Willow
Willow
Willow is one of the most diverse and useful plants for your yard or forest garden. We are growing over a dozen varieties of beautiful, useful willow for a variety of uses including: coppice, erosion control, privacy hedge, winter color landscape plants, habitat, weaving, basketry, biomass, living fences, decor, floral arrangement and wreathes. The list is endless for this versatile and engaging plant. Purchase willow as bare root established, rooted plants (1’ or taller, choose the variety you’re interested in) or buy a variety pack of dormant hardwood cuttings (mix of colorful, curly, basketry and biomass willows available each Spring) to start your own (watch this video from our dear friend, Sean at Edible Ares in Ithaca, NY to learn more about starting willow cuttings).
Please select from the drop down list below to purchase bare root plants or contact us directly if you are interested in cuttings (available in spring only) of a certain variety. Our varieties include:
AMERICANA - This American hybrid willow is a cross between eriocephala and petiolaris, two species that grow wild in Eastern North America. It’s a very popular basketry willow in Europe that’s regaining recognition here.
BASFORDIANA - (fragilis f. vitellina ‘Basfordiana’ ) Basford Golden Willow is great for winter color and weaving (fragilis = fragile, regarding the stems/Basford = a town in central England).
CHOCOLATE CURLY - A corkscrew willow, known for its curly, chocolate-brown branches. Even the narrow leaves are twisted, and turn yellow in the fall. Provides great winter interest with its contorted twigs and branches, and its twisty silhouette.
DART SNAKE- (babylonica f tortuosa ‘Dart’s Snake’) A lovely ornamental tree and accent to basketry projects, this curly willow has green to copper color on branches.
FISH CREEK - 'Fish Creek' is very vigorous and robust, growing 15-25ft and in a 3–5ft base in three years, so it should be planted with 2' x 3' spacing. It has dark blue-green oblong leaves 2–3in long and 0.5–1in wide. Stems are brown at first but soon turn green and smooth. Can be used for living willow fences and sculptures as well as biomass production.
GREEN CURLY - A small to medium-sized, upright spreading tree of about 30 feet in height with a 15-foot-spread, the main ornamental feature of this plant is the contorted and twisted branches and twigs. Branches arise from the trunk at an acute angle and grow up almost parallel to the trunk before they curve back to the horizontal.
LUCIDA - Shining willow gets its name from its glossy, deep green leaves. This beautiful ornamental grows tall and elegant 12’-20’ stems forming an tall, elegantly waving shrub.
MELANOSTACHYS - (gracilistyla ‘Melanostachys’) This black pussy willow is grown for its delicate dark branches used as ornamental cut stems (gracilistyla = slender style, melanostachys = black spikes).
NAVAJO- (babylonica f. umbraculifera ‘Navajo’‘) Navajo is a naturalized willow that is great for fodder, pollinators and stream bank restoration while also being very drought-tolerant. New growth provides numerous catkins which draw pollinators from all around. Once grown, it has a beautiful rounded top “globe” shape. This hardy willow makes for an excellent ornamental that has proven to thrive in a myriad of different locations.
ONONDAGA - 'Onondaga' is a fast-growing, high-yielding variety of shrub willow. It is disease resistant, produces multiple small stems, and is well suited for biomass plantings, snowfences, streambank restoration, and riparian buffers.
OWASCO- (Salix viminalis × S. miyabeana ‘Owasco’) The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) presents ‘Owasco’ shrub willow from their willow breeding program. ‘Owasco’ is a highyielding shrub willow that is disease resistant, produces multiple small stems, and is well suited for biomass plantings, privacy hedges, living snowfences, and ornamental plantings.
PENDULA - This low-growing waterfall willow has a short stature that crawls across the ground and cascades over edges. A rare quality in willow, this variety appears to be tolerant of partial sun. Seems to excel in border spaces along difficult-to-maintain landscape features such as drainage ditches and creeks.
SX61 - (Salix sachalinensis ‘SX61’) The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) presents ‘SX61’, a fastgrowing shrub willow. ‘SX61’ produces high biomass yields, is disease and beetle resistant, and is well suited for biomass plantings, privacy hedges, and living structures.
SUNNY TWIST - (pendulina f. Erythroflexuosa ‘Sunny Twist’) A very attractive bright yellow curly willow, excellent for crafts, arrangements and coppice hedges.
VERMONT RED - (purpurea ‘Vermont Red’) This purpurea (meaning “purple”) selection was found in 2010 by a state botanist in Vermont. ‘Vermont Red’ is a bit more shrubby than other purpureas, making for a nice thick privacy hedge with fine stems for weaving projects.