Salix purpurea 8-10'. Useful for willow basketry when annually coppiced. Produces long non-branching purplish-red rods that appear dark grey with purple-red in a finished basket. Z4.
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Salix gracilistyla 6x6'. Pink buds, cheery rosy pink catkins make a stunning early spring display of color. Excellent in cut flower arrangements. Z4.
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Salix alba ‘Britzenzis’ 15-30' x 12-15'. Fast-growing shrubby willow with highly ornamental “coral” red bark. Especially beautiful in the winter landscape. Z2.
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Salix pendulina f. salamonii 50x50'. The classic weeping willow. Very large majestic graceful wide-spreading tree with golden drooping branches. Attracts loads of pollinators. Z3.
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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.