyone who has well nursed or small garden consider not to plant s. caprea. It's all true the gardener here above wr...Read More
Referring to the spieces and not the weeping cultivar, it grows like a weed and seeds itself in cracks in paving etc.
Left to gro...Read More