We grew these plants from cuttings we got from basketmaker Johnny Suderman in Ontario. He describes the plant as having long non-branching purplish-red rods with blue-green leaves. When he soaks them for basketmaking, the stems turn “dark grey with some purple-red.” This is his favorite willow for baskets.
Once established, you can coppice it annually for a perpetual source of basketmaking material. Z4. (1-2') NEW!
Items from our perennial plants warehouse ordered
on or before March 7 will ship around March 26
through late April, starting with warmer areas and finishing in
colder areas. Orders placed after March 7 will
ship around late April through early-to-mid May, in the order in
which they were received.
ships in spring
7570
‘Frances Red’ Basket Willow
Additional Information
Small Trees and Shrubs
As Green’s Nursery catalog from 1904 explains, “There are many trees that by pruning can be made to resemble shrubs, and many shrubs that by different pruning may be made to produce medium-sized trees.”
Willows Salix spp.
The genus Salix
comprises hundreds of different species of plants most commonly called
willows but sometimes called
Osier or
Sallow. Willows grow all over the world. Some, like the
weeping willow, are towering specimens. Others are short scrubby bushes;
willows growing in the arctic can be 100 years old but only 2' tall!
Uses
include ornamental landscaping, shade, basketmaking, erosion control,
timber, fuel and medicine. All parts, especially the bark, contain
salicin,
used for relief of pain and fever for hundreds, or even thousands, of
years.
Aspirin is a synthetic analog of salicin. Willows feed local wildlife,
insects and birds. We plant them near the orchard to provide early
season
forage for our native pollinators. All prefer sun and loamy wet soils,
but
are adaptable, easily transplanted and fast growing.
